Germanwings Flight 9525 crashes in French Alps

[btj90 0]

Deeply sad situation, especially with the latest pointing the finger at the co-pilot.

I've flown at least 30 legs with Germanwings in the year or so that they flew my regular route. The mind boggles when trying to put yourself into the shoes of the passengers and crew.

If the latest reports are true and the co-pilot was indeed to blame it adds another layer of sadness to the whole situation.

I fly regularly, flying from Berlin with Easy Jet on an A320 myself yesterday and I couldn't help but think of those in a very similar situation to me not making it to their destination.

Commercial air crashes are incredibly rare and a crash due to pilot suicide even rarer which we shouldn't forget.

 

 

Is it just me, but is anyone else here who think 28 is too young to be co-piloting a jet and left in the cockpit alone?

 

 

Indeed 28 is young not necessarily too young as thats relative I suppose. When on Germanwings flights I was stuck at how young some of the flight crew looked but always just though that GW is an airline where young pilots start their career and perhaps then move on to Lufthansa.

[SpiderPig 9,632]

You havent read this thread at all have you?

 

The Plane was in Auto pilot mode when the captain/First officer nipped out for a piss...

 

Only then did the co-pilot start his shenanigans...

 

Not one of us here on TT care how often you fly... unless you are our Pilot...

 

Edited... Neg away please... I have far too many greens!

[RajeshG 1,859]

Some points which baffle me in this whole unfortunate incident is that why the hell did pilot have to go for a leak 30 minutes after take off. I mean why could'nt he do what all he had to do before he took off. Its not that it was a trans atlantic flight. In another one and half hours, he would have landed. So why could'nt he hold his bladders.

 

Secondly, if the co pilot wanted to crash, why this fine descent and why not a plunge. Why take a chance for the pilot to try to come in. And lastly, if the pilot would have gone for a leak in one hour and the alps were behind, then would the co-pilot crashed his plane into a city underneath??

[NoBullJim 3,681]

Every time I fly, I always see the pilots drinking coffee, I think that's a norm but not pointed. My fear is that news coverage could very well spark a copycat incident. Please be careful out there.

[arunadasi 7,059]

 

 

Secondly, if the co pilot wanted to crash, why this fine descent and why not a plunge. Why take a chance for the pilot to try to come in. And lastly, if the pilot would have gone for a leak in one hour and the alps were behind, then would the co-pilot crashed his plane into a city underneath??

 

This is why I'm wondering if it was premeditated. He couldn't possibly have known the captain would go for a pee, or when, or where. Over the mountains was of course perfect -- be he (co-pilot) couldn't possibly have planned it. The timing was everything.

[fuzzytony 4,964]

I'm curious about that six-month break Andreas Lubitz took during his flight training as mentioned in the video I posted earlier. Matthias Gebauer of Der Spiegel tweeted about that, too.

 

 

Matthias Gebauer, Der Spiegel magazine's online chief correspondent, has tweeted that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz may have suffered from depression or burnout. He says he spoke to his neighbors and friends who said he was struck by depression during the several months he took out of his pilot training in 2009.

[arunadasi 7,059]

Hmmm. The (self) diagnoses "burn-out syndrome" is passed out much too freely in Germany. It's almost a cliche. Usually it applies to 50-something people who have been slogging along in the rat-race for decades and are really withered down. Now, I get that pilot training can be very stressful, but his (presumed and temporary) inability to cope is really not what I understand under burn out syndrome.

[fuzzytony 4,964]

 

[fraufruit 35,302]

So much speculation - so few facts.

 

Nobody has mentioned "disgruntled employee" yet.

 

I've always thought that some people who commit suicide aren't thinking about anything/anyone other than themselves and even then, in a very irrational way.

 

[marie-claire 2,083]

I'm watching phoenix and I'm glad that a few people there refuse to see the results of todays press conference as the ultimative answer. What if the co-pilot is innocent? Is there really no chance?

[BattalionBoy 18]

I don't find 28 to be too young but 630 hours of flying experience doesn't sound much. Also situation can arise where a co-pilot will be flying the plane on an airline commercial flight and it will be his first experience of flying a plane with passengers which I suppose is unavoidable but the fact that one pilot has/had the capability to lock themselves in the cockpit is/was totally unacceptable. It will be interesting to see what they can dig up from his personal life as difficult to be that mental and not leave some traces, indications etc. At the end of the day however this incident may just fall into the category of shit happens.

[katheliz 16,115]

Maybe he'd flown with the captain before and knew he could be lured out of the cockpit by being asked to fetch a cup of coffee for them both? My vote is for premeditated.

Yes, it's all circumstantial, but lacking an eyewitness, all evidence is circumstantial, and some evidence is more convincing than others. I'm waiting with bated breath to hear the conspiracy theorists' ideas.

People who are determined to die don't really consider how it will affect others, beyond perhaps "They'll be sorry." My 17-year-old granddaughter left numerous heartbroken relatives, from age 5 up to 66, and yes, we were sorry. It worked.

[arunadasi 7,059]

It's certainly fair to give him the benefit of the doubt, but from the information we have it really is the only logical explanation as to how this could have happened. The door was deliberately kept locked. The descent was deliberate. Horrifying as it is, it at least makes sense. NOthing else does.

His poor, poor parents. They are doubly punished.

[jeba 3,535]

 

Well, airline is one industry that always goes through changes. Remember the time when one could smoke cigarettes during flights? My dad does.

 

I remember having complained about somebody smoking in the nonsmoker section of a Boeing 747. The resuklt was that a fight attendent took aweay the non-smoking label. That was Air Pakistan in the 90ies.

[arunadasi 7,059]

My son was often allowed to go into the cockpit during a flight. Lots of kids did. This was on Lufthansa, around the 1990's.

[AnswerToLife42 2,419]

I would suggest Moslem-free flights. Then the door could be opened again. (waiting for the red dots)

[Krieg 13,520]

 

I would suggest Moslem-free flights.

 

Interesting point. Have they addressed if the co-pilot was into any religion? Since everything a Muslim person does wrong is because of the religion maybe we could blame the pilot's religion here as well.

[HEM 9,741]

 

I'm reading a lot of comments from people who sound like they might be pilots, but would be curious to know how many ACTUALLY are pilots.

 

Sometimes the profile gives a clue.

 

 

Is it just me, but is anyone else here who think 28 is too young to be co-piloting a jet and left in the cockpit alone?

 

IMHO ist "just you".

 

 

I don't find 28 to be too young but 630 hours of flying experience doesn't sound much.

 

Everyone starts at zero. You ain't born with 2000 flying hours!

 

 

Then the door could be opened again.

 

At least indirectly these 150 deaths can be chalked up to the terrorists...

[arunadasi 7,059]

 

I would suggest Moslem-free flights. Then the door could be opened again. (waiting for the red dots)

 

I like most people am astonished that the co-pilot seems to be a normal Caucasian German. /sarcasm

eta: his ancestry should be looked into. You never can tell. (May be a bit of Arab blood there.)

[sr5dnptylno 1,648]

In hindsight everything becomes clear. The Copilot was already showing signs of mental illness, depression DURING THE TRAINING and was required to interrupt/withdraw from the program for 6 months!! He was in long-term treatment for this and his Pilot License and file listed this limitation.

 

It just boggles the mind... WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING ALLOWING HIM TO FLY???

The airlines invest a fortune in the training of their pilots, especially Lufthansa. Sadly it appears they chose to look the other way despite very early indications that he was a risk.

 

 

Copilot was under psychiatric treatment

 

The co-pilot of the crashed German Wings flight has been under psychiatric treatment according to a report in the newspaper "Bild" because of a "major depressive episode" six years ago. And even before the tragedy last Tuesday he had been in a "special, exceptional regular medical" care. During his training at the Lufthansa Flight School in the US state of Arizona, he was temporarily even listed as grounded for medical reasons . As the newspaper writes further, also indicated by a note in the file of the Andreas L. Luftfahrtbundesamt indicate massive psychological problems. In the file, the code "SIC" should be. This abbreviation stands for a special, exemplary regular medical examination.

 

 

Also, on his record stood the abbreviation "SIC", a code that is listed in the Federal Aviation Authority under "Limitations". The abbreviation stands for "special control quality of medical examinations". Accordingly, L. had to be examined regularly by a doctor. The code was also listed on his pilot license. According to investigators he recently suffered a "personal life crisis" He had relationship problems with his girlfriend and suffered greatly because of it.