Alaska flight incident reveals another feature Boeing didn't inform pilots about
www.politico.com
Federal investigators said that Boeing didn't make pilots aware that when a plane rapidly depressurizes, the cockpit door will fly open.

Alaska flight incident reveals another feature Boeing didn’t inform pilots about - Federal investigators said that Boeing didn’t make pilots aware that when a plane rapidly depressurizes, the cockp…::undefined

  • solrize@lemmy.worldEnglish
    931·
    10 months ago

    I had thought that since the 2001 hijackings it has been basically impossible to open the cockpit doors during flight, except from the inside. On El Al planes I’d heard it was impossible period, so hijackers couldn’t threaten their way in, but US carriers didn’t want to do that because it means the cockpit needs its own lavatory, displacing a few passenger seats.

    • Shadow@lemmy.caEnglish
      996·
      10 months ago

      In the case of an explosive decompression, you can’t have that wall trying to resist the pressure difference. It’ll blow in a horrible way and probably destroy a ton of circuitry / wiring.

      It needs to fail open like this, that design makes sense. The pilots should have been informed though.

      An attacker could probably leverage that though to get into the cockpit.

      See https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/a-legal-and-moral-question-the-crash-of-turkish-airlines-flight-981-and-the-dc-10-cargo-door-saga-d22f0b9fa689

      • solrize@lemmy.worldEnglish
        561·
        10 months ago

        If that design is necessary it has presumably always been like that on every pressurized plane ever built. So it shouldn’t have been a surprise. But, some vents should be able to equalize the pressure without opening the door.

        ISTR hearing that El Al planes had separate entrances for the cockpit and passenger compartment so there was no way to enter or leave the cockpit except on the ground. No door, just a reinforced wall. But maybe that was a post-911 urban legend.

        • flying_mechanic@lemmy.worldEnglish
          341·
          10 months ago

          Aircraft maintenance has been doing the negative pressure unlock tests on cockpit doors for decades, its honestly surprising what isn’t common knowledge. Like others have said, rapid decompression of only a portion of the aircraft is very bad, and will result in massive structural failure as individual compartments aren’t pressure rated and will blow apart. The doors I’ve had experience with had large panels that would pop out when in a negative pressure event.

        • brianorca@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          10 months ago

          There are surely some vents that could handle a slower decompression, but a sudden event that reduced the pressure by half in a single second would be too much. 6 tons is a lot of force for a door to take, especially when it is in the opposite direction of most threats the door is supposed to stop.

        • BoscoBear@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
          2·
          10 months ago

          Seems like a burst disk in the bulkheads would be a better solution than counting on a door to pop open.

        • someguy3@lemmy.worldEnglish
          76·
          10 months ago

          Cockpits would need their own bathroom, food, and maybe sleeping area if they had no door. Can’t see that happening.

          • BearOfaTime@lemm.eeEnglish
            41·
            10 months ago

            Your getting downvoted by people who’ve never flown on a 737, or even better, an MD80!

      • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        4·
        10 months ago

        As per pre-911 we just may need to discourage hijackers from attacking planes through other vectors, not that the TSA is an actual deterrent. It’s difficult to believe our current measures take terrorism seriously.

    • AnneBonny@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      6·
      10 months ago

      US carriers didn’t want to do that because it means the cockpit needs its own lavatory, displacing a few passenger seats.

      Did they say that to the FAA?