Originally Posted by clrankin

How about going one step further? Could we not just simply design airplanes to have no internal access to the cockpit at all?

The cockpit could have a separate exterior entrance, have its own separate lavatory available only to cockpit personnel, and have meal/beverage service capabilities through a small armored slot in the window. This would prevent hijackers from taking over the aircraft, as nobody could come or go from the cockpit while the plane was in flight.

Of course we could also work to establish computer and communication systems that would effectively let pilots on the ground at airport facilities take over flying the plane in an emergency. If some sort of distress call was initiated from the plane, control could automatically be handed over to the ground through a secure communication link thus locking out local control over the aircraft through cockpit controls.

What are everybody's thoughts around these ideas?