A recent incident on a Frontier Airlines flight from Puerto Rico to Chicago highlights the importance of airline security. A 51-year-old passenger, Juan Gabriel Reyes, tried to open an exit door and then attempted to force his way into the cockpit. According to court records, Reyes began “shoving his shoulder aggressively on the pilot’s door” and later attempted to choke an off-duty flight attendant before he was eventually restrained.

Airline Security Measures

The incident came just a few days after a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Minneapolis diverted to Madison, Wisconsin, after a passenger made “multiple attempts to try to breach the cockpit,” according to air traffic control audio. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has taken steps to prevent such incidents, including requiring airlines to install permanent reinforcements to all existing cockpit doors and including them in newly-built aircraft.

Reinforced doors only work when they are closed, however — and on many long flights that is not possible for the entire trip. When a pilot needs to use the lavatory, get a meal, or switch seats with a relief pilot on a long flight, the reinforced door must be opened. The potential security vulnerability has been a concern for years, and airlines use procedures including flight attendants blocking the aisle with drink carts to protect the cockpit.

Secondary Barriers

A 2023 FAA rule required new planes to have a secondary barrier that can be locked in place when the cockpit door must be opened. Typically looking more like a gate than a solid door, the barriers are placed just in front of the first row of passengers and allow a pilot to exit the cockpit and visit the lavatory or the galley without leaving an unsecured path between passengers and the cockpit. The rule was supposed to apply to newly manufactured commercial aircraft starting in the summer of 2025, but the FAA agreed to delay implementing the requirement until this August.

Aviation labor unions have opposed the delays and long argued that secondary barriers are needed. “It’s just one of the most easy, clear security enhancements that you can have on an airplane,” said Capt. Dennis Tajer, a spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American Airlines’ pilots. “A quarter of a century, and we are still fighting to get a second layer of security on that flight deck door. This is unacceptable, unpatriotic, and just downright disrespectful to aviation security.”

Some new planes already have the new barriers in place. Southwest Airlines’ newest jets are currently flying with the secondary barrier. American Airlines spokesperson Alex Dixon told CNN the airline “remains on track” to meet the FAA’s requirement this summer. Over 30 aircraft on American’s fleet already have secondary barriers installed.

Training and Preparation

Every airline pilot and flight attendant undergoes extensive training to make sure they’re ready if there is a crisis onboard. “The safety and security of our passengers and employees is always our highest priority, and airlines comply with all federal rules and regulations,” a spokesperson for Airlines for America, the lobbying group representing airlines said in a statement. Delta, American and Southwest airlines all confirmed they train their crew members to respond to unruly passengers.

In some cases, it’s the passengers who lend a hand. On the flight from Puerto Rico that diverted to Miami, a former professional MMA fighter with Jiu-jitsu experience named Josh Longood, who held down Reyes, the disruptive passenger. “I grabbed him, controlled him, safely restrained him, put him back in the row he was in and kind of held him down,” Longood told CNN in an interview.

Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.