French Air Crash

[Stadt]

Imagine if it made the news everytime someone died in a car crash all around the world?

[NewburyFox]

I wouldn't be surprised if that record gets surpassed almost every year.

These crashes are so uncommon that they were barely reported. When MH370 vanished, THAT was uncommon, so the media have cashed in on reporting every major disaster since then.

 

The second line makes no sense - they were uncommon so they weren't reported? Having 150 people die in a plane crash is tragic news on a global scale, given how many people aviation affects. They're hardly cashing in on it - why shouldn't they report major disasters?

 

Imagine if it made the news everytime someone died in a car crash all around the world?

 

If there was 150 people in the cars involved then maybe the crash would be reported.

[Jon the Hat]

I fly 100's of flight each year and really don't worry, next week I'm flying to Japan via Frankfurt, I'm more likely to die driving home than on a flight

 

Another reason to get a taxi.  Always get a taxi.  TAXI TAXI TAXI.  Flying then driving is a bad idea.  TAXI.

[Vlad the Fox]

Taxi drivers are some of the worst drivers I've ever had the privilege of sharing a car with.WALK WALK WALK, I say, cross country away from any roads, WALK. Whatch out for Bulls though.

[Jon the Hat]

Taxi drivers are some of the worst drivers I've ever had the privilege of sharing a car with.WALK WALK WALK, I say, cross country away from any roads, WALK. Whatch out for Bulls though.

 

Obviously you find a decent company. I Taxi to and from Heathrow and Gatwick a couple of times a month with very careful Taxi drivers.  I find if they own their own cars they are much more careful.

[Sir Fynwy]

Another reason to get a taxi. Always get a taxi. TAXI TAXI TAXI. Flying then driving is a bad idea. TAXI.

No way, taxis are lethal, I'd rather drive straight after a 13 hour flight than get in a taxi [emoji6]

[Guest MattP]

Another reason to get a taxi.  Always get a taxi.  TAXI TAXI TAXI.  Flying then driving is a bad idea.  TAXI.

 

Book a car, not a taxi.

 

Far more comfortable and the price isn't even that much more expensive these days.

[Guest kristianity77]

I've been on planes hit by lightning, dropping 1000 feet because of clear air turbulence, aborting landing etc, just hang on and watch people panic is my advice

Clear air turbulence is the worst!  One incident of that alone pretty much started off my fear of flying when I was in my early twenties.  Normal turbulence shaking left and right if perfectly fine, Clear air turbulence is a whole different ball game and is terrifying when it happens.  

[Guest Kopfkino]

I normally refrain from paying too much attention to the mainstream media 'speculating' following air accidents but for some reason I'm struggling to ignore this one from the NYT

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/world/europe/germanwings-airbus-crash.html

If it's true and that is a big if then either the pilot was incapacitated for some reason(maybe the windshield scenario mooted this morning) and couldn't let him back in or it was a deliberate act not to let him back and some appaling foul play has occured here. There's been barely any information regarding the crew apart from that the captain had 6000 hours on type or whatever it was, no names and bothing about FO. Normally this information is realeased quickly but there's been nothing. Maybe there's other reasons for that but I hope this investigation can be more swift than the AirAsia or MH370 ones

[MPH]

I normally refrain from paying too much attention to the mainstream media 'speculating' following air accidents but for some reason I'm struggling to ignore this one from the NYThttp://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/world/europe/germanwings-airbus-crash.html

If it's true and that is a big if then either the pilot was incapacitated for some reason(maybe the windshield scenario mooted this morning) and couldn't let him back in or it was a deliberate act not to let him back and some appaling foul play has occured here. There's been barely any information regarding the crew apart from that the captain had 6000 hours on type or whatever it was, no names and bothing about FO. Normally this information is realeased quickly but there's been nothing. Maybe there's other reasons for that but I hope this investigation can be more swift than the AirAsia or MH370 ones

Definitely worthy of looking into that further... the report i read said that the pilot could be heard banging on the door but there is no reply coming from the pilot in the cockpit. It stated that the door would have to of been purposefully locked.

That would of been absolutely terrifying for the passengers to of gone through- watching their pilot banging and shouting to get into his own cockpit... A slow terrifying decent to what they would of known to be their impending death..

[Guest Kopfkino]

Definitely worthy of looking into that further... the report i read said that the pilot could be heard banging on the door but there is no reply coming from the pilot in the cockpit. It stated that the door would have to of been purposefully locked.

That would of been absolutely terrifying for the passengers to of gone through- watching their pilot banging and shouting to get into his own cockpit... A slow terrifying decent to what they would of known to be their impending death..

The theory is gathering momentum for sure and it's quite a sickeing thing to think about. There's been an long running dispute with the pilots and Lufthansa with regards to early retirement entitilement and other things. There have been strikes over this too. There is precedent for this after the Egyptair disaster in '99 where it's widely accepted that it was a deliberate act to crash the plane with some speculating that it was due to the employer-employee relationship.

I really hope it didn't pan out like this and the passengers weren't aware. As you say it would have been terrifying for them to see a pilot not able to enter the cockpit whilst seeing the alps rapidly approach out the window. I know in America you can still send texts and make phonecalls whilst on a plane but I'm not sure if it's the same for Europe, especially over the Alps. If it was possible you'd think somebody would have sent a text or something had they known what was coming

[Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot]

There is just something really off putting about the speculation around these incidents not being put to bed and the outcome of any investigation being very vague.

[Collymore]

One pilot went for a piss and the other locked the door when he went which is common protocol since 911. Pilot then has a heat attack and brushed his control stick taking it off autopilot and starting the decent.

Those doors are designed to withstand a heavey beating. How unfortunate.

[J.Lisemore]

Not sure if mentioned already but, I'm sure I heard on the news that a girl had initially forgotten her passport, so mum and dad picked it up for her, and she eventually made the flight.

[Merging Cultures]

One pilot went for a piss and the other locked the door when he went which is common protocol since 911. Pilot then has a heat attack and brushed his control stick taking it off autopilot and starting the decent.

Those doors are designed to withstand a heavey beating. How unfortunate.

Apparently there is a protocol for having a steward go to the cockpit if a pilot goes to the loo. It doesn't seem to have been observed this time.

Also, there is a keypad that is supposed to allow entry from the outside if the pilot inside has a medical problem. However, that can be deactivated for 5mins at a time by the pilot inside to prevent someone entering. So, it seems likely that the pilot inside turned the keypad off and prevented the other pilot entering.

[Itsthejoeker]

The news are branding this as a terrorist act already, which to me is absolutely disgusting. What may have been an accident is going to tarnish a man/woman's name because of unfounded speculation.

Terrorists don't take 8 minutes to crash a plane either, the rate of descent was no where near a nosedive.

[Merging Cultures]

The news are branding this as a terrorist act already, which to me is absolutely disgusting. What may have been an accident is going to tarnish a man/woman's name because of unfounded speculation.

Terrorists don't take 8 minutes to crash a plane either, the rate of descent was no where near a nosedive.

 

Apparently, the software doesn't allow a nosedive. The plane was descending at the greatest rate the software allows.

[Babylon]

It stated that the door would have to of been purposefully locked.

I wouldn't read too much in to that, I would imagine standard procedure would be for the door to be locked for security reasons. Although you really have to ask questions about how a pilot can be left alone and the other pilot not being able to gain access if he should leave. That just sounds like an accident waiting to happen, or an opportunity for foul play anyway.

[Babylon]

Apparently there is a protocol for having a steward go to the cockpit if a pilot goes to the loo. It doesn't seem to have been observed this time.

Also, there is a keypad that is supposed to allow entry from the outside if the pilot inside has a medical problem. However, that can be deactivated for 5mins at a time by the pilot inside to prevent someone entering. So, it seems likely that the pilot inside turned the keypad off and prevented the other pilot entering.

Interesting.

[Sir Fynwy]

Clear air turbulence is the worst! One incident of that alone pretty much started off my fear of flying when I was in my early twenties. Normal turbulence shaking left and right if perfectly fine, Clear air turbulence is a whole different ball game and is terrifying when it happens.

In the incident where our plane fell 1000 feet people without belts on hit the ceiling of the plane and one bloke broke an arm, I always make sure my belt is on when sitting now.

[Jon the Hat]

One pilot went for a piss and the other locked the door when he went which is common protocol since 911. Pilot then has a heat attack and brushed his control stick taking it off autopilot and starting the decent.

Those doors are designed to withstand a heavey beating. How unfortunate.

 

Indeed, cabin doors are always locked.  If protocol is to have a steward enter the cockpit to avoid such incidents and they didn't that is very unfortunate.

[leicsmac]

The news are branding this as a terrorist act already, which to me is absolutely disgusting. What may have been an accident is going to tarnish a man/woman's name because of unfounded speculation.

Terrorists don't take 8 minutes to crash a plane either, the rate of descent was no where near a nosedive.

 

Yup, right now all we have is pointless speculation. There are a hundred different reasons why a pilot might have been locked out of the cockpit that aren't nefarious.

 

Still, in this day and age it's all about 'terror terror terror'...because, you know, it sells.

[DB11]

Indeed, cabin doors are always locked.  If protocol is to have a steward enter the cockpit to avoid such incidents and they didn't that is very unfortunate.

 

Unfortunate is putting it mildly. It's negligent.

[Merging Cultures]

Yup, right now all we have is pointless speculation. There are a hundred different reasons why a pilot might have been locked out of the cockpit that aren't nefarious.

 

Still, in this day and age it's all about 'terror terror terror'...because, you know, it sells.

 

Except, they can't be locked out unless the person/people inside the cockpit want to lock them out. There is a keypad that allows them to enter from the outside, unless the person/people inside deactivate it.

[shen]

Definitely worthy of looking into that further... the report i read said that the pilot could be heard banging on the door but there is no reply coming from the pilot in the cockpit. It stated that the door would have to of been purposefully locked.

That would of been absolutely terrifying for the passengers to of gone through- watching their pilot banging and shouting to get into his own cockpit... A slow terrifying decent to what they would of known to be their impending death..

 

I don't like to be a grammar nazi, but I found this case pretty extreme. Four times in a couple of lines! It's "have", not "of".

 

But I agree with your sentiment, this scenario would be absolutely horrible if true. I remember an Air crash investigation episode about a TransAsia flight where a pilot did exactly that and nosedived into the ocean on purpose. There was a lot of covering up afterwards with the NTSBs conclusion not being heard in court. Not too dissimilar to the EgyptAir crash in the 1990s I suppose...