Lufthansa Germanwings airplane crash, scary and sad

[cassiesmom]

I heard on the news this morning that the Lufthansa Germanwings plane that crashed in the Alps was a deliberate action. The co-pilot apparently locked the pilot out of the cockpit and crashed the plane himself. What would be a reason for the pilot to step out of the cockpit during the flight, I wonder? What must have been going through the co-pilot's mind for him to decide to do that?

One of the passengers was an opera singer who performed with the Lyric Opera several years ago. So there is a Chicago connection to this sad story. I also heard there was a group of students from the same school who had been in an exchange program and were on their way home. So tragic for that school and town.

[smokey the elder]

This was such a shame.

The pilot probably needed a bio break. How was he to know the copilot would lock him out?

[Lady's Human]

My sole question as details emerge is simple:

What was someone with a history of depression doing in command of an aircraft to begin with?

[cassiesmom]

I thought there was a rule requiring more than one person in the cockpit at all times.

[Lady's Human]

Not that I'm aware of, otherwise A 320s and the RJs (regional jets) would have been designed with cockpit spaces for three flight crew members. On any flight more than 1/2 hour or so there's a good chance someone's going to have to use the bathroom.

[RICHARD]

WAAAAAY before we, us regular folks, begin to think about the 'whys' of the accident?

Let's start to think about the people who lost family members on board?

I FN hate the media and their 'jumping' to conclusions about why someone decided to auger an aircraft into the side of a mountain.

Here are a few things to take into consideration....

IF this was an idiot with a death wish, he would have done it as soon as the pilot left the cockpit - the same with a 'terrorist action'.....I'd think that someone would have left some kind of message or made a comment that was able to be picked up on the CP audio. This is something more than a run-of-the-mill suicide. This was probably an action based on some kind of vengeance or retribution - This idiot has some kind of beef with his employers or the world.

Don't listen to the 'latest' news. It's too soon to try to figure out the what and whys.

(On a side note, MSNBC is already talking to the people who are lining up the criminal case against Lufthansa, Airbus and the people who put the peanuts on board the plane.)

[Lady's Human]

As to the people who were lost, prayers have already gone out.


When the German chancellor thinks she has enough evidence to run with, i think the case is fairly well closed. Details will emerge over time, but the 50000 ft view of the event is fairly clear, and as more information comes out it just looks more damning.

This isn't like other airline crashes where they had no physical evidence to work with. They got the black boxes fairly rapidly, and the airbus is fly by wire, so the telemetry and data recordings are direct inputs from the flight computers.