Originally Posted by
mtofell
Yeah, ever since the newish rule about no pilot being alone in the cockpit came about I always watch the "handoff" from one of the pilots to the FA that goes in and takes their place. It's pretty "lazy" a lot of the time and a pilot could easily just throw the FA out and slam the door if that was really his/her wish. I suppose the rule is better than nothing but if a pilot is hellbent on crashing the plane I think they will figure out a way.
Our friends upthread noted how Chinese airlines have an atypical practice of placing a third pilot, on-duty, in the cockpit. I guess this is part of the training regimen for new pilots. I don't know, but I would imagine this means they don't swap a flight attendant in for a pilot leaving the cockpit.