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When a pilot leaves the cockpit to go to the toilet should the second pilot lock the door?

For me it's mandatory in case of the other pilot is taking in hostage and is forced to tap the code.

So can the pilot still in the cockpit can have locked the door and then lose consciousness?

Imagine the pilot goes to toilet and a problem occurs, the plane start to stall for example, and he can't reach the cockpit leaving the other alone to manage the situation.

For me the only situation is 3 pilots or never let him goes outside in small trip.

ratchet freak
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vring
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  • Yes, the door is locked (usually at all times during flight and opened only when a pilot needs to enter or exit the flight deck.) The rest of what you ask is covered in this question. – reirab Mar 30 '15 at 15:58
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    I'm voting to close this question as a duplicate because it already has an answer here: http://aviation.stackexchange.com/q/13566/755 . – reirab Mar 30 '15 at 16:00
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    @reirab I agree these questions are closely related, but they aren't the same. This one asks "is it normal procedure?", the other one asks "how can you open the door from outside?". – Pondlife Mar 30 '15 at 16:02
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    @Pondlife Nevertheless, its answer is included in the other one. – reirab Mar 30 '15 at 16:05

2 Answers2

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For most modern, large commercial passenger planes, there is an automatic lock, which then requires the PNF (Pilot Not Flying and outside of the cockpit) to enter an unlock code, or more usually, for the PF (Pilot Flying, and hopefully inside the cockpit) to remotely unlock the door.

The emergency access code typically sounds a cockpit warning buzzer and has a delayed operation, allowing the PF to override this in case of an unwanted, erm, "visitor", yet at the same time, allowing access to the PNF in case of PF incapacitation.

Commercially, three pilots (or two pilots and a flight engineer) on each flight are no longer economically viable for almost all airlines. Indeed, most couldn't host a third person comfortably for the whole flight - jump seats are fine for short bursts, but not for a long-haul flight, for example.

Therefore, most airlines are now adapting their cockpit manning procedures to ensure another member of the flight crew (typically a flight attendant) joins the PF before the PNF leaves the cockpit.

Kitebuggy
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The details of how the door locking system works is described in this question. It explains that if the pilot inside loses consciousness then the pilot in the cabin can open the door after a delay.

European airlines are putting regulations in place to ensure a pilot is never alone in the cockpit to avoid a repeat of the recent crash. This means calling in a flight attendant to the cockpit while the pilot is on the toilet.

Community
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ratchet freak
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  • This is very relevant, but it doesn't answer the question about whether it's "normal procedure" to lock the door or not when only one pilot is in the cockpit. Admittedly, the OP bundled two questions into one, which doesn't help! – Pondlife Mar 30 '15 at 16:04