Germanwings airliner crashes in French Alps

[Matt]

It's being reported over here that German police have apparently found something of significance in the co-pilots house.

[xxMATTGxx]

Bit of an update this morning

Alps crash co-pilot Andreas Lubitz hid the details of an existing illness from his employers, German prosecutors say.

They said they found torn-up sick notes in his homes, including one covering the day of the crash.

In their report, Duesseldorf prosecutors did not say what illness Mr Lubitz had.

But German media have said aviation authority documents suggested he suffered depression and required ongoing assessment.

Prosecutors said there was no evidence of a political or religious motive to his actions, and no suicide note was found.

Mr Lubitz and 149 passengers and crew died when Germanwings flight 4U 9525 crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday.

Data from the plane's voice recorder suggest Mr Lubitz purposely started an eight-minute descent into mountains as the pilot was locked out of the cockpit.

In their statement, prosecutors said they seized medical documents from Mr Lubitz's two residences which indicated "an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment".

But "the fact that, among the documents found, there were sick notes - torn-up, current and for the day of the crash - leads to the provisional assessment that the deceased was hiding his illness from his employer", the report states.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32087203

[wixard]

came here to post this

when it first came out that he may have deliberately crashed the plane i asked someone how often do pilots have psychological evaluation

does anyone know? do airlines even provide this or is it just in the initial training?

[xxMATTGxx]

came here to post this

when it first came out that he may have deliberately crashed the plane i asked someone how often do pilots have psychological evaluation

does anyone know? do airlines even provide this or is it just in the initial training?

I can only go by what I have been reading but I think it may differ between each airline by the looks of this article: http://www.wsj.com/articles/screenin...lps-1427414062

Maybe @Kieran; can answer part of your question. I think they have to get checked every year or something? But I don't know what sort of tests it involves.

[Richie]

came here to post this

when it first came out that he may have deliberately crashed the plane i asked someone how often do pilots have psychological evaluation

does anyone know? do airlines even provide this or is it just in the initial training?

Shouldn't that be done with everyone in a position that have full control of others? My bus driver could easily go full speed into a wall. Obviously it wouldn't be as catastrophic but it could still kill people.

[Kardan]

came here to post this

when it first came out that he may have deliberately crashed the plane i asked someone how often do pilots have psychological evaluation

does anyone know? do airlines even provide this or is it just in the initial training?

I heard that pilots have an annual medical exam and that's mainly a physical exam, although the doctors taking the exam often ask psychological questions. So that sounds to me like it all depends on your doctor in regards to psychological checks after your initial checks.

[wixard]

Shouldn't that be done with everyone in a position that have full control of others? My bus driver could easily go full speed into a wall. Obviously it wouldn't be as catastrophic but it could still kill people.

i feel like operating a plane could lead to something more catastrophic and endanger a much greater number of lives if you also take into consideration the area they crash

obviously my taxi driver could swerve onto a road and kill about 7 people, a plane could crash into a building killing hundreds

[scottish]

i feel like operating a plane could lead to something more catastrophic and endanger a much greater number of lives if you also take into consideration the area they crash

obviously my taxi driver could swerve onto a road and kill about 7 people, a plane could crash into a building killing hundreds

yeah I argued that point on Skype to him, if you started psych testing bus drivers, you'd have to do it to taxi drivers then even going on from that a civilian could cause same damage as a taxi driver etc. so wouldn't work

obviously a plane of 100-300 people and the massive size of the plane and fact it's in the air and not stuck on a road makes it a lot more dangerous and maximizes potential casualties than say a bus.

[Kieran]

I see myself being included so ask away

Yes we have yearly medicals and no they don't contain psychological stuff, purely a physical exam of your health. When starting with companies you may undergo a psychological test but that's about it. Very rarely would you do one again unless it was deemed necessary that you may need one.