Why aren't the doors to pilot cabins secure?

Torie | September 11, 2001 | Torie

[Torie]

Sorry for the vanity, but I have not noticed the question discussed. Just why are the doors to the pilot cabins on commercial aircraft subject to forceable entry? Why have they not been made totally impenetrable, and made of sturdy enough material so that they cannot be kicked in? It seems that as long as the doors are vulnerable, what happened today can be repeated ad infinitum, and probably will.

I also assume that the pilots have rules to not open the door under any circumstance. If they don't, that is itself a problem.

[Nonstatist]

Flight attendants come in and out durin the flight, delivering drinks, etc. Also, the added weight of a reinforced door will decrease (perhaps significantly) the efficiency of the aircraft . (a secondary consideration, but it should be measure against overall utility of this req't)

A more efficacious solution would be to severely limit carry-ons and re-institute profiling, allowing body searches of "suspicious" characters. A couple overseas airlines I have taken once or twice , do this all the time