Congress introduces (H.R. 911): Install of cockpit secondary barriers on ALL jets
#16
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Unless they installed them just recently, JetBlue Airways Airbus jets do not have drink-carts.
Cockpit doors are not "hardened" if they open with only flight attendants and 3 1/2-foot drink-carts in front of them, or just flight attendants alone protecting them.
I posted earlier that there are several tragedies that investigators have not been able to definitively prove what happened. Case in point: MS804 and MH370, both jets had doors that swing into the cockpit. Existing technology has been unable to present all of the evidence. Both of those jets zig-zagged before disappearing in good weather and both had no prior maintenance issues.
The recent protest by the President of the flight attendants union before Congress is serious. She declared that it's "absurd" that her and her members are tasked with having to stop a raging attacker sprinting at them while they just stand alone, or with a 3 1/2-foot cart.
All of the pilots unions are also for cockpit secondary barriers.
Cockpit doors are not "hardened" if they open with only flight attendants and 3 1/2-foot drink-carts in front of them, or just flight attendants alone protecting them.
The recent protest by the President of the flight attendants union before Congress is serious. She declared that it's "absurd" that her and her members are tasked with having to stop a raging attacker sprinting at them while they just stand alone, or with a 3 1/2-foot cart.
All of the pilots unions are also for cockpit secondary barriers.
Last edited by TWA884; Feb 25, 2019 at 7:24 am Reason: Merge consecutive posts by the same member; please use the multi-quote function. Thank you.
#17
Join Date: Mar 2008
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I regularly fly ElAl. They have a double door. There is a waiting space between the 2 doors. I guess that’s a secondary barrier. All i know is that when the door is open to allow the FA to being something in, all you see is another locked door. That door isn’t opened until the first is closed. They also have a private lav and rest area. The flight crew doesnt come out while the plane is in the air.
#18
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I posted earlier that there are several tragedies that investigators have not been able to definitively prove what happened. Case in point: MS804 and MH370, both jets had doors that swing into the cockpit. Existing technology has been unable to present all of the evidence. Both of those jets zig-zagged before disappearing in good weather and both had no prior maintenance issues.
#20
Join Date: Feb 2002
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They have had them since day 1. How do you think they get drinks on the planes? They only recently started using them in the aisle for drink service but they have always had carts.
#21
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So, the most you can come up with is two cases where we don't KNOW that it WASN'T someone rushing the cockpit. BTW, for MS804, there's very strong evidence it was a fire in the cockpit, so claiming that that flight MIGHT have been someone rushing the cockpit is doubtful, at best. That said, even if we assume that both of those flights were someone rushing the cockpit, that's two out of over 600 million flights. So, in the most generous possible interpretation, these barriers would reduce my risk of dying on a commercial flight by 0.0000003%. Not super-compelling.
We cannot definitively prove there was or wasn't with limited technology and a video of every angle of what happened.
NOTE: The moderator has warned me about repeating responses, but I'm only responding to repeated questions.
Agreed. I recommend that others read the closed threads on this. I'm politely replying to repeated questions in different formats for hopeful clarification.
I regularly fly ElAl. They have a double door. There is a waiting space between the 2 doors. I guess that’s a secondary barrier. All i know is that when the door is open to allow the FA to being something in, all you see is another locked door. That door isn’t opened until the first is closed. They also have a private lav and rest area. The flight crew doesnt come out while the plane is in the air.
April 4, 2003 CBS News article about the pilots union ALPA complaining about the lack of cockpit secondary barriers:
Israel's national airline, El Al, has among the most stringent security requirements. All its planes have double doors separated by a narrow hallway, said Offer Einav, former security director for the airline. Pilots must close one door before opening the other, he said.
The inspector general said [on December 17, 2018] it "identified $394 million in funds that could be put to better use." The most up-to-date budget documents from the department show the budget for the Federal Air Marshal Service, or FAMS, is about $803 million.
[ ... ]
After its first report in November 2017, the then-inspector general, John Roth, told Congress that air marshal funding "gets wasted basically fighting the last war."
[ ... ]
After its first report in November 2017, the then-inspector general, John Roth, told Congress that air marshal funding "gets wasted basically fighting the last war."
The "2-man rule" would do nothing to stop another Germanwings tragedy by a suicidal/homicidal pilot. Terribly, the fate of that flight was set as soon as its wheels went up...
Vehicle ramming attacks still happen--a harder task that does not kill as many people:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle-ramming_attack
13 months before 9/11, these passengers on Southwest Airlines were not "passive" and killed a cockpit intruder:
As many as eight of the 120 passengers on the Boeing 737 subdued the man, Jonathan Burton of Las Vegas, who was removed from the jet after it landed and taken to a Salt Lake City hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Federal investigators and prosecutors declined to provide details of the incident or the inquiry that followed, including the names of the other passengers involved in the incident.
Many people have lost trust in the government, with partisanship becoming more vicious and officials seemingly not caring what happens to the common person, as long as they "win" (whatever they means). And the government policing itself? I doubt any intelligent American believes that anymore.
I absolutely do not "advocate a society in which the government is the sole keeper of peace and security" -- <deleted by moderator>.
Last edited by TWA884; Feb 25, 2019 at 3:26 pm Reason: Merge consecutive posts by the same member. Delete content outside the scope of moderator's permission to discuss here.
#22
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No, there are 4 more unsolved mysteries; and 4 solved: TWA Flight 800, Air France Flight 447, Helios Airways Flight 522, and Egyptair Flights 990; and then the 4 on 9/11:
We cannot definitively prove there was or wasn't with limited technology and a video of every angle of what happened.
We cannot definitively prove there was or wasn't with limited technology and a video of every angle of what happened.
Are you suggesting that TW800/AF447/Helios522/MS990 are "unsolved" because we don't have video of every angle, and therefore it's impossible to prove that bad guys DIDN'T rush the cockpit??
There are CVR recordings of each of those crashes that continue all the way to the time of impact, I don't believe ANY of them had any indication of unauthorized cockpit access.
I'm not going to weigh in on the pros/cons of your cockpit barrier system, but your continued attempt to use these accidents as some sort of supporting justification for a barrier is bordering on the ridiculous, in my opinion.
#24
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Passengers/FAs in this day & age would not allow an attack, or would jump the attacker(s) as soon as they realized an attack had started.
#25
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Moderator's Note
I have permitted a new thread on the topic of H.R. 911 on the condition that previous arguments and information that has already been extensively discussed in the closed thread not be repeated here.
Please confine all future comments to the progress of the legislation, not arguments for or against the need for secondary cockpit barriers; the latter subject has been exhausted and rehashing those arguments is a violation of FlyerTalk Rule 12.3 - Disruptive or repetitive posting:
If you don't have something new to contribute, DON'T!!!
Do not discuss each other and do not question other members' motives, etc.
Future posts that violate this directive will be summarily deleted. Repeat offenders will be subject to discipline.
Please consider this to be your one and only warning.
TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator
Please confine all future comments to the progress of the legislation, not arguments for or against the need for secondary cockpit barriers; the latter subject has been exhausted and rehashing those arguments is a violation of FlyerTalk Rule 12.3 - Disruptive or repetitive posting:
Disrupting a forum by repetitively posting comments of the same general theme or 'piling-on' by posting merely to reinforce or bump a prior post of a disruptive nature are both examples of disruptive posting and not permitted.
Do not discuss each other and do not question other members' motives, etc.
Future posts that violate this directive will be summarily deleted. Repeat offenders will be subject to discipline.
Please consider this to be your one and only warning.
TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator
#26
Join Date: Jul 2006
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This legislation looks to me like a classic case of Congressmen latching onto an issue that they think will make them look good ("what, you're against airline safety?"), but won't require them to actually directly spend any taxpayer money, since the costs are imposed on airlines (and hence, passengers). It's also a classic case of concentrated benefit (big upside for the companies that might be able to sell these barriers), dispersed downside (slightly higher costs for the traveling public).
#27
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Warning!
Folks,
For the final time, this thread is about H.R. 911, not about the OP's MOBILE Flight Deck Secondary Barrier Galley Cart System or his United States Supreme Court Case.
The next posters to discuss anything except H.R. 911 in this thread will have their posting privileges suspended for a minimum of seven days.
There will be no further reminders.
TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator
For the final time, this thread is about H.R. 911, not about the OP's MOBILE Flight Deck Secondary Barrier Galley Cart System or his United States Supreme Court Case.
The next posters to discuss anything except H.R. 911 in this thread will have their posting privileges suspended for a minimum of seven days.
There will be no further reminders.
TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator
#28
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This legislation looks to me like a classic case of Congressmen latching onto an issue that they think will make them look good ("what, you're against airline safety?"), but won't require them to actually directly spend any taxpayer money, since the costs are imposed on airlines (and hence, passengers). It's also a classic case of concentrated benefit (big upside for the companies that might be able to sell these barriers), dispersed downside (slightly higher costs for the traveling public).
These 10 bipartisan members of Congress actually did their job and did it well, and the U.S. Office of Special Counsel is backing them with its January 18, 2018 5 U.S.C. 1213 referral on my behalf.
#29
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I'd actually support this legislation, if (a) the gov't paid for the barrier installation, and (b) it funded those payments (and a lot more besides) by dramatically scaling back or eliminating the FAM program. Once that barrier is in place, then any rationale for having FAMs on board completely goes away.
#30
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I'd actually support this legislation, if (a) the gov't paid for the barrier installation, and (b) it funded those payments (and a lot more besides) by dramatically scaling back or eliminating the FAM program. Once that barrier is in place, then any rationale for having FAMs on board completely goes away.