National
Directive on cockpit doors
By T.S. Shankar
CHENNAI, DEC. 17. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has directed all airline operators to carry out minor modifications to strengthen the entrance of the cockpit doors without modifying the structure of the aircraft.
Mr. H.S. Khola, Director-General of Civil Aviation, who was on his way to Kozhikode from New Delhi, told The Hindu at the Chennai airport on Sunday that this interim measure had been recommended by the apex regulatory body, in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the U.S.
``Technically, we will have to see what more modifications have to be done. The airlines have been told to put some additional reinforcements to the existing cockpit doors so that no unauthorised persons could gain easy access into the cockpit area,'' Mr. Khola said adding that recently a high-level meeting was convened and all the airlines had been told to comply with this condition by the month-end.
``Then at a later stage, a permanent solution would be worked out and at that time the airlines have to do some more modifications.''
On avoiding the problem of offloading of passengers in the long-haul international sectors, the DGCA has expressed its willingness to provide ``official-level clearances'' to provide additional capacity.
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