Germanwings Plane Crash: Pilot 'locked Out Of Cockpit'

[naomi24]

//One of the two pilots of the Germanwings plane that crashed in the French Alps was locked out of the cockpit, according to reports.

Early findings from the cockpit voice recorder suggest the pilot made desperate efforts to get back in, sources close to the investigation say.//

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32062278

Is there no way at all that the crew can access the cockpit in an emergency? I wonder if the pilot left in control suffered a heart attack?

[ladybirder]

Yes dreadful DTC. The families of the pilots were in a separate room from other families. Imagine looking at each other and wondering which pilot had left the cabin and which was left at the controls.

[chrissa1]

I have just heard this awful, awful news. Those poor, poor passengers and crew. My heart goes out to them.

[slaney]

Awaiting Clanad's opinion but from the Los Angeles Times...

"American experts say the typical procedure is for a flight attendant to use a food cart to block access to the cockpit when the pilot opens the door to leave. A flight attendant is supposed to remain in the cockpit and open the door for the pilot upon his or her return.



"It's a standard procedure" that Germanwings should have followed, Winn said. “That’s nothing secret. Everybody knows.”

If a member of the flight crew doesn't open the locked cockpit door from the inside, according to a manual for the Airbus A320 available online, the door can also be unlocked by the cabin crew outside the cockpit by entering a two- to seven-digit code, pre-programmed by the airline, on a keypad."
http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-german-jet-crash-door-20150325-story.html

[237SJ]

That`s in the US slapshot. Doesn`t happen here because the CAA doesn`t have a rule that two people have to be on the flight deck at all times. FAA and CAA (and now a centralised system called EASA) have different rules. I know how it works with "us", I know what has probably happened because I know what flight deck access procedures are but nobody`s giving specifics for obvious reasons.

[237SJ]

Sorry, meant slaney not slapshot.

[237SJ]

Also when I said it doesn`t happen here, I meant the bit about blocking the door with a trolley. I`m not thinking straight at the moment.

[Prudie]

My heart also goes out to all those on the plane - bar 1. It's an inconceivably diabolical thing to do, those poor people must have been terrified at the end. I always look out the window when flying, some of them must have realised they were descending when they shouldn't be. Dreadful dreadful event.

[slaney]

I wondered if there were different rules here about the number of people on the flight deck, 237SJ - thanks.

I dare say it will all change as a result of this awful event

[naomi24]

Gromit, as far as I know the ‘heart attack theory’ wasn’t official – it’s simply something I thought may have been responsible for this tragedy. No one likes to think the worst.

[Ellipsis]

> some of them must have realised they were descending when they shouldn't be

Especially as the pilot was going nuts trying to get back onto the flight deck ...

[slaney]

This won't be the last such announcement I imagine - Norwegian Air Shuttle have just announced that it will require two people to be in the cockpit at all times....
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/norwegian-air-shuttle-require-two-people-cockpit-144926794.html#ox1n0T1

[mikey4444]

Its very early for them to be saying this but it sounds all to probable. I suggested earlier today, that it might explain other crashes, such as the MH one in December. But as we don't even know where that one crashed, let alone recover any black boxes, I guess we shall never know for sure.

[-Talbot-]

Neighbours say Andreas Guenter had a history of depression.

[Clanad]

Each airline has procedures for leaving the cockpit for physiological reasons. Many have an electronic key pad that can be accessed fro outside of the door, but in most cases that keypad can be disabeled from the cokpit. Other airlines have a key stashed somewhere in the cabib, bu that has ostly gone the way of high heels on the stews....
Latest reports indicate the recovered voice recorder clearly showed the pilot (co-pilot) was "breathing normally" throughout the 8 minute descent. We're still awaiting the finding of the Flight Data Recorder, which, from the pictures of the crash site may be a wile, if ever.

We can recall the same sort of event involvng Egypt Air back in 1999 (Flight 990) as well as the less publicized Mozambique Airlines Flight TM470 in 2013. The Egypt Air crash is still unresolved, due in most part (my opinion) to the fact the co-pilot was Muslim which may have had bearing on the event, but no
one wishes to be politically incorrect and say it. Not to mention the Maylasia flight...
Lotsa strange things going on in aviation that I would have never dreamed of when I started flying...

[237SJ]

//that I would never have dreamed of when I started flying// Me too Clanad. I remember the days when the most you would have to worry about was some nutter saying "Take me to Beirut"

[TWR]

Excuse my ignorance or please correct me, how can this be called a " Crash" when it was deliberate? yes the plane was deliberately sent into the mountain, but a crash! enlighten me.

[bhg481]

TWR - my dictionary defines a crash as "violent fall or impact"; no mention of accidental or deliberate. I think that covers it.

Your ignorance is excused.

[TWR]

Yes, I did look this up Bhg, It must be right.

[-Talbot-]

TWR
Excuse my ignorance or please correct me, how can this be called a " Crash" when it was deliberate?


I would have thought you have heard the term 'crash for cash' TWR?
That is a deliberate crash.

[mikey4444]

Its unbelievable that some people on here should be quibbling over the exact dictionary definition of a word, when there has been such a tragic loss of life.