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Hollings doesn't want the doors opened at all while the plane is aloft. "The door has got to be fixed - impenetrable - and never opened in flight," Hollings said on Thursday. "Once that's fixed, we've solved the problem of an airliner flying into the Empire State Building. We've solved the problem of guns in the cockpit."

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Hollings is truly a MORON.

There are various flight procedures which REQUIRE a crew member to visually verify equipment in parts of the aircraft (outside of the flight deck) when there are malfunctions. One common one is when there's a question about landing gear being "down and locked." I've seen it on several commercial flights that I've been on where the carpeting is pulled up and a floor panel removed to check something. Boeing and other manufacturers have this in their operating technical orders and specifications.

Imagine the United DC-10 flight which crash landed at Sioux City several years ago not being able to leave the flight deck when one of the turbines shattered and titanium pieces went everywhere. The crew had to figure out and implement emergency procedures when the hydraulic lines were severed and also needed to assess the airworthiness of their aircraft. This, Sen Hollings, necessitated going back to the rear of the plane (e.g. leaving the flight deck).

"Hollings doesn't want the doors opened at all while the plane is aloft. "The door has got to be fixed - impenetrable - and never opened in flight," Hollings said on Thursday. "Once that's fixed, we've solved the problem of an airliner flying into the Empire State Building. We've solved the problem of guns in the cockpit."

If Hollings truly believes this, he ought to sponsor a bill making it illegal for any hijacked airliner to be shot down by the military. Secured cockpit doors also make this step unnecessary, after all.

He should put his money where his fat, old, gaping maw is. But like most effing politicans, they lack the stones to propose anything that puts their sorry asses on the line.