Given the German attitude to engineering i.e. 'belt and braces' it amazes me that Lufthansa didn't follow most other major airline policy of 'one out one in' i.e. if pilot or co-pilot leaves the cockpit someone else stands in. That makes it less likely that someone acting alone could crash the plane deliberately as appears to have happened here. I suspect a policy change will follow.
If a pilot wants to crash a plane they will find a way, even a one in one out policy , what would stop him drugging the pilot or knocking him unconscious?
Said the same myself on policy change though I think it will become aviation law. I also wouldn't be surprised to see toilets introduced to the cockpit soon so pilots have no reason to leave. Also expect to see the black boxes replaced or supplemented by a remote version beamed back to a server somewhere live and stored away from the plane. Would have helped in the last 3 major plane crashes
Nothing at all but it reduces the odds as you would need collusion. Not sure drugging or assaulting the other party is practical. They have strict rules re food and drink i.e different meals must be provided for pilot and co-pilot
Nothing but its all about reducing chances. After 9/11 changes were made to reinforce the cockpit door but there is nothing stopping a terrorist from taking the entire cabin crew and passenger set hostage and forcing the pilots to unlock the cockpit. You can't make it completely safe but you can reduce the chances. Every plane crash, whilst terrible, is a good thing for the rest of us as the failures in those crashes are eliminated or reduced for every future flight
Supplement In case the signa is lost or jammed best. Could relay telemetry via Nav satellites you would think. In any case modern tech has the answer to lost/destroyed black boxes
When I was a kid I was invited up to the cockpit a few times, once in a 747 over the Atlantic. Being a bit of a plane geek I thought this was amazing, it's a shame kids don't get the opportunity to do that anymore.
I remember when a pilot let a kid (his son) sit in the pilots seat for a few seconds. The kid subsequently crashed the plane killing all 75 on board
I got invited in as an adult. Flying to the Caribbean and they double booked our seats, so they stood us at the back to wait to see where the empty seats would be. I was leaning against what I thought was the wall and it started moving. Luckily moved just before a hatch opened so they could load up all the in flight meals. Quite a drop from a big old aeroplane. The staff were obviously really apologetic at inconveniencing me and then nearly killing me, so the captain invited me and my girlfriend up to the cabin as we were flying over Charleston. Really quite odd seeing it from the front. I'd only ever flown to Paris before, so was still a little nervous flying, and seeing it out of the front didn't really help. One of those things that I'm glad I experienced, but wouldn't want to do again, like flying in a helicopter or going to Birmingham City away.
I reckon flying a helicopter yourself with no prior training would be safer than Birmingham City away.
I could be wrong but it sounds like airlines are only starting to adopt a one in, one out policy now.
