The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is about to publish a new rule that will require aircraft manufacturers two install two doors to protect airplane cockpits from terrorist attacks and dangerous, unruly passengers.
The law enabling this new rule dates back to 2018 when the last FAA Reauthorization Act was passed, but the previous administration kicked the rulemaking process into the long grass, and it was only revived in 2021 by the Biden-Harris administration.
Despite efforts from the White House to make the rulemaking a priority, it was subject to a lengthy comment period, and it’s only now that the FAA has confirmed that the requirement for a second cockpit door, or ‘installed physical secondary barrier’ as it is officially known, will come into effect.
Once the final notice of rulemaking has been published in the federal register, aircraft manufacturers will have one year until they have to start delivering new airplanes with a second cockpit door.
The airline industry lobbied the FAA to extend the so-called compliance period, and European manufacturer Airbus even asked for the requirement to be pushed back by three years. That request was rejected by the FAA.
The FAA also rejected a request from airline industry unions to extend the requirement for secondary cockpit doors to be fitted to older aircraft, explaining that Congress only ever intended the rule to apply to newly manufactured aircraft.
Should the secondary flight deck door break, the FAA has preliminarily ruled that airlines won’t have to ground planes while they wait for the IPSB to be fixed. An IPSB could cost as much as $35,000 per aircraft and must be strong enough to prevent someone from breaking through for at least 5 seconds.
The IPSB must also prevent someone being able to reach through and touch the flight deck, while still allowing line of sight between the flight deck and the cabin and allowing ‘all necessary crewmember activities’.
“Every day, pilots and flight crews transport millions of Americans safely – and today we are taking another important step to make sure they have the physical protections they deserve,” commented U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, shortly after the final rulemaking was announced on Wednesday.
