Curtains for A300?

Hopeful

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Dec 21, 2002
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FAA denies AirTran request
Old planes must get reinforced doors
Mary Lou Pickel - Staff
Friday, February 14, 2003
The Federal Aviation Administration denied a request by AirTran Airways to exempt its oldest jets from the requirement for reinforced cockpit doors on airliners.
The Orlando-based airline asked for a waiver for up to 12 older DC-9 jets that it plans to take out of service by October.
American Airlines also asked for an extension for some of its Airbus A300s, citing parts issues, and was also denied by the FAA.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Congress required all airlines to install heavy cockpit doors by April 9 to impede access to the cockpit by hijackers.
The doors should be able to withstand bullets, grenades or a drink cart used as a battering ram. In the meantime, airlines have installed bars across the doors.
AirTran is phasing out its last dozen DC-9s this year and replacing them with Boeing 717s. It wanted to skip installing the doors on the old planes.
The FAA said AirTran''s request was not in the public interest and could adversely affect safety.
AirTran says it will have to spend about $300,000, not including labor, to retrofit the DC-9s for their last few months of flying. It won''t be able to reuse the new doors on the new 717s.
We''re going to have to eat the cost, AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson said.
The airline has decided to take three DC-9 aircraft out of operation before April 9, he said, and will install new doors on the other 10. Retrofitting the planes is cheaper than grounding them, Hutcheson said.
So far, 2,919 heavy cockpit doors have been installed on U.S. aircraft, FAA spokesman Christopher White said. That represents about 47 percent of the planes that must undergo the retrofit.
The Air Transport Association, a trade organization for many large airlines, estimated the doors will cost carriers $243 million. The government will pay $97 million of that cost.
 
Just interesting they would look to defer the A300 doors.
 
Curtains for the A300? Nah, AA is busy installing those doors right now. Its taken Airbus forever to start getting doors to us and AA is worried they may not deliver enough before the deadline.
 
They're probably wanting an extension because they don't have ALL the door kits yet. Apparently Airbus is in no hurry to deliver them to their favorite customer. They are seriously dragging ass about it!
 
Maybe this is a backup plan in the event there is no war.

Grounding of aircraft for safety reasons also allows AA to layoff without serverance, moving expense, and special allowance.
 
Wait - it always locks when it closes and there is no key?

How long will it be before we hear the first story of pilots getting locked out of the cockpit? While there should always be one in the cockpit while in flight, who could always let the other back in, I can just imagine the delays on the ground....
 
Aircraft 083 has the new door. It is different from the rest of the fleet. No provisions to use a cockpit key as a backup.
It is always in the locked mode when you close the door. It looks pretty nice like it came with the aircraft.
 
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On 2/15/2003 11:23:57 PM 1AA wrote:

Aircraft XXX has the new door. It is different from the rest of the fleet...
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What is this? An advisory for would be terrorists?

May I suggest that this is sensitive information that should not be shared on public message boards. The same logic that applies in the following Jet News message certainly applies to this subject as well.

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Since CRAF missions are sensitive, specific information about them cannot be shared. Flight attendants with access to CRAF information should protect it and ensure that it is not shared with anyone outside those immediately involved. Sharing the information on message boards and through other external sources is entirely inappropriate and could compromise the security of the missions.
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