Lock

A lock for a secondary aircraft cockpit barrier, the lock comprising:

• a locking tongue, which is a locking bar;
• a cavity for receiving the locking tongue;
• a locking retainer for retaining the locking tongue in the cavity, the locking retainer being a slidable pawl configured in a slidable first state to permit the cavity to receive and/or release the locking bar and in a non-slidable second state to retain the locking bar in the cavity;
• and
• a damped locking tongue releasing mechanism for releasing the locking retainer, thereby unlocking the locking tongue from the cavity, and comprising a locking plate and a damper that is operably connected to the locking plate, the locking plate being configured to move between a first position when the slidable pawl is in the slidable first state and a second position when the slidable pawl is in the non-slidable second state,
• wherein the damped locking tongue releasing mechanism is damped such that releasing the locking retainer requires at least about 5 seconds, and
• wherein the damper is configured to control movement of the locking plate from the second position to the first position such that the movement requires at least about 5 seconds to complete.