A Tragedy for Sure - Germanwing Crash

No. Its because 'strayans are simply closer to, and more interested in, other 'strayans.

God forbid that either your wife or children or anyone of your close relatives is ever killed in an accident. But if such terrible event ever did happen, you will no doubt simply ignore the fact, You will allow the "authorities" to deal with the situation, and dispose of the remains. You won't waste your time telling other relatives or close friends. Life for you and your remaining family will simply continue, unaffected by such triviality.

There is nothing stopping you from contributing to aid agencies or lobbying your government to spend more on overseas aid or child welfare or allocate more police time to sex slavery in the UK.

The news channels in the UK do highlight situations similar to those you outline above. As I indicated above, we also have two specific programmes lasting about a week each, drawing attention to global poverty and child deprivation.

If I don't know someone, I don't know them, whether they are from the same country as me or not. The news that two of the deceased were 'strayans is of zero interest to me. It is sadly (but necessarily) the nature of things that we are less concerned for those we don't know. For me, the nationality of those I don't know is not a factor in this.

Should friends or relatives be killed in an accident, whether it is an airline crash or other type of accident will be irrelevant to my grieving.

The black box has been found and it has usable data, but the French still have not figured out how and why the plane crashed yet.

Just how many aircraft disasters is it going to take before the airline industry joins the digital age and transmits all flight data electronically and stores it in a safe, secure location, instead of a little black box that goes down with the aircraft?

Fair point, the black box should only be their as a lay safety net....

Fair point.

A friend of mine used to work for Ampex (Reel to Reel tape - remember ?) but he worked in their data recording division. He now works for a small company that manufactures and installs data transmission equipment that is fitted to engines/generators world-wide. The engine manufacturers receive data 24/7 from their global installation network. Not rocket science.

Similar equipment of his is fitted to military aircraft.

RR and presumably the other two big aero engine manufacturers seem to "rent" their engines these days to the airlines and take care of maintenance, repairs and replacements. They receive data from their engines in  flight and can inform the flight crew of a potential problem long before the flight crew would otherwise be aware.

It probably just needs ICAO to regulate the fitment of data transmission kit to all CAT aircraft in relation to airspeed, control inputs etc ie the data that Flight Data Recorders are required to capture and it should happen. It needs ICAO regulations otherwise the likes of Ryanair, Jet2 and WhizzAir won't comply.

I'd want speed limiters fitted to cars before this. These days they could easily be speed limit aware and adjust to the prevailing speed limit. Much bigger payoff.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32049350

Here you go. Right on cue.

Give it a rest, for once, Don. Please.

Another a similar reliability of statistics!

Haven't we been here before?

How tragic for the families.

It seems that the co-pilot deliberately crashed the plane. Do we need sky marshals in the cockpit now?

It seems that the French prosecutor has reached some preliminary conclusions from the transcripts of recovered CVR.. Can it be this simple that a co-pilot goes crazy and causes this mass crime?

Your last irrelevant post in that other thread was self-defeating. No doubt you actually realised that but posted none-the-less.

Its a sure fire sign of hopelessness when people turn to ".....unless you provide the statistics...blah blah"

....or can only repeat a previous post - "Give it a rest etc......" by jumping on a pathetic little band-wagon.

Looks like a few airlines have already decided to have no less than two crew members on the flight deck at all times, even if one of them has to be a flight attendant.

Well that seems to be a crazy over-reaction.

Well that seems to be a crazy over-reaction.

Why?  Many airlines already do that.

Seems that the aircraft security measures taken after 911 to prevent terrorists getting into the cockpit have had the unintended consequence of preventing the pilot and other aircrew gaining access when the co-pilot locked himself in a flew the plane into the mountains.  The evening's news mentioned that a few airlines have already announced a policy of 'no-one should ever be left alone in the cockpit'.

At least the grieving relatives have a quick explanation for the tragedy, though no doubt investigations will continue into the mental state and possible motives of the co-pilot.   

Many long-haul flights (greater than c.10 hours) already have three pilots. Its mainly the shorter haul routes that only have two

And yes, its as much about economics as safety. Always a balance. You pays your money and..............

I wonder if one of the pilots of MH370 paid a visit ?

And for forensics there should be cameras in the cockpit. In this case these would have shown that the co-pilot is alive and conscious, sets the descent, and locks the door.

Don

Many long-haul flights (greater than c.10 hours) already have three pilots. Its mainly the shorter haul routes that only have two

 

And yes, its as much about economics as safety. Always a balance. You pays your money and..............

I don't think they are talking about a 3rd pilot on short haul flights but simply having one of the cabin crew temporarily enter the cockpit when one of the pilots takes a toilet break.  A number of European airlines do this already so there is no financial impact.

MDS makes a good point. The impregnable cabin door is a function of changes made after terror attacks. And so it goes..

Seems to me good PR and perhaps common sense to change the policy, but if someone is determined enough to act as appears to have been the case I'm sure they could still get around it

Bruce

It always has been, and likely will always be, impossible to completely allow for or to completely prevent the actions of irrational individuals.

Yep, I think that's what I said at the bottom of Page 1.

Which is the greater threat, terrorists or insane pilots ?

Are there other threats that should be considered ?

I was not making a judgement just pointing out the law of 'unintended consequences'. As I said the determined will always find a way through safety procedures.

FWIW I don't fly now (well once in 15 years), I think we have come to believe air travel is 'essential' when it is not. I also think it presents a far greater danger to us via pollution of the atmosphere then via isolated accidents.

I also lost a good friend in the sky over Lockerbie. At least we will have some sort of explanation of the events that occurred this week. The families of those victims have never really had that.

Bruce