In today's aircraft, the cockpit is separated from the cabin by a reinforced separating partition provided with an access door. The door can be locked from inside the cockpit to prevent all aggressions from the cabin. The cabin can have different types of layouts near the cockpit:
Toilet facilities adjoining the separating partition between the cabin and cockpit and positioned on one side of the door of said partition;
Toilet and kitchen facilities adjoining the separating partition between the cabin and cockpit and positioned on either side of the door of said partition in a direction transverse to the aircraft;
Passenger seats placed near the separating partition between the cabin and cockpit.
Very few aircraft have toilet facilities dedicated solely to pilots. Pilots must exit the cockpit to use the toilet facilities intended for passengers. Pilots may also want to access the cabin, for example, to check the status of an aircraft system. The crew of an aircraft may also need to access the cockpit for example to serve the pilots meals. However, using the access door exposes the pilots to aggressions from the cabin.
A configuration exists providing toilet and kitchen facilities adjoining the cockpit and arranged on either side of the cockpit access door. In this case, toilet and kitchen facilities form a corridor providing protection to the cockpit access. However, in other configurations, an additional protection system must be provided such as a security vestibule.
Protecting the access to the cockpit by a security vestibule formed by mobile partitions able to move independently from one another so as to provide a single opening therebetween which makes it possible to access the cockpit or the cabin is known from patent FR2965793, filed 8 Oct. 2010. This device has the drawback of occupying a significant volume in the cabin, particularly in the configurations wherein the seats are near the partition separating the cockpit from the cabin. For passenger comfort, a minimum perimeter is required to access the security vestibule thus taking up cabin space for the passenger seats.