Germanwings Airbus crash 24 March #1

[Dr. Know?]

CARIIS, I'd take your mechanical/plane knowledge over this anytime. Hang in there!

Twitter world is blowing up in shock too. fwiw

 

[Zuri]

ok i am trying to get up off the ground


wow is all i have to utter


wow

kinda needy now what is going on for you all this is purpose? pls reply I am numb never crossed my mind and I was much "better" with figuring out other stuff

just stunned here

help

CARIIS, are you okay? Please let us know. We are here. We are here for you.

 

[watcher9]

Has anyone heard if the pilot inside the cockpit uttered any words that were picked up on the CVR?
What if someone else had entered the cockpit and rendered that pilot unconscious?

 

[Dr. Know?]

If indeed it was a terrorist act, I would have thought the terrorist group would have taken credit by now. Now I am wondering if this was pilot suicide, a medical event or something else untoward.

On these short flights, does a Flight Engineer fly with the pilot and co-pilot? Also, the airline has only mentioned one pilot, having 10 years experience and 6000 hours of flight time on the A320. Pi have seen no mention of the other pilot. Anyone?

Glad you mentioned this Zuri. Had to work on taxes today but thought how odd it was only the one pilots flying time was mentioned, nothing about the other. No names of either was also odd after a few days.

 

[Peanutty]

I fear pilot suicide more than terrorism. I think if it was terrorism related, a group would have public ally claimed responsibility by now.

CARIIS I hope you are ok. I too find this very horrifying and difficult to process.

 

[GinaSeikwa]

No there's no flight engineer and from the beginning they have never referenced the first officer in anything I have read. They have always only mentioned the captain and his experience.

 

[restarea]

Anderson Cooper keeps talking about the passengers watching the pilot banging on the door knowing the plane was going down and its just absolutely horrifying to think about.

 

[Hatfield]

OMG. Thank you for linking this article. In our efforts to protect the cockpit from terrorists since 9/11, the airline industry seems to have done an outstanding job. So much so, that a pilot could not re-enter the cockpit and was locked out. How do we fix this issue? So that the pilots, crew and passengers stay safe, but also have access in the rare occurrence that something like this happens?

With all the security technology available, is it possible to have iris recognition or thumbprint recognition or a "code of the day" that could allow pilots not in the cockpit to re-enter securely? Oh, this just furthers the tragedy. So so sad.

Thanks again to all for their links and posts.

Was thinking the same sort of thing.

Easily fixed with many options.

1-have a 12 inch thick solid steel welded to floor combination lock safe outside the cockpit door and only the pilots know the combination to get the single key to the cockpit door.

2-Have a portable toilet (a pail) in the cockpit so the pilots NEVER have to leave the cockpit.
If pilot has to do #2, sure it may smell a little but it is very rare for #2 for pilots and would rather have them deal with the smell than what just happened.

3 - Have a policy where Pilots can NEVER break protocol and leave just 1 in cockpit. If 1 has to leave, demand a stewardess replaces him in cockpit.


There are probably many other good ideas. We cannot let this happen. Wondering why 15 volunteer passengers could not have rammed that door open. Maybe 8 minutes is not enough time. maybe they were close to getting through.

This is horrifying to think what happened. OMG.

 

[Hatfield]

ok i am trying to get up off the ground


wow is all i have to utter


wow

kinda needy now what is going on for you all this is purpose? pls reply I am numb never crossed my mind and I was much "better" with figuring out other stuff

just stunned here

help

Me too Cariis. Just stunned here. OMG

 

[Madeleine74]

There's supposed to be a policy in place where a flight attendant will also be in the cockpit if either the pilot or copilot needs to leave the cockpit (like for a bathroom break) so that neither pilot is alone. It appears only one pilot (or was it the copilot?) was in the cockpit, locked in. Why wasn't a flight attendant in the cockpit as protocol? All this security and then the security itself causes what turns into a catastrophic event.

 

[AlwaysShocked]

Pilots are saying it is totally against protocol for any one pilot to be alone in the cockpit. There should always be two in cockpit, in the event of an emergency.

Pilots also saying even if pilot became unconscious, just slumping against the "joystick" would be unlikely to change its position. Plus the pattern of the descent, with ONLY the altitude changing over the course of the eight minutes would not lend itself to the controls being bumped.

The beginning of the descent was AFTER Pilot#2 had left the cockpit. The door to the cockpit closes and locks as people leave the cockpit. It is locked from the inside, cannot be opened from the outside. Which is why a second person should be in there with the lone pilot.

None of the reports so far have said who the two pilots were and which was in the cabin and which was banging on the door trying to get back into the cockpit.

So, basically, a pilot is in the cockpit alone for 8 minutes as the plane descends and a co-pilot is yelling and banging on the door the entire time. Yet the pilot makes no contact with anyone - does not answer the guy beating on the door, does not use cockpit radio at all.

---------------------------------

In reading about the supposed suicide of the Egyptian Air Flight 900 pilot, one of the theories put forth (not by the NTSB but by some others) was that the pilot was coerced into crashing the plane via threats from terrorists to kill all of his family members. This is the guy who was heard to say "God be with me" ten or more times on the Flight Data Recorder.

Never revealed until years after that crash is the fact that about a dozen very high up Egyptian military leaders who had just attended a training conference in the U.S. were on that flight. Brigadier Generals, etc.

The Egyptian government never accepted the NTSB report that it was a deliberate act by the pilot. They conducted their own investigation and determined the possibility of a mechanical failure of a part.

 

[wfgodot]

Wow. That's all I got, just -- wow.

 

[Madeleine74]

Well so much for all the armchair experts who just knew, absolutely knew, it was a technical problem with the plane, right down to which nut or bolt was at fault. Pffffttt. Everyone imagines themselves an expert these days, to the point where they don't have to have any actual expertise and their imaginations are all the evidence they need. double pfffftttt.

 

[restarea]

The friends of Emily Selke that were just on CNN broke my heart. One was talking about how much it upset her to see articles saying "the 5 things you need to know about Emily Selke" because she was so much more than 5 bulletpoints.

 

[cuffem]

Well so much for all the armchair experts who just knew, absolutely knew, it was a technical problem with the plane, right down to which nut or bolt was at fault. Pffffttt. Everyone imagines themselves an expert these days, to the point where they don't have to have any actual expertise and their imaginations are all the evidence they need. double pfffftttt.

Just as 9/11 it is hard to imagine someone doing something so horrific.

 

[fruity]

This just took a horrifying turn

 

[Hatfield]

Pilots are saying it is totally against protocol for any one pilot to be alone in the cockpit. There should always be two in cockpit, in the event of an emergency.

Pilots also saying even if pilot became unconscious, just slumping against the "joystick" would be unlikely to change its position. Plus the pattern of the descent, with ONLY the altitude changing over the course of the eight minutes would not lend itself to the controls being bumped.

The beginning of the descent was AFTER Pilot#2 had left the cockpit. The door to the cockpit closes and locks as people leave the cockpit. It is locked from the inside, cannot be opened from the outside. Which is why a second person should be in there with the lone pilot.

None of the reports so far have said who the two pilots were and which was in the cabin and which was banging on the door trying to get back into the cockpit.

So, basically, a pilot is in the cockpit alone for 8 minutes as the plane descends and a co-pilot is yelling and banging on the door the entire time. Yet the pilot makes no contact with anyone - does not answer the guy beating on the door, does not use cockpit radio at all.

---------------------------------

In reading about the supposed suicide of the Egyptian Air Flight 900 pilot, one of the theories put forth (not by the NTSB but by some others) was that the pilot was coerced into crashing the plane via threats from terrorists to kill all of his family members. This is the guy who was heard to say "God be with me" ten or more times on the Flight Data Recorder.

Never revealed until years after that crash is the fact that about a dozen very high up Egyptian military leaders who had just attended a training conference in the U.S. were on that flight. Brigadier Generals, etc.

The Egyptian government never accepted the NTSB report that it was a deliberate act by the pilot. They conducted their own investigation and determined the possibility of a mechanical failure of a part.

Interesting as I had not read about the Egyptian one.

The missing MH370 flight I believe in IMO only that it was similar to this recent 1 that just happened in the mountain. For the MH370 which still is not found, I believe the pilot himself wrecked that plane on purpose and he somehow knocked out the copilot or choked him to death or something.

It was alleged that pilot made some last minute Cell Phone calls right before boarding which was very suspicious if true.
Again, JMO on that but I followed that one here on WS for a long time and that is my current thought because it seems so many things were purposely done and no communication with ground just like this one.

 

[Snick1946]

Could they be withholding the names of the crew because they suspect some terrorist conspiracy? Or maybe they don't want the public jumping to conclusions if some of them were Middle Eastern.
I sure did not see this coming- and I find it incredible they released this already. This will get more tragic and frightening as time goes by.

 

[Madeleine74]

Just as 9/11 it is hard to imagine someone doing something so horrific.

It is, but we still don't have all the facts, so...

I find it horrifying in any event, regardless.

 

[Dr. Know?]

@AC360: #Lufthansa responds to @NYTimes report that #Germanwings pilot was locked out of cockpit http://cnn.it/1NaavbG "

http://www.snappytv.com/tc/526615/110379