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Comment by danepowell | Hacker News Reader

It seems clear that in this case the co-pilot's actions were voluntary, but what if a co-pilot were to have a medical emergency while (s)he's alone in the cockpit? Would the pilot be able to re-enter?

This seems like a huge risk that wasn't considered when the new strengthened cockpit doors were installed.

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Yes. The pilot can reenter using a numerical code, unless the co-pilot actively blocks it. Even that lock will unlock again after 20 minutes.

In an emergency event you are most likely to forget secret codes. Some kind of biometric sensor would be better, although then attackers could take the authorized person hostage, so it is best to have it shared among two random crew people, simply by voice recognition.

Apparently the other crew (flight attendants) knows that code, too. I think it’s unlikely everyone would forget it.

> It seems clear that in this case the co-pilot's actions were voluntary, but what if a co-pilot were to have a medical emergency while (s)he's alone in the cockpit? Would the pilot be able to re-enter?

That's what I thought, too. Does the pilot also (always?) have a key to the cockpit door in his pocket (risk, because than a terrorist could steal it while the pilot goes to toilet) so that he could reenter the cockpit? So for me a plausible explanation is the the co-pilot had a medical emergency while alone in the cockpit. Now comes the question:

Would pressing the descent button in this case perhaps even increase the chance of survival (in this case the co-pilot was doing a quick-witted decision) or not?

Apparently, on the A320 the pilot can use a keypad to re-enter the cockpit, but the door can be manually deadlocked from the inside.

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