The Frail Ladder

they could reach the controls because they were tall and david had the ladder with him(it seems to have been able to fold when he put it away).

You would think that the Engineers would have been aware of Remote ControL. THe panel was that high so they wouldn't be accidently activated but could be used as an emergency entrance into the Big Head room. I might go along with Shaw/Holloway bringing some sort of l;adder. David just happens to to have a ladder in is magic bag just doesn't sit well..unless he had inside information. Also what actually activated the door? The sequence of the 'button's used? In our movie we do see Daviod activating panels on the Prometheus. Now on the ladder David somehow knows the 'code' on this distant moon. The answer is simple. Check the Last Engineer's fingerprints. Is that a Weyland logo embedded in his fingertip just like David's markings?

I imagine that ladders are fairly standard items of equipment in tomb excavations. David wasn't the only crew member to use a ladder – Millburn was carrying one for most of the journey. However, somewhat intriguingly, David was only carrying a small lunchbox (no bag either) when he approached the pyramid from his rover. Movie mistake?

he brought it with him, there is a shot where he is putting it together.

No, there isn't. We see David holding a ladder just before the running engineers arrive, but not him assembling the ladder.

David vomitted the ladder - he's a machine is he not? Yeh, my wife pointed that out and burst my bubble of fantasy while watching it for the first time back in June, lol. But she had a point - where is a ladder when you need one? "oh, as it so 'appens, here's a ladder I prepared earlier - it was inside my left welly".

P.F.M. - Pure F*cking Magic!

I still think he should have used a portable anti-gravity machine to punch the panel. Why rely on ancient technology when a a quick dose of ant gravity would do the trick.