Currently, the cockpit can set a manual override to block entry for a determinate period of time, usually five minutes in this instance.

A similar case of pilot being locked-out, but without lethal consequences, happened on flight ET 702 on 17/02/2014.

When the pilot exited the cockpit to use the restroom, the co-pilot locked the cockpit door and continued to fly the aircraft.[5] The flight was scheduled to arrive at Leonardo da Vinci�Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy, at 04:40 CET (UTC+1), before continuing to Malpensa Airport in Milan, Italy.[4] Instead, the aircraft was flown to Geneva, Switzerland, where the copilot of flight 702 circled several times while communicating with air traffic control at Geneva International Airport while trying to broker political asylum for himself and an assurance that he would not be extradited to Ethiopia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopi...nes_Flight_702

You'd have to allow for every single pilot, as well as flight attendant. Definitely sounds very expensive...

And totally impractical with changing crews on every flight. Stop watching Startrek people (or CSI)....

No remote controlled passenger flights or iPhone fingerprint scanner operated airplanes here....nor a CTR-ALT-DEL to reboot the software. Reality is bit different than at home or on TV.

And surely a FA in the cockpit will be able to reset that autopilot to the correct level.... Or maybe not.

We have a solution, secondary folding metal security gates (optional equipment that certain airlines install or don't - United paid Boeing not to put it on their 787s) or blocking the aisle with a beverage cart (which US aviation officials say is of equal security). Keep the cabin door open and the secondary barrier in place with one FA maintaining the barrier and (if available) a second crew member in the cockpit.

They do, but then the issue is that if the purser (or whoever has the emergency code) is under duress they may be forced to give the code for access to the cockpit. Pilot suicide is less common than attempted hijackings.

Why would they put a sharp object that you could injure/kill people in the passenger cockpit post-9/11? The flight attendant unions/groups would vehemently reject it, you can see that after the TSA was contemplating un-banning ridiculously small knives and they lobbied so much against it the TSA abandoned the idea.

Ever looked at the layout of an a320 or similar airplane.... I bet not. One toilet in front, two (or one) in the back, the rest filled with seats. So you would lose at least two rows of seats. Totally impracticle, nor cost efficient. They are eliminating toilets not creating additional ones.

Giving the pilots a bedpan could work... And hope nobody gets hit on the head with it or gets crazy on landing.

> Additionally the purser should have some kind of emergency door opening code or device.

They do.

On the A320 there is a 'door lock' switch on the center pedestal: Unlock, Lock, Override. In the override position, the external keypad is disabled to protect the pilots from a FA under duress.

Additionally; the cockpit has a good olde mechanical slide-like lock.

Norwegian Air have announced 2 person on flightdeck requirement with immediate effect

https://www.dn.no/nyheter/naringsliv...anwingsulykken

It's stunning that this is only being implemented now.

Or not. There are instances where two in the cockpit apparently didn't prevent similar tragic acts from occurring. There's nothing that can guarantee 100% safety. It's more a Public Relations ploy than anything truly meaningful.

Aircraft fly with one in the cockpit probably thousands of times daily without undue consequences.

Sorry, I just don't see how any argument could made against this standard. Of course, it's not a guarantee that nothing bad will happen.

It helps with medical emergencies for sure, but in situations like this, I am not sure having another person would have prevented this situation.

It helped in the case of Fed-Ex flight 705. Without 2 people in that cockpit, that plane likely would have crashed

That was apparently the situation in the Egypt Air crash after takeoff from JFK -- both pilot and first officer were at the controls. The FO was counteracting the pilot's actions and putting the plane on a crash trajectory.

Bottom line is that if one of the pilots is intent on bringing the plane down, it's going to be awfully difficult to prevent that.

I believe officials have said that the co-pilot was alone in the cabin while the pilot was absent.