Kamikaze Co-Pilot Accused of Mass Murder

[pampango]

15. Interesting information at the LA Times:

German airline crash: How do you get through a locked cockpit door?

There are multiple procedures that relate to cockpit doors (lock mechanisms on the Airbus A320 shown above) and pilots leaving the cockpit during flight. Among the most relevant:

> When a pilot leaves the cockpit, a flight attendant typically uses a food cart to block access to the cockpit when the pilot opens the door to leave. A flight attendant is supposed to remain in the cockpit and open the door for the pilot upon his or her return.

> If the cockpit door is not opened from the inside by a member of the flight crew, according to a manual for the Airbus A320 available online, the door can also be unlocked by the cabin crew outside the cockpit by entering a pre-programmed two- to seven-digit code on a keypad.

-- Matt Pearce

http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-europe-germanwings-plane-crash-updates-20150326-htmlstory.html

Blocking the cockpit door with a food cart would be easy for a determined person to overcome.

If the crew outside the cockpit could enter a keypad code to unlock the door why didn't they or did they do that and the door was blocked in some other way? Also, being able to gain access to the cockpit by entering a keypad code does not seem very secure if you are concerned with terrorists gaining access to the cockpit.