Breaking: Germanwings Pilot Was Locked Out of Cockpit Before Crash in France

a reply to: Variable

The stupidity of security...

Clearly the override of the lock doesn't work, when there is an override to the override and someone chooses to suicide.

Why the hell can't they just design planes with a lavatory for the pilots that only THEY can access from the cockpit? No need for a lock to be potentially between pilot and co-pilot.

...blame it on 9/11

a reply to: Variable
This is information that the Germans should definitely know. There is most certainly a procedure for that specific a/c to lock/unlock the door.
I would not be surprised to find out that it is possible for a crew member to be locked out of the cockpit, but it would be nice to know for certain that this is how it works on that particular plane.

I think it was obvious that the plane was crashed intentionally after I saw that video of the door locking procedure.

One of the Pilots had to be locked out by the other one.

This may have already been asked, I'm sorry if it has.

How did the co-pilot KNOW that he would have the opportunity to crash the plane? If the main pilot wouldn't have walked out then this would have all been very different. I find it strange that someone would plan this but leave that to chance...

The morning news just said France believes the copilot brought the plane down on purpose. Breathing was normal and they could here him click the buttons to descend into the mountain. Another article I read, the passengers didn't start screaming until the last moment when they realized they were going to crash.

This really is an X-file. I rule out suicide but something far more nefarious. Suicide is a "private" matter. Taking the lives of everyone with you is an entirely different subject. I really can't help feeling this is much bigger than anyone can possibly imagine.

originally posted by: Martin75
This may have already been asked, I'm sorry if it has.

How did the co-pilot KNOW that he would have the opportunity to crash the plane? If the main pilot wouldn't have walked out then this would have all been very different. I find it strange that someone would plan this but leave that to chance...

Maybe just waiting for the right opportunity, might of even planned such an atrocity on previous flights but never got the chance of being alone in the cabin. I suppose we will never know

Looking over the following information suggests major restructuring within Lufthansa and GermanWings. Combined with the relatively low number of flying hours attained by Andreas Lubitz, is it possible to speculate that he was facing a furlough which prompted him to react in this way?

Posted the day of the crash by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle:

Germanwings has now taken over all of Lufthansa's domestic and European routes outside of the Frankfurt and Munich airports. In 2015, Carsten Spohr [Lufthansa Chairman + CEO] says, Germanwings will be in the black for the first time but soon, the name Germanwings will be history. Last year, Spohr announced that the airline's budget sector would be switching back to the brand Eurowings. "Germanwings was successful, but for cost reasons, we must change over to Eurowings," the Lufthansa chief executive said, adding it will also easier to establish the brand on other European markets. The new Lufthansa subsidiary plans to include destinations to the US, the Indian Ocean region and Africa in its flight schedule, with fares up to 40 percent lower than Lufthansa's. Eurowings will be cutting costs on staff, as the new carrier's personnel is not subject to Lufthansa labor contracts. The plan has already angered unions and is among the reasons for the ongoing strikes at Lufthansa and Germanwings.

This topic was previously noted in a post on the World Socialist website dated March 21st 2015:

Pilots’ anger is aimed primarily against the cuts plans by Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr. Some months ago, Spohr justified his plan to restructure the company and to reduce the personnel costs through transferring out permanent staff in order to deal with increased price competition in international air travel. The crash in oil prices during the past few months has increased the pressure on Lufthansa.

...

The existing company-wide contract is being eroded. Old-age care for newly hired pilots is to be abolished. In future, they will have to save for their early retirement, which equates to a massive wage cut. The extension of a two-class system among the pilots means those paid under the existing company contract will become fewer and fewer. Today, there are some 5,400 Lufthansa pilots out of more than 9,000 paid under the company contract.

But the plans for cuts go even further. Up to 14 leased aircraft will be used by Lufthansa under the “Jump” brand to serve destinations to which the company would otherwise not fly. The leased aircraft would be flown by pilots employed by the lessor, at lower rates of pay. There will also be fewer cabin staff. Moreover, the company has put the EuroWings pilots under massive pressure to accept even worse conditions.

When redundancies need to be made in commercial aviation, the last in are the first out:

If business is bad and airlines are contracting, seniority moves in reverse: captains become first officers; and junior first officers become cab drivers. In the rickety profit/loss rollercoaster that is the airline industry, layoffs—furloughs, as we call them—come and go in waves, displacing thousands at a time. Following the 2001 terrorist attacks, more than ten thousand airline pilots were furloughed in the United States, yours truly among them. Many are yet to return. When it happens, a portion of an airline’s pilot seniority roster, which is to say everybody at the bottom, per date of hire, is lopped away.

Source

a reply to: Variable

I was talking about if the door jammed. Such as the Delta flight where something got in the door.

this is just horribly news.
wow

they are assuming he did it purposely, those poor people

It's mind-boggling that a new co-pilot can completely lock out the pilot who has 6000+ hours in the air. The airline needs to give them each two separate codes that can't be overridden so if the tables were turned a copilot can't be locked out either.

I wonder if the relevant aviation authorities will now make it mandatory for ALL airlines to have another person in the cockpit if one of the pilots pops out for whatever reason

People from his home town are shocked,

Lubitz had no known association with terrorist groups, said German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere.

He appeared to have led an active lifestyle, running a half-marathon in a good time and showing an interest in pop music and night-clubs, according to his Facebook page, which also featured a photo of Lubitz by the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

To most then he would appear as normal, possibly happy with life. But then again Ted Bundy tricked people too.

But as reports are reflecting,

French prosecutor: "When you commit suicide, you die alone. With 150 on the plane, I wouldn't call that suicide"


MSM sharing

Sending regards.

originally posted by: Martin75
This may have already been asked, I'm sorry if it has.

How did the co-pilot KNOW that he would have the opportunity to crash the plane? If the main pilot wouldn't have walked out then this would have all been very different. I find it strange that someone would plan this but leave that to chance...

Not really, he would have just crashed the next plane. Eventually the Captain that he was flying with would leave the cockpit to use the bathroom. If not this plane then the next one.

a reply to: dreamingawake

Something else just occurred to me. They said his breathing was normal. So when you're conscious, and only seconds away from impact, is your breathing normal? No increase in breath? No fear? Just normal, calm breathing? No way...something is really bad about this. Stinks. Surely, even a conscious, homicidal maniac would have an increased heart rate when just about to crash, with 150 other people. You can't breath normally if your heart rate is increased, it's impossible.

I wonder if he was taking any of those new antidepressants?
You know, the ones that have the side effect of making commit suicide?

a reply to: butcherguy

Well the assumption is that the remaining individual in the cockpit doesn't have a death wish.

One thing we have in the USA that they don't do in Europe is the '2-man' rule. In the US, if a flight crewmember leaves the cockpit (bio break, etc), then a flight attendant will stay in the cockpit until the flight crewmember comes back.

I suspect that European airlines will implement a 2-man rule ASAP.

a reply to: Fazza!

The FO was calm....knowing full well his death was imminent. To me, this is premeditated.

My personal belief is that he may have been planning this for some time, but this particular flight presented the right opportunity for him to carry out his plan.

Now the question is if this was premeditated, what circumstances were in effect that led him to this decision. This wasn't spur of the moment.

He really was savouring the moment wasn't he? It's that classic "Soon the whole world will know my name" scenario

a reply to: Martin75

My guess, but I don't think he knew for sure that this flight would be the one. However, I did read that the co-pilot requested control of the aircraft before the pilot left his chair. I don't know what the positive exchange of control procedure of an airliner is though. From my PP training, it went like this:

Instructor: "You have the airplane" ---> Instructor has controls
Student: "I have the airplane" ---> Student takes controls
Instructor: "You have the airplane" ---> Instructor ensures student has controls and then relinquishes control

a reply to: Freenrgy2

The FO was calm....knowing full well his death was imminent. To me, this is premeditated.

or in a trance