Secure the Cockpit through Secondary Barriers

ALPA calls for airlines to install secondary barriers on all passenger and all-cargo airliners. Regulators must work to create standards for lightweight, inexpensive mesh barriers to be located between passenger seating and the cockpit door.

Some airlines recognize the benefit of secondary barriers and have put cabin crew operating procedures in place that require flight attendants to position food and beverage carts in the aisle to temporarily block access to the cockpit door when it must be opened during flight. Food and beverage carts do not provide a satisfactory barrier, however, and should not be viewed as a viable, long-term solution.

Installing secondary barriers would enhance a layered system of cockpit defense, and would effectively delay, deter, or entirely prevent efforts to enter the cockpit through an open door. Secondary barriers would also help to expose the hostile intent of a person determined to gain unauthorized access to the cockpit. Federal governments should pay for this initiative in the interests of national security.