Germanwings co-pilot's browser showed research on suicide and cockpit door security
The co-pilot who intentionally crashed a Germanwings plane into the French Alps last week, killing all 150 aboard, had researched suicide and cockpit door security beforehand, prosecutors say.
Andreas Lubitz, who apparently locked the pilot out of the cabin when the senior officer took a restroom break, had also concealed from doctors treating him for mental-health issues that he was flying commercial airliners, according to the Associated Press and Reuters.
The crash has led to reconsideration of standards for evaluating the fitness of pilots to fly, as well as whether a mechanism making it possible to lock the cockpit door from inside, which became standard after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, is the best safety practice. A group of experts tasked with making recommendations was announced by Germany on Thursday.
“It is very important that we say we don’t want to wait until the end of the investigation, which can take a relatively long time for these kind of air catastrophes,” said President Klaus-Peter Siegloch. He is president of B.D.L., a German airline industry trade group.
