"Germanwings Pilot Was Locked Out of Cockpit"

[Lemon Drop]

mrlynn wrote:
I suspect that the Europeans may now want to adopt the American rule of a staff member entering the cockpit if one of the pilots has to step out.

/Mr Lynn

I'm not sure that would have prevented this particular event, but it's a good measure to have in place if the other pilot passes out or something. If the guy was bent on mass murder as appears to be the case, he could have just incapacitated the flight attendant and carried on. He could have done the same thing to the pilot, had he not left the cockpit.

We place our lives in the hands of airline pilots, I think they should be paid more and treated better by their employers. That won't prevent sociopaths from being sociopaths but it's a measure of how much we depend on these people.

[Lemon Drop]

Bill in NC wrote:
Wonder what the financial impact will be if the initial theory (willful act by an employee) holds?

Europe vs. U.S.?

I think the impact will be small, if anything at all. I think it would have been worse for Lufthansa if this had been a maintenance or mechanical failure of their airplane, which is something they can prevent. This will cost them and insurance of airlines must be going through the roof now, but that's a limited industry impact.

Due to the low Euro it's a great time to travel to Europe, I expect the continent to have a booming summer.

[SKYLANE]

Not the first time this has happened, one crew member being locked out....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SilkAir_Flight_185

The program "Air Disasters" showcased this Silk Air 185 flight, the details investigated on this flight were fascinating.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/aviation...robed.html

Wasn't there a theory of this being the case on MH 370 too?

[BCam]

With the advances in drone flight technology, would a possible preventative measure in a situation like this be to disable control of the aircraft on the aircraft's flight deck, transferring control to a drone simulator on the ground?

[RAMd®d]

Geeeeze, that's tragic.

We may never know what motivated the suicide-murders, if that's the case.

What this planned, or a crime of opportunity? What it the act of a single perpetrator, or is there something larger going on. If this was just one person acting on his own, how determined was he.

Sure, flying is safer than driving.

The thought of potentially being aware of your death as it unfolds still gives one pause.

[space-time]

Maybe instead of life vests they should put parachutes.

[cbelt3]

BCam wrote:
With the advances in drone flight technology, would a possible preventative measure in a situation like this be to disable control of the aircraft on the aircraft's flight deck, transferring control to a drone simulator on the ground?

um... no... and adding a vulnerability wherein an external control signal can take over the aircraft and cause it to experience an unplanned flight deviation resulting in catastrophic failure.

[davester]

mrlynn wrote:
I suspect that the Europeans may now want to adopt the American rule of a staff member entering the cockpit if one of the pilots has to step out.

/Mr Lynn

Easyjet did that today: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-32075657

I doubt there'll be any change other than this policy change. You can only provide so much protection against every single extremely rare event. We can't lock everybody in a padded cell and not allow them outside.

[Ombligo]

Bill in NC wrote:
Wonder what the financial impact will be if the initial theory (willful act by an employee) holds?

Europe vs. U.S.?

Exactly the same. It was an international flight and therefore falls under the Warsaw Convention rules. Under terms of the convention air carriers set the limit for monetary damages to US$75,000 by adopting the Montreal Agreement in 1966. Article 25, however, deprives the air carrier of this monetary limit of liability when the air carrier or its employees engage in wilful misconduct that causes the death or bodily injury of a passenger.


So they are not protected by the Convention and damages will be assessed by the location where suit is filed. In this case, that could be Spain (where the flight originated), Germany (where Lufthansa is headquartered), or France (where the criminal act took place).

[neophyte]

DNA forensics will be in the forefront of this investigation, I suspect. Hopefully the remains of the co-pilot will be positively identified. I seem to recall that it was reported the pilot and co-pilot had only terse conversation before the crash. How well did the pilot know the co-pilot? Would he have been able to tell an impostor? This is speculation based on no evidence, of course.