Alone at controls, co-pilot sought to 'destroy' the plane

[slightlychilled]

kiwikeith you've obviously got an axe to grind at airlines and the industry in general. You've lost the plot. This was an isolated and individual act of lunacy that can happen in any environment. It does not represent nor does it reflect in any shape or form the ethics and codes of practice within airlines. Lunatics are very clever and extemely devious in hiding their illness as can be seen in any cases of mass murder. They cannot be singled out with 100% accuracy.

[micmichd]

So, you'd suggest that in modern society everyone should be suspected to be a lunatic?

Maybe just the ones above a certain IQ?

(please be informed that up to now it's still not clear if the crash was maybe caused by technical defects and/or organizational failures)

Edited March 29, 2015 by micmichd

[MrY]

Captain tried to smash into cockpit with axe: Bild

The Captain must have suspected something if he took the axe with him to the lavatory. It's kept in the cockpit...

[Scott]

I have a colleague who worked in the airline industry for many, many years and still has contacts. I was told that the doors to the cockpit are almost impenetrable. Apparently they are constructed so that they can't be broken into, at least not very easily. It seems that an axe doesn't work.

[manarak]

So, you'd suggest that in modern society everyone should be suspected to be a lunatic?

Maybe just the ones above a certain IQ?

(please be informed that up to now it's still not clear if the crash was maybe caused by technical defects and/or organizational failures)

you are absolutely right, since the copilot was heard breathing on the cockpit voice recorder, I guess there was a technical problem with his speech and motor ability, since he was apparently unable to talk and unable to move...

and didn't you already disprove yourself your theory about IQ and being a lunatic?

[F430murci]

So, you'd suggest that in modern society everyone should be suspected to be a lunatic?

Maybe just the ones above a certain IQ?

(please be informed that up to now it's still not clear if the crash was maybe caused by technical defects and/or organizational failures)

you are absolutely right, since the copilot was heard breathing on the cockpit voice recorder, I guess there was a technical problem with his speech and motor ability, since he was apparently unable to talk and unable to move...

and didn't you already disprove yourself your theory about IQ and being a lunatic?

Yes, I cannot understand why some still doubt the investigation as they would not have taken such a position so quickly had the evidence not been extremely compelling.

The transcripts are apparently being released and shows that the lunatic FO encouraged Captain to go to the restroom. 2 minutes later, he told the FO to take over. Immediately after he left and the door closed, the FO puts the plane in a fairly steep nose down dive. Literally, within a few seconds, the door is locked and the nose drops after the Captain exits. Where the heck is the technical defects in that. Some are just talking out their lower orifice without any facts or evidence to substantiate.

[manarak]

Mental illness can be cured, as can heart disease. But a history of either should be enough to disqualify someone for this job out of an abundance of caution when the stakes are high. The US FAA threatened to (but in the end did not) revoke my 2nd class medical required for a commercial pilots license when they discovered I had a malignant skin cancer removed 25 years earlier.

The blame for this accident rests entirely with the system IMO. No one asks to be mentally ill.

What happens if they find out that a diagnosis "mentally ill" was false?

Would you still be a risk for aircraft?

it doesn't really matter.

I'd even go as far as to say that not all people who are mentally ill are a risk.

Knowing if someone is really mentally ill or not, the question to know who is right, etc. is not a matter to be cleared up before provisionally keeping someone out of the cockpit.

Doctors treating people with high responsibility jobs (pilots, bus drivers, ...) should have to report to the patient's employer's medical services or HR any findings making them unfit to fulfill their duties, whatever the cause, durable or temporary.

The cause can be a mental illness, a temporary disorder or a medicine impairing their abilities - it doesn't matter. The important thing is that the information flows rapidly from the doctor to the company and that the employee really and without delay goes on sick leave as prescribed.

If a durable diagnosis is then disputed by the employee, this is a matter of getting second opinions and taking the time to clear the matter up, but until it is cleared up, the employee does not fly airplanes. I trust the trade unions to make sure concerned employees will be at no disadvantage.

[micmichd]

http://www.dw.de/gases-caused-near-disaster-on-german-plane/a-16274783

It happened before, it could have happened again - and poisoned the co-pilot in the cockpit of flight U4 9525.

That's what an expert said in German TV (Tagesschau).

Better be careful before you call someone a lunatic.

[MikeOboe57]

So, you'd suggest that in modern society everyone should be suspected to be a lunatic?

Maybe just the ones above a certain IQ?

(please be informed that up to now it's still not clear if the crash was maybe caused by technical defects and/or organizational failures)

you are absolutely right, since the copilot was heard breathing on the cockpit voice recorder, I guess there was a technical problem with his speech and motor ability, since he was apparently unable to talk and unable to move...

and didn't you already disprove yourself your theory about IQ and being a lunatic?

Yes, I cannot understand why some still doubt the investigation as they would not have taken such a position so quickly had the evidence not been extremely compelling.

The transcripts are apparently being released and shows that the lunatic FO encouraged Captain to go to the restroom. 2 minutes later, he told the FO to take over. Immediately after he left and the door closed, the FO puts the plane in a fairly steep nose down dive. Literally, within a few seconds, the door is locked and the nose drops after the Captain exits. Where the heck is the technical defects in that. Some are just talking out their lower orifice without any facts or evidence to substantiate.

He did not put the plane in a "steep nose down dive". This would have caused the plane to exceed Mmo/Vmo - M 0,82/350kts. Selecting alt 0 with autopilot on resulted in a smooth approx. 5deg nose down attitude which made the plane lose 1000m altitude per 10km flight path while keeping the airspeed below Mmo/Vmo. Any steeper would have resulted in overspeeding and an automatic pitch up command by the flight computers. And one can be sure that the captain would certainly not have politely knocked on the door if he - and the passengers - had noticed the plane descend.

edit: grammar

Edited March 29, 2015 by MikeOboe57

[manarak]

http://www.dw.de/gases-caused-near-disaster-on-german-plane/a-16274783

It happened before, it could have happened again - and poisoned the co-pilot in the cockpit of flight U4 9525.

That's what an expert said in German TV (Tagesschau).

Better be careful before you call someone a lunatic.

I thought about this too but it doesn't fit with the facts, notably the change of trajectory in the flight computer.

[F430murci]

So, you'd suggest that in modern society everyone should be suspected to be a lunatic?

Maybe just the ones above a certain IQ?

(please be informed that up to now it's still not clear if the crash was maybe caused by technical defects and/or organizational failures)

you are absolutely right, since the copilot was heard breathing on the cockpit voice recorder, I guess there was a technical problem with his speech and motor ability, since he was apparently unable to talk and unable to move...

and didn't you already disprove yourself your theory about IQ and being a lunatic?

Yes, I cannot understand why some still doubt the investigation as they would not have taken such a position so quickly had the evidence not been extremely compelling.

The transcripts are apparently being released and shows that the lunatic FO encouraged Captain to go to the restroom. 2 minutes later, he told the FO to take over. Immediately after he left and the door closed, the FO puts the plane in a fairly steep nose down dive. Literally, within a few seconds, the door is locked and the nose drops after the Captain exits. Where the heck is the technical defects in that. Some are just talking out their lower orifice without any facts or evidence to substantiate.

He did not put the plane in a "steep nose down dive". This would have caused the plane to exceed Mmo/Vmo - M 0,82/350kts. Selecting alt 0 with autopilot on resulted in a smooth approx. 5deg nose down attitude which made the plane lose 1000m altitude per 10km flight path while keeping the airspeed below Mmo/Vmo. Any steeper would have resulted in overspeeding and an automatic pitch up command by the flight computers. And one can be sure that the captain would certainly not have politely knocked on the door if he - and the passengers - had noticed the plane descend.

edit: grammar

5 degrees would have been noticeable. Thanks for the lesson, but I have a commercial & ME and brother ex fighter pilot with many type ratings on privates and father flew jumbos. Fairly steep is a subjective term. Nice leaving the fairly out but admitting any steeper would have resulted in overspeed . . . Taking what you say at face value means he put it in as steep of a nose down dive as possible. You arguing an issue of semantics, but for what purpose I don't know . . . as it had very little to do with the point of my post.

Edited March 29, 2015 by F430murci

[F430murci]

http://www.dw.de/gases-caused-near-disaster-on-german-plane/a-16274783

It happened before, it could have happened again - and poisoned the co-pilot in the cockpit of flight U4 9525.

That's what an expert said in German TV (Tagesschau).

Better be careful before you call someone a lunatic.

Captain poisoned the co-pilot? Lol, what kind of lunacy is that and where are the fact to support that theory? Common sense here. FO was a nut job, unstable and about to have his ticket pulled. The facts are simple. Captain encouraged to leave. He left. Door then locked and plane immediately put into a controlled fairly steep dive until plowing into a mountain. So you think the captain poisoned this loser POS that killed a bunch of innocent people and children, the poisoned victim then locked the door, programmed a nose dive and neither told ATC or anyone he was all off sudden stricken by sickness or no sounds consistent with the same . . . Whateva.

[Diddl]

http://www.dw.de/gases-caused-near-disaster-on-german-plane/a-16274783

It happened before, it could have happened again - and poisoned the co-pilot in the cockpit of flight U4 9525.

That's what an expert said in German TV (Tagesschau).

Better be careful before you call someone a lunatic.

Good point, and it took them 2 years to investigate and come up with this ongoing problem – this problem still exists today and could have been the cause.

Quote:

Shortly after this the co-pilot felt so sick that he grabbed his oxygen mask, and the pilot felt he was "quite literally, losing my senses." There was a sudden, strong tingling sensation in his hands and feet, his field of vision shrank, and he felt dizzy.

More possibilities need to be investigated before this co-pilot is crucified on this forum!

[manarak]

http://www.dw.de/gases-caused-near-disaster-on-german-plane/a-16274783

It happened before, it could have happened again - and poisoned the co-pilot in the cockpit of flight U4 9525.

That's what an expert said in German TV (Tagesschau).

Better be careful before you call someone a lunatic.

Captain poisoned the co-pilot? Lol, what kind of lunacy is that and where are the fact to support that theory? Common sense here. FO was a nut job, unstable and about to have his ticket pulled. The facts are simple. Captain encouraged to leave. He left. Door then locked and plane immediately put into a controlled fairly steep dive until plowing into a mountain. So you think the captain poisoned this loser POS that killed a bunch of innocent people and children, the poisoned victim then locked the door, programmed a nose dive and neither told ATC or anyone he was all off sudden stricken by sickness or no sounds consistent with the same . . . Whateva.

the referenced link is about oil gases, nothing about the captain poisoning anybody...

[micmichd]

Mental illness can be cured, as can heart disease. But a history of either should be enough to disqualify someone for this job out of an abundance of caution when the stakes are high. The US FAA threatened to (but in the end did not) revoke my 2nd class medical required for a commercial pilots license when they discovered I had a malignant skin cancer removed 25 years earlier.

The blame for this accident rests entirely with the system IMO. No one asks to be mentally ill.

What happens if they find out that a diagnosis "mentally ill" was false?

Would you still be a risk for aircraft?

it doesn't really matter.

I'd even go as far as to say that not all people who are mentally ill are a risk.

Knowing if someone is really mentally ill or not, the question to know who is right, etc. is not a matter to be cleared up before provisionally keeping someone out of the cockpit.

Doctors treating people with high responsibility jobs (pilots, bus drivers, ...) should have to report to the patient's employer's medical services or HR any findings making them unfit to fulfill their duties, whatever the cause, durable or temporary.

The cause can be a mental illness, a temporary disorder or a medicine impairing their abilities - it doesn't matter. The important thing is that the information flows rapidly from the doctor to the company and that the employee really and without delay goes on sick leave as prescribed.

If a durable diagnosis is then disputed by the employee, this is a matter of getting second opinions and taking the time to clear the matter up, but until it is cleared up, the employee does not fly airplanes. I trust the trade unions to make sure concerned employees will be at no disadvantage.

Yes, agree.

Good if you have a trade union behind in cases of doubt and not forced to accept a forensic caretaker to make decisions for you. Unfortunately, latter is normal procedure in German mental hospitals.

Edited March 29, 2015 by micmichd

[Mosha]

Don't the latest reports point to a potential career ending visual problem? Couple that with his mental condition.

[Diddl]

http://www.dw.de/gases-caused-near-disaster-on-german-plane/a-16274783

It happened before, it could have happened again - and poisoned the co-pilot in the cockpit of flight U4 9525.

That's what an expert said in German TV (Tagesschau).

Better be careful before you call someone a lunatic.

Captain poisoned the co-pilot? Lol, what kind of lunacy is that and where are the fact to support that theory? Common sense here. FO was a nut job, unstable and about to have his ticket pulled. The facts are simple. Captain encouraged to leave. He left. Door then locked and plane immediately put into a controlled fairly steep dive until plowing into a mountain. So you think the captain poisoned this loser POS that killed a bunch of innocent people and children, the poisoned victim then locked the door, programmed a nose dive and neither told ATC or anyone he was all off sudden stricken by sickness or no sounds consistent with the same . . . Whateva.

the referenced link is about oil gases, nothing about the captain poisoning anybody...

Yes, Manarak, the reference link is about oil gases, but F460murci hasn’t bothered to read the article of course, he has already made up his mind and wants to lynch the guy! What a disgusting mob on this forum!

[manarak]

http://www.dw.de/gases-caused-near-disaster-on-german-plane/a-16274783

It happened before, it could have happened again - and poisoned the co-pilot in the cockpit of flight U4 9525.

That's what an expert said in German TV (Tagesschau).

Better be careful before you call someone a lunatic.

Captain poisoned the co-pilot? Lol, what kind of lunacy is that and where are the fact to support that theory? Common sense here. FO was a nut job, unstable and about to have his ticket pulled. The facts are simple. Captain encouraged to leave. He left. Door then locked and plane immediately put into a controlled fairly steep dive until plowing into a mountain. So you think the captain poisoned this loser POS that killed a bunch of innocent people and children, the poisoned victim then locked the door, programmed a nose dive and neither told ATC or anyone he was all off sudden stricken by sickness or no sounds consistent with the same . . . Whateva.

the referenced link is about oil gases, nothing about the captain poisoning anybody...

Yes, Manarak, the reference link is about oil gases, but F460murci hasn’t bothered to read the article of course, he has already made up his mind and wants to lynch the guy! What a disgusting mob on this forum!

I lynch the guy too, but I know my facts.

Knowing the facts, I don't see any other explanation than the co-pilot did it.

[micmichd]

So, you'd suggest that in modern society everyone should be suspected to be a lunatic?

Maybe just the ones above a certain IQ?

(please be informed that up to now it's still not clear if the crash was maybe caused by technical defects and/or organizational failures)

you are absolutely right, since the copilot was heard breathing on the cockpit voice recorder, I guess there was a technical problem with his speech and motor ability, since he was apparently unable to talk and unable to move...

and didn't you already disprove yourself your theory about IQ and being a lunatic?

Yes, I cannot understand why some still doubt the investigation as they would not have taken such a position so quickly had the evidence not been extremely compelling.

The transcripts are apparently being released and shows that the lunatic FO encouraged Captain to go to the restroom. 2 minutes later, he told the FO to take over. Immediately after he left and the door closed, the FO puts the plane in a fairly steep nose down dive. Literally, within a few seconds, the door is locked and the nose drops after the Captain exits. Where the heck is the technical defects in that. Some are just talking out their lower orifice without any facts or evidence to substantiate.

He did not put the plane in a "steep nose down dive". This would have caused the plane to exceed Mmo/Vmo - M 0,82/350kts. Selecting alt 0 with autopilot on resulted in a smooth approx. 5deg nose down attitude which made the plane lose 1000m altitude per 10km flight path while keeping the airspeed below Mmo/Vmo. Any steeper would have resulted in overspeeding and an automatic pitch up command by the flight computers. And one can be sure that the captain would certainly not have politely knocked on the door if he - and the passengers - had noticed the plane descend.

edit: grammar

Sorry for being dumb.

Isn't the V / M ratio dependent on surrounding air pressure ?

Edited March 29, 2015 by micmichd

[beechguy]

I'm curious, what poor service, have you received from a poor quality pilot? If you haven't crashed, how would you know? The fact is, you know very little if anything about the airline business, and what goes on in a modern day cockpit. If I were you, I would plan on staying home.

In this instance, it was just one nut that got into the wrong place, at the wrong time. Most of us would never think of doing such a thing, just as most of us would never think of hijacking aircraft and flying them into buildings. It may be the new reality, aviation and the world needs to deal with.

So captain sparrow you are an expert, I would suggest you know nothing of the airline cover ups that have gone on and one fraudulent cover up is one to many.

The industry is at fault here and even one of the leading aviation experts was today on TV saying the airline industry needs a shake up to prevent this from happening but you defend mad pilots and the industry captain Jack.

I'm writing as an FAA Certified Maintenance Technician, with 30 years of aviation experience. How about your qualifications, other than sitting and watching TV?

While we're at it, why don't you explain what a third crew member would do, to increase quality in the cockpit? Now's your chance to impress, go ahead and speak up.

Edited March 29, 2015 by beechguy

[kjhbigv]

Like that amazing QANTAS Captain who at one stage lost all 4 engines but still got them safely down.

You mean that Amazing British Airways captain that lost 4 engines!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x18ugux_mayday-s04e02-falling-from-the-sky-all-engines-failed_shortfilms

British Airways flight 9 , and the saving of it by the brilliant crew, represents the absolute

pinacle of airmanship, and what happened to the Germanwings flight represents the bottom of it... :-(

Guess flight 9 is why I am always happy to hear the sound of a British captain coming

over the intercom prior to take off.....

Not to mention what has to be the best ever cabin announcement of all time. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress"

Interesting point Eric Moody was in the toilet as the problems started.

The truly reassuring thing about this, was that they repeated the engine restart procedure over and over again, going through the same process over and over, checking they hadn't missed anything under an extremely intense situation (a 747 gliding, with no engines running and not within gliding distance of an airport!)....THOSE are the type of pilots I want at the helm of my flight if there's a problem......respect!

Same applies to the guy who landed in the Hudson.

As for the selfish psycho who did this.....why the hell was he even flying the plane?

[F430murci]

http://www.dw.de/gases-caused-near-disaster-on-german-plane/a-16274783

It happened before, it could have happened again - and poisoned the co-pilot in the cockpit of flight U4 9525.

That's what an expert said in German TV (Tagesschau).

Better be careful before you call someone a lunatic.

Captain poisoned the co-pilot? Lol, what kind of lunacy is that and where are the fact to support that theory? Common sense here. FO was a nut job, unstable and about to have his ticket pulled. The facts are simple. Captain encouraged to leave. He left. Door then locked and plane immediately put into a controlled fairly steep dive until plowing into a mountain. So you think the captain poisoned this loser POS that killed a bunch of innocent people and children, the poisoned victim then locked the door, programmed a nose dive and neither told ATC or anyone he was all off sudden stricken by sickness or no sounds consistent with the same . . . Whateva.

the referenced link is about oil gases, nothing about the captain poisoning anybody...

Oops . . . Lol, I guess I should take time to read some of the posted articles, but most of it is a bunch bs with every so called expert crawling out from under the wood work proclaiming to be an expert and trying to get their 15 minutes of fame with some new and improved theory. Not really inclined to read some of the garbage.

I can tell you right now the internal buzz based on recent incidents is not gas, poisoning or alien abduction . . . screening pilots and push and push back between airlines and ALPA and pilots about measures inside cockpit and concerns that minor health issues might now reasons to pull tickets and impediments to pilots getting help.

My mother is a Swenson and her brothers/father started and owned Messaba Aviation (NW Airlink) and served as CEO, President and Chief pilot for AirTran before and after acquisition of Value Jet to make it is what it is today. I had dinner with Robert, my brother (works in anti terrorism for cargo carriers such as FedEx, UPS and etc.), father (former chief pilot at Fed Ex after 20 years flying at Eastern) just last night for wife's birthday. What little was said about this and recent incidents had very little to do with gas in cockpit, poisoning or alien abduction and very much to do with control over who is in the cockpit and the forces at play here (Pilots, Union, Regulators and Airlines).

True, they know very little about the actual investigation and they apparently don't listen to the news on this, but the sole points made were the difficulties internally of dealing with pilot issues. Nothing about mechanical, poisoning, aliens (MH 370) . . .

[beechguy]

http://www.dw.de/gases-caused-near-disaster-on-german-plane/a-16274783

It happened before, it could have happened again - and poisoned the co-pilot in the cockpit of flight U4 9525.

That's what an expert said in German TV (Tagesschau).

Better be careful before you call someone a lunatic.

Captain poisoned the co-pilot? Lol, what kind of lunacy is that and where are the fact to support that theory? Common sense here. FO was a nut job, unstable and about to have his ticket pulled. The facts are simple. Captain encouraged to leave. He left. Door then locked and plane immediately put into a controlled fairly steep dive until plowing into a mountain. So you think the captain poisoned this loser POS that killed a bunch of innocent people and children, the poisoned victim then locked the door, programmed a nose dive and neither told ATC or anyone he was all off sudden stricken by sickness or no sounds consistent with the same . . . Whateva.

the referenced link is about oil gases, nothing about the captain poisoning anybody...

Yes, Manarak, the reference link is about oil gases, but F460murci hasn’t bothered to read the article of course, he has already made up his mind and wants to lynch the guy! What a disgusting mob on this forum!

I don't like speculation either, but you seem to be ignoring all the other facts and evidence. I wouldn't call this case closed, but it doesn't look good at all for the co-pilot.

Edited March 29, 2015 by beechguy

[F430murci]

I'm curious, what poor service, have you received from a poor quality pilot? If you haven't crashed, how would you know? The fact is, you know very little if anything about the airline business, and what goes on in a modern day cockpit. If I were you, I would plan on staying home.

In this instance, it was just one nut that got into the wrong place, at the wrong time. Most of us would never think of doing such a thing, just as most of us would never think of hijacking aircraft and flying them into buildings. It may be the new reality, aviation and the world needs to deal with.

So captain sparrow you are an expert, I would suggest you know nothing of the airline cover ups that have gone on and one fraudulent cover up is one to many.

The industry is at fault here and even one of the leading aviation experts was today on TV saying the airline industry needs a shake up to prevent this from happening but you defend mad pilots and the industry captain Jack.

I'm writing as an FAA Certified Maintenance Technician, with 30 years of aviation experience. How about your qualifications, other than sitting and watching TV?

While we're at it, why don't you explain what a third crew member would do, to increase quality in the cockpit? Now's your chance to impress, go ahead and speak up.

Lol, like the Beech thing in your Beechguy moniker should be a dead give away for anyone with a little bit of a clue about aviation . . . Let's see, conspiracy nut job educated by Youtude and Alex Jones type sites v. someone who actually works with and knows about airplanes. I know who my money would be on!

[micmichd]

Math, South Asian studies, social sciences, IT. No TV, no computer, just a mobile.

[F430murci]

http://www.dw.de/gases-caused-near-disaster-on-german-plane/a-16274783

It happened before, it could have happened again - and poisoned the co-pilot in the cockpit of flight U4 9525.

That's what an expert said in German TV (Tagesschau).

Better be careful before you call someone a lunatic.

Captain poisoned the co-pilot? Lol, what kind of lunacy is that and where are the fact to support that theory? Common sense here. FO was a nut job, unstable and about to have his ticket pulled. The facts are simple. Captain encouraged to leave. He left. Door then locked and plane immediately put into a controlled fairly steep dive until plowing into a mountain. So you think the captain poisoned this loser POS that killed a bunch of innocent people and children, the poisoned victim then locked the door, programmed a nose dive and neither told ATC or anyone he was all off sudden stricken by sickness or no sounds consistent with the same . . . Whateva.

the referenced link is about oil gases, nothing about the captain poisoning anybody...

Yes, Manarak, the reference link is about oil gases, but F460murci hasn’t bothered to read the article of course, he has already made up his mind and wants to lynch the guy! What a disgusting mob on this forum!

I don't have to read the article to immediately realize it is just another self proclaimed attention seeking self anointed media expert seeking his 15 minutes of fame. They all come crawling out from under their rocks when events like this happen. Read my post a couple above where I address this.

[beechguy]

Thanks for the earlier comment F430murci, but I'm sure you get equally frustrated with the ignorance in these aviation topics. I understand the public doesn't know a lot about aviation, but seems to me, the prudent thing would be to ask questions and learn something, rather than make stupid comments.

Edited March 29, 2015 by beechguy

[F430murci]

Thanks for the earlier comment F430murci, but I'm sure you get equally frustrated with the ignorance in these aviation topics. I understand the public doesn't know a lot about aviation, but seems to me, the prudent thing would be to ask questions and learn something, rather than make stupid comments.

No worries. The Internet is truly an entertaining place.

There is a problem here. I don't think it is as big as it is made out to be in terms of likelihood of continuing to happen. Pilots are going to fight this stuff tooth and nail and throw out every possible excuse to try and take focus away from more stringent health and mental screening and from more cockpit monitoring. I get it. They don't want to easily lose ticket for what may be deemed garden variety or acute medical psychological conditions that may only be temporary.

[NeverSure]

Isn't the V / M ratio dependent on surrounding air pressure ?

It's dependent on the air density which decreases with altitude and changes with temperature - heat also thins the air. That's called "density altitude" which is air density adjusted for temperature and altitude. Yes the instruments are periodically set for the local barometric pressure which can change from time to time and area to area.

Edited March 29, 2015 by NeverSure

[EyesWideOpen]

This crash certainly raises some interesting questions. The first

of course is the mental stability of the members of the cockpit

crew. Assessing mental issues is an inexact science at best,

and this guy certainly slipped through the cracks.

So the next issue is how can the aircraft manufacturers

make a plane that can protect itself against a rogue pilot. I

know that Airbus to some degree has the onboard computer

make sure the plane is flying within certain parameters and

will not allow those to be over ridden. Am sure there are

some pilots here that could explain that in a more clear

fashion. It sure seems to me that every flight in essence

operates within clear guidelines regarding speed, course,

and altitude. These of course could be programmed into

the flight computer. So if a rogue pilot grabbed the wheel

and tried to fly the plane straight into the ground because

he wants to meet Allah, the plane should refuse ......I know

this is the last thing any professional pilot wants to hear,

but to me it sort of makes sense. With of course some sort

of override system in place as well, perhaps a code that

both pilots would have to enter ,or something online as

future aircraft will be connected to the internet for data recording....

Anyway I suspect that Boeing and Airbus are having

meetings about this very subject right now.............With a bit

of research you will quickly realize that this is not the first time

a rogue pilot to kill everyone on the plane.

Edited March 29, 2015 by EyesWideOpen