The aviation industry follows strict guidelines for safety measures and operational requirements. However, sometimes unforeseen events require equally unexpected and unorthodox solutions.

In May 2023, Southwest Airlines

experienced a rather unique emergency at San Diego International Airport when a pilot had to enter a Boeing 737 flight deck through a cockpit window after a passenger accidentally blocked the cockpit door. But how did this happen?

The unexpected lockout

The incident took place during a routine boarding process on a Southwest Airlines flight scheduled to travel from San Diego to Sacramento.

What started as a typical pre-flight preparation quickly turned into an unusual situation when, according to CNN, a passenger accidentally closed the flight deck door while exiting the forward lavatory, before the pilots scheduled to operate the flight had boarded the aircraft.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 cabin shutterstock_1359682520

Photo: Joni Hanebutt | Shutterstock

Due to the flight deck’s security design, the door automatically locked upon closing, temporarily preventing the pilot from accessing the cockpit through conventional means.

The incident took place at a busy time during the summer travel season, which could have led to a ripple of scheduling problems. However, the ground crew opened the cockpit window in a matter of seconds and, despite the unexpected delay, the flight departed only eight minutes behind schedule.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 shutterstock_2187223977

Photo: The Global Guy | Shutterstock

Southwest Airlines’ response

When faced with this unexpected situation, the Southwest Airlines pilot together with the ground crew demonstrated swift problem-solving capabilities.

Rather than allowing the issue to cause significant delays, they devised a creative yet effective solution. While the pilot’s experience of climbing through the cockpit window is not well-documented, one can imagine the agility and composure required during the maneuver, as there must have been onlookers.

A representative from the Dallas-based airline confirmed that standard operating procedures were correctly followed during the incident, and the unconventional entry adhered to established safety protocols.

Southwest Airlines handled public communication about the incident effectively by posting on social media reassuring customers that such an occurrence was not typical.

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Safety concerns and implications

Security in aviation adopted considerable enhancements after September 11, 2001, because of focused improvements in cockpit access protection protocols.

Solid flight deck doors became an essential security element on commercial aircraft. The reinforced door system includes advanced locking mechanisms, which serve as the main security components to block unauthorized entry.

As the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) emphasizes, ‘The downing of four commercial airplanes and loss of nearly 3,000 lives on 9/11 was due, in part, to inadequate protection of the aircraft flight deck’.

The Southwest Airlines door mishap demonstrates that the same security features for flight deck protection can occasionally present challenges when legitimate access is required.

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The fact that a passenger could inadvertently lock the flight deck door highlights a potential vulnerability in the system demonstrating that accidental lockouts can occur.

As of now, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has mandated that all new commercial aircraft must be equipped with secondary lightweight flight deck barriers to enhance security.

FAA sign

Photo: Chad Robertson Media | Shutterstock

This requirement was finalized in June 2023, following years of advocacy by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). Since the early 2000s, ALPA has emphasized that barriers are crucial for preventing unauthorized access to the flight deck, especially when the main door is open.

While new aircraft will be required to have these barriers from now on, retrofitting existing aircraft is expected to take several years—potentially up to five or six years—to complete.

These devices have proven effective in creating a physical barricade to prevent hostile individuals from reaching the flight deck any time the cockpit door is open during flight.

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The dual-edged sword of reinforced cockpit doors in aviation safety

The Southwest cockpit door mishap is different from other historical cases related to cockpit entry problems and certainly much less serious. The security measures implemented since the 9/11 attacks have been successful in protecting against outside threats, yet they have also presented complex problems, for example, when flight crew members have intentionally locked cockpit doors, causing disastrous results.

On March 24, 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525 (Airbus A320-211) crashed into the French Alps during its journey from Barcelona to Düsseldorf while carrying 150 people.

The co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, gained sole access to the cockpit by locking the reinforced door after the captain, Patrick Sondenheimer, left and proceeded to deliberately crash the aircraft through controlled descent.

The captain made frantic attempts to reenter the cockpit, but the reinforced door blocked his access. Despite attempts by Captain Sondenheimer to regain entry through knocking on the door or communicating via intercoms with air traffic control (which were ignored by Lubitz), no intervention could prevent the controlled descent into mountainside terrain near Nice.

The incident triggered worldwide authorities to review aviation mental health screening procedures alongside new flight safety measures that require authorized personnel to stay together in cockpits throughout flights.

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Similarly, on November 29, 2013,

LAM Mozambique Airlines Flight 470
, an Embraer E190 operating from Maputo to Luanda, crashed in Namibia’s Bwabwata National Park, resulting in the death of all 33 passengers.

The investigation showed Captain Herminio dos Santos Fernandes restricted his co-pilot from the flight deck while using the restroom before intentionally causing the aircraft to crash. It is documented that his personal struggles with the death of his son and ongoing divorce proceedings, together with other adversities, led him to commit the act.

These incidents highlight a critical dilemma: while reinforced cockpit doors are designed to protect against external threats, they can become detrimental when misused by those within. Aviation authorities created a requirement that two authorized personnel need to stay in the cockpit during every flight.

Beyond deliberate actions, the complexity of cockpit door mechanisms has led to accidents. For instance, on a

Virgin Australia flight from Brisbane to Melbourne on September 6, 2023
, the captain, who was pilot monitoring at the time, intended to unlock the flight deck door after a cabin crew member requested entry into the cockpit, but mistakenly grasped and activated the left rudder trim control instead. This caused the aircraft to roll, resulting in a flight attendant’s injury.

Virgin Australia 737-8

Photo: Sarah Aktag | Shutterstock

The Australian airline implemented various changes following this incident. The carrier modified cockpit door access procedures to control its duration of openness, thus decreasing the potential for control misselections.

The airline also instructed flight crews about the incident through improved training that stressed keeping high levels of awareness throughout unexpected scenarios. More operational changes were implemented but no specific information about them was disclosed.

While the Southwest incident was fundamentally different in nature, it serves as a reminder of the importance of having multiple contingency plans for cockpit access in various scenarios.

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