Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Training / Qualification
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Security; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Procedure
I regularly observe the following issues when requesting to leave the flight deck for physiological needs.1) Galley lights are off when I look through the peephole. It is impossible to see anything; so I have to sit down and call the FA again telling them to turn on the lights. Especially when flying with new hire FOs they are often not fully aware of the necessity to clearly see what goes on in the galley before unlocking the cockpit door; so although the galley lights were off they still opened the door. 2) The cart is placed in the aisle (as per my request) but one flight attendant is standing in the galley unable to see the aisle and the other FA is facing the peephole cabin-side. This way they would not be able to see if a passenger came running to the FD door as we open it. When I asked the FAs about that problem afterwards they said that nobody really ever trained the procedure with them to that level of detail. 3) When FAs have the cart in place they often knock on the FD door instead of using the interphone. This is an issue because in a duress situation they are supposed to call with 3 chimes and say [a specific phrase]. If they always knock in normal non-duress situations anybody observing our procedures for a while would know that as soon as they reach for the interphone and don't knock they are doing so to warn us.
Air carrier Captain relayed his opinion of current in-flight security procedures pertaining to flight deck access.