But people now know terrorists are going to kill them either way so they might put up a fight with the terrorists before they can even reach the cockpit.
Don't be so sure. Everyone will be thinking "someone else would attack them first", or something to that effect.
It's actually a bit sad how a couple people with guns in cramped space can completely overwhelm hundreds of people.
And what about no door at all between cabin and cockpit? Dedicated outdoor access, private lavatories, completely isolated cockpit with all the crew always present.
That is an interesting approach. There is no good reason for the pilots to leave the cockpit, give or take various emergency situations.
One big question is communications - should the cabin crew be able to contact the pilots at all?
If yes, then the terrorists would be able to threaten the pilots.
If no, someone getting sick on board would have to wait till landing.
I find it hard to believe a suicidal person would maintain a nice even flight path the whole way down under manual control.
Certainly, and as far as we know the speed is consistent with the autopilot being in rapid descent mode. All he had to do is flip a switch and turn a knob.
One possibility i seen discussed a lot is that the pilot felt the approach of sickness, mis-identified it as decompression in progress and tried to set the plane to go back into the thick air, then passed out.
Only problem is, to quote the police: "the States Attorney in Dusseldorf confirmed that the two homes of the first officer have been searched in order to find clues to the motives of the first officer. A medical certificate requiring sick leave has been found during those searches, the certificate was found torn, the first officer reported for the flight nonetheless."
They don't specify what kind of certificate it was - psychological or physical, so it can mean either scenario.
But is there a ground avoidance system?
No such thing. The autopilot is basically a fly-straight-and-level device, with an ability to maintain a set altitude and heading.
Alternatively there's the possibility of 'software intervention', combined with some means of rapid incapacitation of cockpit crew.
Less than likely. The cockpit is not that isolated from the rest of the plane, controlled decompression takes a while and would affect everyone (and be audible in the pilot's breathing), knockout gasses are nowhere to be obtained from, gas mixture can not be controlled (it's just outside air).
And any logical intervention will be in the form of making autopilot fly somewhere, not disabling the crew - it is a fly-by-wire plane, without computer cooperation it can't be controlled at all.
just engage reverse thrust deflectors on one engine. No more wing.
Happened once. Wings stayed intact, but the plane rapidly lost speed, stalled and fell. They added a lot of interlocks to prevent it in flight since then.