One again, how many more to follow?

[Russell]

After the speculations of a "mass suicide" by one of the pilots of the MH370 flight, we have an apparent new case...

Co-pilot crashed plane into Alps deliberately

The co-pilot of the Germanwings aircraft that crashed in the Alps killing 150 people deliberately started the plane’s final descent while the main pilot was out of the cockpit, investigators believe.

Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said as soon as the pilot left the cockpit, the door was closed and the German co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz (28), intitiated the plane’s descent.

Mr Robin said this could only have been done voluntarily.

“It appeared the co-pilot made the most of the pilot stepping out of the cockpit,” he said.

He told reporters that there was “no indication” of terrorism.

Mr Robin said the co-pilot appeared to ignore numerous messages from air controllers and also did not send any distress signals. He said the pilot could be heard repeatedly banging on the cockpit door, attempting to gain entry. He said the recordings indicate the co-pilot was breathing normally up until the point of impact.

He said in the final eight minutes of the flight, the aircraft descended from a height of 12,000m to 2,000m until it hit the mountain at a height of between 1,600m and 2,000m.

Mr Robin said the families of the co-pilot will be questioned by authorities .

He ruled out the possibility of the co-pilot falling unconscious or hitting the descent tool by accident - “I believe this was a voluntary action. If the co-pilot falls unconscious or his head hits the descent tool, it would at most only go a little bit. This took several turns”.

He said the most plausible explanation of the crash is that the co-pilot, “through deliberate abstention, refused to open the cabin door ... to the chief pilot, and used the button” to cause the plane to lose altitude.

Speaking of the minutes while the co-pilot was alone in the cockpit, the prosecutor said “in the cockpit he answered nothing, not a single word. It was total silence”.

More

Latest news has it that the flight data recorder did not have a memory card in it...

[Russell]

How do you get through a locked cockpit door?

Short answer: you don't.

The New York Times quoted a military official saying that evidence from the cockpit voice recorder for Germanwings Flight 9525 suggested that the pilot left the cockpit at some point and appeared unable to get back in - pounding on the door in the moments before the crash.

"You can hear he is trying to smash the door down," the official told the Times.

Locked cockpit doors have been a familiar safety feature of most international airlines since the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings, when the seizure of four airliners by terrorists pointed up the potential danger of allowing outsiders into the cockpit.

But what measures are in place to make sure the pilot can enter? And are co-pilots supposed to be left alone in the cockpit?

"Procedurally, something was very wrong," said Glen Winn, an aviation instructor at the University of Southern California and an expert in aviation security and anti-terrorism.

"You ask any pilot, they’ll tell you the same thing," Winn said. "They don’t leave a person alone in the cockpit. They don’t do it. Nobody does that."

The German Airbus A320 with 150 people on board was flying at 38,000 feet on its route from Barcelona, Spain, to Duesseldorf, Germany, on Tuesday when it began a roughly 10-minute descent into a rugged area of the French Alps at an altitude of about 6,800 feet.

According to the Times report, the pilot had already left the cockpit when the plane began its descent.

That raises the question of whether the other pilot was incapacitated or deliberately launched the descent, or whether some mechanical problem led to the altitude change.

New safety protocols mandated by Congress in the U.S. after the Sept. 11 attacks would almost certainly have been in place for aircraft operated by Germanwings on behalf of Lufthansa, which shares standardized safety procedures with American airline carriers, Winn said.

These protocols eliminate the use of keys for entering the cockpit - assuring that no errant passenger can wrestle a key away from a crew member. They also require cockpit doors to be strong enough to withstand gunfire and grenade explosions.

“I know in U.S., post 9/11, the cockpit door is the most secure door on the plane," said Anthony Brickhouse, associate professor of safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

American experts say the typical procedure is for a flight attendant to use a food cart to block access to the cockpit when the pilot opens the door to leave. A flight attendant is supposed to remain in the cockpit and open the door for the pilot upon his or her return.

"It's a standard procedure" that Germanwings should have followed, Winn said. “That’s nothing secret. Everybody knows.”

If a member of the flight crew doesn't open the locked cockpit door from the inside, according to a manual for the Airbus A320 available online, the door can also be unlocked by the cabin crew outside the cockpit by entering a two- to seven-digit code, pre-programmed by the airline, on a keypad.

Jim Hall, former chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at least one previous airline disaster followed the departure of the pilot from the cockpit - the 1999 crash of Egypt Air Flight 990, which U.S. investigators attributed to the flight's first officer.

“The co-pilot waited until the pilot had left and gone to the restroom and then put the aircraft in the dive,” Hall said.

But the Germanwings aircraft did not appear to have entered a dive, Hall said. "It sounds more like a gradual descent."

The Germanwings flight had issued no distress signal or other communication during its last minutes. Officials said the plane, which was built in 1991, had undergone a safety checkup this month. The pilot had more than 6,000 hours of flying experience on Airbus aircraft.

“You can use a little bit of logic here – the pilot that was in cockpit either didn’t want the other pilot to come in or wasn’t able to let him in," said Barry Schiff, a former TWA captain of 34 years and an aviation safety consultant based in Camarillo. "Only those two possibilities exist, and it leads you down some interesting paths.”

But Thomas Anthony, director of USC's Aviation Safety and Security program, cautioned against jumping to conclusions.

"It’s never one thing," Anthony said. "Every aircraft mishap is composed of more than one causal factor. Usually it’s four or five things coming together. Our minds like to simplify and say it’s this [one thing, but] that identification of the single cause is usually just the last cause in a chain."

Anthony then repeated: "It’s never one thing.”

More

[Coligny]

If you say "false flag", I'm going to have to punch you.

[Russell]

If you say "false flag", I'm going to have to punch you.

Well, the mountain hit by the plane didn't crumble down with the acceleration of gravity, didn't it?

Not sure whether your president would have tried to take political advantage from that, knowing what bright spark he is.

But my initial thoughts after the crash were much more romantic: I seriously considered the possibility that both pilots were boning a couple of stewardesses in the plane's bunks, and found themselves with their pants down when the descent started and they were unable to reenter the cockpit.

Unfortunately, the real explanation looks more down to earth, with the co-pilot apparently being a mental case.

Now, what is your "expert" view on this tragedy?!?

[Tsuru]

Planes like this don't have bunks

[Cyka UchuuJin]

For someone who flies 50-70 times a year, this is the worst nightmare come true.

I have seen suggestions that airlines are considering putting a neutral 3rd person into cockpit, and although that will likely push airfares up, I'm all for it. I don't want to be questioning the mental stability of the guy up front, it's already enough that I worry about the passengers and what other psychos are on the ground looking to shoot a plane down.

[kurogane]

Planes like this don't have bunks

So, just to clarify, are you debunking Russell's bunking theory as bunkum?

For someone who flies 50-70 times a year, this is the worst nightmare come true.

As somebody that flies barely 5% of that amount it's still true. As if flying weren't already utterly horrid to begin with, what utter horror. So much for the benefits of busyness class making up for the general yuckyness of flying

[Cyka UchuuJin]

Planes like this don't have bunks

So, just to clarify, are you debunking Russell's bunking theory as bunkum?

For someone who flies 50-70 times a year, this is the worst nightmare come true.

As somebody that flies barely 5% of that amount it's still true. As if flying weren't already utterly horrid to begin with, what utter horror. So much for the benefits of busyness class making up for the general yuckyness of flying

Actually, being in the seats up front doesn't make up for much considering that you're less likely to survive a crash in that section.
This happened the day before I flew from Singapore back to Tokyo on an overnight, and it's the first time in ages that I couldn't sleep. I'm spending some time this weekend putting affairs in order. I know that's a pretty morbid thing to do, and sure, flying is still safer than most forms of transport, but you just never know anymore. I used to feel completely secure flying Emirates after 9/11, because no arab would shoot down one of their own. After the Jordanian pilot burning though, UAE sent F-15s to Jordan to help, which makes the Emirates an enemy of Isis now. So there goes that security blanket in the sky. And who knows what really happened to MH370, but there's a whole lotta ocean between Tokyo and Dubai to disappear into.

It's actually prompted me to give serious thought to calling it a day early and heading home to Kenya to be a bush baby. this modern world is just too scary for me.

[Coligny]

Unfortunately, the real explanation looks more down to earth, with the co-pilot apparently being a mental case.

Now, what is your "expert" view on this tragedy?!?

Gravity did it...

But they are really quick to blame suicidal co-pilot. Stuff still smoking up there aint it ?

[Samurai_Jerk]

I have seen suggestions that airlines are considering putting a neutral 3rd person into cockpit, and although that will likely push airfares up, I'm all for it.

It may not push up airfares. They can just have a flight attendant step in anytime one of the pilots leaves the cockpit. If these doors are pretty much impossible to break down it doesn't make sense to have one person locked in there anyway. What if he or she has a heart attack? Sure autopilot would keep things going smoothly for awhile but it's not going to land the plane.

[Coligny]

I have seen suggestions that airlines are considering putting a neutral 3rd person into cockpit, and although that will likely push airfares up, I'm all for it.

It may not push up airfares. They can just have a flight attendant step in anytime one of the pilots leaves the cockpit. If these doors are pretty much impossible to break down it doesn't make sense to have one person locked in there anyway. What if he or she has a heart attack? Sure autopilot would keep things going smoothly for awhile but it's not going to land the plane.

Read somewhere that it was already the protocol, one flybitch stay in the cockpit when a flyjock need to take leak.
I already have a scenario for my next movie. It's the tale of a gay pilot locked with a post op transexual attendant making him question his orientation. It will be a short film, unless the exiting pilot have a huge case of explosive diarrhea. Which would allow for a sequel to release for the german market...

[Takechanpoo]

feeling of distrust toward airline is getting increasing all over the world.
its good oppotunity for shinkansen marketing. time to buy shinkansen related stocks.

[Wibble]

I have seen suggestions that airlines are considering putting a neutral 3rd person into cockpit, and although that will likely push airfares up, I'm all for it.

It may not push up airfares. They can just have a flight attendant step in anytime one of the pilots leaves the cockpit. If these doors are pretty much impossible to break down it doesn't make sense to have one person locked in there anyway. What if he or she has a heart attack? Sure autopilot would keep things going smoothly for awhile but it's not going to land the plane.

Read somewhere that it was already the protocol, one flybitch stay in the cockpit when a flyjock need to take leak.

Depends on the country and the airline operating manual. US-based airlines do this (and have another attendant block the aisle in front of the cockpit door with a food cart). German ones don't, or at least didn't. Various airlines are now announcing changes as a reaction. Though there is an argument it is less safe - it's a lot easier for a terror-wrist to become a cabin attendant than get accepted as a pilot, and when first locked into a cockpit with a busy pilot concentrating on flying, they could attack the pilot and permanently lock the door.

[Taro Toporific]

A History of Crashes Caused by Pilots’ Intentional Acts
NYTimes.com / March 26, 2015

Screen Shot 2015-03-27 at 12.58.52 PM.png

[Grumpy Gramps]

I have occasionally worked with airplane accidents back in my pre-Japan life. Doesn't make me an expert at all, not in today's world anyway, though. I think, today humans should not occupy cockpits at all anymore. Technology alone is fully capable of flying a plane from A to B, has no hang-overs, has no mental or other health problems, has no gambling debts, no fickle girlfriends, no problems other than the occasional bug.

In my time some decades ago, statistically 70% of all airplane accidents were caused by human error (figure is for all aviation, not only airlines). Take humans out of the equation should take care of quite a bit of it IMHO. It might cause some accidents, too, but I guess that it would save more lives than it takes.

Bots FTW

[Cyka UchuuJin]

I have seen suggestions that airlines are considering putting a neutral 3rd person into cockpit, and although that will likely push airfares up, I'm all for it.

It may not push up airfares. They can just have a flight attendant step in anytime one of the pilots leaves the cockpit. If these doors are pretty much impossible to break down it doesn't make sense to have one person locked in there anyway. What if he or she has a heart attack? Sure autopilot would keep things going smoothly for awhile but it's not going to land the plane.

Read somewhere that it was already the protocol, one flybitch stay in the cockpit when a flyjock need to take leak.
I already have a scenario for my next movie. It's the tale of a gay pilot locked with a post op transexual attendant making him question his orientation. It will be a short film, unless the exiting pilot have a huge case of explosive diarrhea. Which would allow for a sequel to release for the german market...

That film already sort of exists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_So_E ... %28film%29

[Cyka UchuuJin]

I have occasionally worked with airplane accidents back in my pre-Japan life. Doesn't make me an expert at all, not in today's world anyway, though. I think, today humans should not occupy cockpits at all anymore. Technology alone is fully capable of flying a plane from A to B, has no hang-overs, has no mental or other health problems, has no gambling debts, no fickle girlfriends, no problems other than the occasional bug.

In my time some decades ago, statistically 70% of all airplane accidents were caused by human error (figure is for all aviation, not only airlines). Take humans out of the equation should take care of quite a bit of it IMHO. It might cause some accidents, too, but I guess that it would save more lives than it takes.

Bots FTW

Bots are not going to be auto-pilots any time soon. Humans in the back need to know a human is at the wheel.

[Yokohammer]

I have occasionally worked with airplane accidents back in my pre-Japan life. Doesn't make me an expert at all, not in today's world anyway, though. I think, today humans should not occupy cockpits at all anymore. Technology alone is fully capable of flying a plane from A to B, has no hang-overs, has no mental or other health problems, has no gambling debts, no fickle girlfriends, no problems other than the occasional bug.

In my time some decades ago, statistically 70% of all airplane accidents were caused by human error (figure is for all aviation, not only airlines). Take humans out of the equation should take care of quite a bit of it IMHO. It might cause some accidents, too, but I guess that it would save more lives than it takes.

Bots FTW

Bots are not going to be auto-pilots any time soon. Humans in the back need to know a human is at the wheel.

Yup.

I even feel uncomfortable on that damn driverless "Yurikamome" train.

[Grumpy Gramps]

No problem with that. Just, if we want humans at the wheel, we will have to accept that some of us will die because of their deficiencies. No reason to complain then.

I, for my part, am waiting for my first driverless car, where I can slouch in the back seat with a beer or ten and go "OK, Google, take me home, hicks"

[matsuki]

I, for my part, am waiting for my first driverless car, where I can slouch in the back seat with a beer or ten and go "OK, Google, take me home, hicks"

When the first driverless car runs over a jiji/baba/just plain idiot, I wonder how the J-courts will interpret the blame...

[Yokohammer]

I, for my part, am waiting for my first driverless car, where I can slouch in the back seat with a beer or ten and go "OK, Google, take me home, hicks"

When the first driverless car runs over a jiji/baba/just plain idiot, I wonder how the J-courts will interpret the blame...

And that is pretty much a sure thing. It will happen.

I almost hit some idiot babaa while backing into a parking space at the yakuba this morning. I was halfway in, the car was moving, and this woman just walks right into the parking space, right behind me as I'm backing in, looking right at me. She walked into my blind spot so I didn't see her at first. Obviously assumed that because her fucking highness was intent on walking through that particular parking space the car would stop automatically or something.

Anyway, yeah, there are some really stupid people walking/cycling/driving around. Accidents will happen.

[Coligny]

Got that shit few weeks ago too. Narrow road, a truck arrive, so me and the car behind crawl backward to let him reach a wider spot for passing. Then this fucking expired rotten wastebag on his bicycle just dash between the two backing cars. I wanted to punch him... I mean, we were not just starting to manoeuvre, we were already a good 5 m back with the truck patiently crawling toward us...


( or more exactly to entrap him by walking straight on his way without avoiding collision to call the cops on his ass.
Since bicycle assume that their... Fragile... Authority on cars extend to pedestrian... While technically, they are in the same shit if they run over a walker by bicycle, car, truck or taxiing airplane...)

[Coligny]

I, for my part, am waiting for my first driverless car, where I can slouch in the back seat with a beer or ten and go "OK, Google, take me home, hicks"

When the first driverless car runs over a jiji/baba/just plain idiot, I wonder how the J-courts will interpret the blame...

And that is pretty much a sure thing. It will happen.

I almost hit some idiot babaa while backing into a parking space at the yakuba this morning. I was halfway in, the car was moving, and this woman just walks right into the parking space, right behind me as I'm backing in, looking right at me. She walked into my blind spot so I didn't see her at first. Obviously assumed that because her fucking highness was intent on walking through that particular parking space the car would stop automatically or something.

Anyway, yeah, there are some really stupid people walking/cycling/driving around. Accidents will happen.

You called ?

image.jpg

[matsuki]

The worst this week seem to be the ones who jaywalk...at 0.00000000000000000000001km/h but in a close second, some asshole on a bicycle with a flashing light up front that could have lit up Mt. Fuji. It would be bad enough if it was solid but the flashing on a dark side street makes you BLIND.....BLIND.....BLIND>.....thinking back, I really wish I had just kyu-braked and let him run into the back of the van.

[Samurai_Jerk]

When the first driverless car runs over a jiji/baba/just plain idiot, I wonder how the J-courts will interpret the blame...

I wonder how courts everywhere will handle that.

[matsuki]

When the first driverless car runs over a jiji/baba/just plain idiot, I wonder how the J-courts will interpret the blame...

I wonder how courts everywhere will handle that.

It's probably easier outside Japan without the "because bigger" at fault mentality. Keep in mind how you can go to jail for running over an unavoidable suicidal idiot here.

[Samurai_Jerk]

When the first driverless car runs over a jiji/baba/just plain idiot, I wonder how the J-courts will interpret the blame...

I wonder how courts everywhere will handle that.

It's probably easier outside Japan without the "because bigger" at fault mentality. Keep in mind how you can go to jail for running over an unavoidable suicidal idiot here.

How is it easier? If no one is driving their car, who's at fault? Do the manufacturers bear the responsibility? The software designers? The mechanic who last worked on it?

[Takechanpoo]

You called ?

image.jpg

it already is proved by genomic analysis that darwin's natural selection rarely happens.
and also is almost proved that neutral theory is the answer, which is, by the way, established as a theory by japanese researcher Motoo Kimura.

kimura_refn-700129.jpg

aw, you didnt know that yet?

[matsuki]

When the first driverless car runs over a jiji/baba/just plain idiot, I wonder how the J-courts will interpret the blame...

I wonder how courts everywhere will handle that.

It's probably easier outside Japan without the "because bigger" at fault mentality. Keep in mind how you can go to jail for running over an unavoidable suicidal idiot here.

How is it easier? If no one is driving their car, who's at fault? Do the manufacturers bear the responsibility? The software designers? The mechanic who last worked on it?

I mean specifically when the pedestrian is the obvious idiot 100% at fault...cause even in those cases, the driver is legally responsible/fucked in Japan whereas in other countries, reason tends to enter the picture. No driver to blame in this scenario...hence the reason I brought it up.

[Coligny]

I prefer Maléco. Don't mind if I look for better than a little myopic jap sleeping with a daikimakura to publish on the topic. (BTW, you did understood that neutral and natural selection theories were not mutually exclusive ?)

The only disproval for Darwin I can think of if the survival of the japanese race, only explainable by the isolation on their insane asylum island... So basically protected from any kind of possible evolution and instead becoming a testbed for inbreeding degeneration cases studies.