Access Codes For United Cockpit Doors Accidentally Posted Online (techcrunch.com)

According to the Wall Street Journal, the access codes to United's cockpit doors were accidentally posted on a public website by a flight attendant. "[United Continental Holdings], which owns United Airlines and United Express, asked pilots to follow security procedures already in use, including visually confirming someone's identity before they are allowed onto the flight deck even if they enter the correct security code into the cockpit door's keypad," reports TechCrunch. From the report: The Air Line Pilots Association, a union that represents 55,000 pilots in the U.S. and Canada, told the WSJ on Sunday that the problem had been fixed. The notable thing about this security breach is that it was caused by human error, not a hack, and illustrates how vulnerable cockpits are to intruders despite existing safety procedures. The Air Line Pilots Association has advocated for secondary barriers made from mesh or steel cables to be installed on cockpits doors to make it harder to break into, but airlines have said that they aren't necessary.

Comments

Re:Strong door have a downside...

[Kjella]

cockpits should have their own loo. airlines would be against this, too. surprise surprise. that's even more expensive than reinforcing the doors even more than they have been already. that extra 10 square feet of cabin space could hold at least 6 paying passengers!

I'm sure they could have made some kind of double-entry toilet, the question is how much of a difference it'd make. Even if we assume he was too cowardly to directly assault the other pilot, he could have drugged his food, blocked the toilet door, created some kind of pretext to get the captain to go to the passenger/cargo area or whatever. Even getting him to the doorway would be enough if you can just push/throw/kick him out and slam the door shut behind you. It's a trusted co-worker, not someone you'd suspect being a potential hijacker/terrorist so he wouldn't see it coming.