EU forms cockpit safety task force after Germanwings crash
The European Commission (EC) has announced the establishment of a task force to look into cockpit safety rules after a co-pilot in March deliberately crashed a Germanwings flight, killing all 150 on board.
The commission, which serves as the European Union’s executive arm, said it had called on the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to review the safety rules of the European flights’ cockpits.
“There is a whole series of rules in place but the task force is going to look at them and see what more might be needed,” said the EC spokesman, Jakub Adamowicz, in a press briefing, adding that the group would hold its first meeting in Brussels on Thursday.
The EC also said in a statement that the task force would examine “the cockpit door locking system and cockpit access and exit procedures, as well as the criteria and procedures applied to the medical monitoring of pilots.”
The announcement came after French investigators revealed in a Wednesday report that the 27-year-old co-pilot of the doomed Germanwings flight, Andreas Lubitz, intentionally crashed the passenger aircraft into the French Alps on March 24 after “rehearsing” the maneuver on the outbound trip from Dusseldorf to Barcelona.
On the return flight, the report added, Lubitz locked the door after the pilot left the cockpit and then set the airliner into a steep descent.
The cockpit recorder later revealed that the pilot made frantic efforts to re-enter the cockpit to no avail.
Following the crash, it was revealed that the co-pilot had sought medical treatment for vision problems and depression shortly before the tragic incident took place.
MFB/MKA/SS
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