2 Person Cockpit Rule: Airlines React Worldwide.
Just hours after French prosecutors said ‘Germanwings’ co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked the captain out and deliberately crashed the plane killing all 150 people on board, airlines around the world have made a change to their rules so that two crew members must be in the cockpit at all times.
America already having a 2 person cockpit rule, was joined by Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Air Berlin, Britain’s EasyJet and Norwegian Air Shuttle in adopting the rule.
Germanwings parent company Lufthansa does not have the 2 person rule and after Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr spoke to journalists, they probably won’t.
I don’t see any need to change our procedures here…
It was a one-off case. But we will look at it with the various experts at Lufthansa and the authorities. We shouldn’t lose ourselves in short-term measures.
The thought of pilots themselves deliberately crashing planes has been ignored in the past, with America; in the wake of September 11, making their cabin doors impenetrable when locked from the inside.
French air crash investigators are asking that question too. There have been several plane crashes in recent years with air crash investigation officials stating that deliberate pilot, co-pilot or air crew personnel had a hand in bringing the plane down intentionally.
Pilots have to go through extensive psychological testing before being placed at the controls of large passenger jets.
Although actions, including implementation of the 2 Person Cockpit Rule, will be taken in response to this particular plane crash, I’ll leave you to ponder these words from Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr.
No matter your safety regulations, no matter how high you set the bar, and we have incredibly high standards, there is no way to rule out such an event
Nothing, so far, indicates a terrorist attack, and you can hardly use the word suicide when so many other people were killed, so what made Andreas Lubitz, a 28 year old pilot with 630 hours flight time experience (the captain had over 6,000) crash the plane?
Regardless of whether the 2 Person Cockpit Rule is in place, it is important and hopefully comforting to know that plane flight is still, by far the safest mode of transport.