Security
Flimsy airliner cockpit doors soon will be a thing of the past
Following September 11, the FAA issued a requirement that all U.S.

Following September 11, the FAA issued a requirement that all U.S. commercial aircraft and all foreign commercial aircraft flying to the U.S. be equipped with new fortified cockpit doors by April 2003. But it left the specifics of what constitutes a “fortified cockpit door” pretty much up to the industry. “The burden is on the manufacturers to come up with an adequate solution [for] a door that meets all current airworthiness requirements and is fortified,” said an FAA representative.

In short, the airlines must have the new doors and independent vendors will provide them, both to the airlines as a retrofit kit item and to the OEMs for installation on new airplanes.