Chief Flight Attendant Shows Cockpit to Daughter with Captain's Permission... No One Faces Punishment?

Office manager and captain allowed daughter and husband into cockpit
No punishment clause for permitted captain and office manager under current law

The image shows the cockpit of an airplane and is unrelated to the article content.

An incident occurred where the family of a flight attendant entered the cockpit of an aircraft in operation without authorization. It was confirmed that they entered the cockpit with the captain's permission to take a look. However, under current law, there are no regulations allowing punishment of the captain or the flight attendant.

According to an aviation security incident investigation report submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to the office of Lee Yeon-hee, a member of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the Seoul Regional Aviation Administration imposed a fine of 5 million won on Jin Air for the unauthorized cockpit entry incident that occurred last June.

The incident occurred on March 1 on flight LJ070 traveling from Da Nang, Vietnam to Incheon. About 1 hour and 10 minutes after takeoff, the captain, while using the restroom, encountered the flight attendant and conveyed his consent to allow the flight attendant's family to enter the cockpit.

The flight attendant then brought her kindergarten-aged daughter and husband from the cabin, and the captain, who was contacted via interphone, unlocked the door and let them into the cockpit. It is known that the flight attendant's family toured the cockpit interior for about 3 to 5 minutes.

The Seoul Regional Aviation Administration began an investigation after receiving a related complaint submitted anonymously through the National Petition System.

According to the Aviation Security Act, air transport operators must establish and faithfully implement measures for cockpit entry procedures and prevention of unauthorized intrusion to maintain security onboard. Jin Air's own security plan stipulates that no one except those authorized to enter the cockpit is allowed access.

The captain and flight attendant acknowledged that unauthorized persons should not enter the cockpit, but stated in the investigation that they did not consider it serious because the flight attendant's daughter was young.

The Seoul Regional Aviation Administration judged that Jin Air was negligent in controlling cockpit access and did not fully implement its security plan. Accordingly, they imposed a fine of 5 million won for violation of the Aviation Security Act and requested the establishment of recurrence prevention measures.

However, since there is no provision in current law to punish the captain and flight attendant who allowed their family to enter the cockpit arbitrarily, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport was recommended to establish penalties for this.