The 787 wearing ANA colors
When Boeing delivered its new 787 airplane to United Airlines back in September, it was a moment for celebration. However, the Air Line Pilots Association has a problem with last-minute changes to the jumbo jet. Apparently, a key piece of safety equipment was purposely left out. The piece in question is a safety gate that’s designed to prevent bad guys from rushing the cockpit when the pilot goes to the bathroom. A well-placed cart can supposedly perform the same service, but it’s still disconcerting that a planned safety feature was removed from a final production plane. And the reason is even worse: it’s to save money. According to the ALPA, United is integrating its fleet with Continental’s, which don’t feature the safety gate. It’s a whole lot cheaper to remove the gate from new planes than to retrofit a whole fleet.
What do you think? Does this make you feel less safe while flying?
Photo courtesy of Gordon Werner.
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