This is so terribly sad.

News reports this morning saying his relationship had recently broke down and he had recently undergone treatment for depression. Perhaps he was suicidal but to take 150 innocents with him surely makes him a mass murderer.

Interesting article about pilot checks the Federal Aviation Administration uses.

If you saw the interview with the CEO of Lufthansa he said that all pilots had a yearly health check but psychiatric checks were no carried out once training was complete. Correct me if I am wrong but I think psychiatric tests are way more important.

Whether or not they can fly a plane has got nothing to do with it. It's to make sure equipment is not tampered with and the pilot at the controls is acting normally. They will have the means to raise the alarm if all is not well.

I did have to give myself a talking to merlotgran.
But actually seeing one of them, who seemed like the senior one, in the same part of the plane as passengers, as we were in the air, caught me by surprise.
I have only flown about 6 times.

Cabin crew cannot fly a plane though merlotgran, no matter how well trained they are.

I dont believe in giving answers in haste, if they are not nearly 100% sure. Perhaps they are? I dont know.

My DIL is a senior flight attendant for Monarch. They have already announced that from now on there will always be two people on the flight deck.

I can't remember whether or not I've seen a pilot leave the cockpit on a short haul flight because I would not be alarmed. There are two qualified pilots capable of flying the aircraft so why should it matter BUT since 9/11 precautions have been put in place that have now proved to be counter productive to say the least.

I expect that from now on a cabin crew member will be nominated to stay in the cockpit should the pilot require a break. Cabin crew are not 'trolley dollies' they are well trained to deal with many eventualities.

Of course it's not done and dusted soontobe but people want some answers ASAP. There will be millions of people taking to the air since the crash who will be very anxious.

I have seen a pilot leave a cockpit for the loo on a short haul flight.
I was alarmed!
I dont fly very often, so couldnt say whether that is normal or not.

I have benn thinking the same Mishap.
Normally aircrash investigations seem to take years.
I thought that it was strange, that the french were saying to the media that there were not likely to be any survivors after only two hours.
Now the whole thing[by the Germans?] seems to have been done and dusted in less than 3 days.

I do hope that they are sure about this - to announce that it was deliberate and point the finger at this co-pilot, presumably they are certain they are right. His poor family - it is so dreadful.

Just wondering- have any of you ever seen one of the pilots leaving the cockpit to go to the loo, on short haul. I fly all the time short haul, but never seen the pilot leave the cockpit.

Beyond comprehension to me, I just cannot get my head around it if it was a deliberate act....... Surely mental health issues would have been picked up at regular health checks all pilots have?

Imagine the parents, if they had an inkling something was wrong, but didn't say. Same with the parents of terrorists too.

Indeed - the regular medical check-ups should include mental health screening. Maybe they already do and it is not very efficient. It is not an exact science.

It seems there has been large gaps in his training- why? Was it due to mental health issues in the past?

As much as we can have huge sympathy for those with mental health problems, few will agree that it should not have consequences for once choice of career- when so many lives are at risk?

Let's wait for the answers to the question as to why his training was very unusually interrupted.

Tanith

The BB C link is not very good to be honest.

If you get the chance to find it, if indeed it is even available on line, later on from my posts at lunch time SKY News gave an excellent oversight into exactly how the co-pilot 'locked out' the other pilot. It too was recorded from inside a cockpit but it showed you action by action how the co-pilot had total control and how he had the capability of barring anybody from outside the cock - pit from gaining entry.

Can anybody find the clip it is so good at explaining things ?

How terrible for them. They will grieve but will not be able to comfort or find comfort from the others

Some of the most evil people in history just looked like ordinary people, appearances can be deceptive. You don't have to be a Muslim to be a terrorist either. Apparently the co-pilot's family travelled to the Alps but left when the news broke.

This is so terrible and frightening. There is a picture of the co-pilot on the front on the Daily Mail online. He looks a lovely young man. There is a picture of his lovely family home. What on earth happened I wonder to make him do such a thing?

I wonder if the suicide or act of terrorism (whatever it was) resulted from a moment of madness/spur of the moment decision?

The co-pilot couldn't have known if or when the pilot was going to leave the cockpit. It's not a very long flight after all. The plane could have been anywhere along the route and not necessarily over the Alps.

Thank goodness it didn't occur over a heavily populated area.

Yes - I sometimes look at the photos of people convicted of dreadful crimes and think that once they were sweet babies and appealing toddlers. It is hard to equate that with what they become - I try to quell that thought when looking at my own DGC.

Indeed the co-pilot's family will be going through hell. There is nothing but sorrow in this whole miserable situation.

That was my first reaction GA. His poor parents have to live with what he's done.

Those who have died are beyond our sympathies now, but my heart goes out to those who are left to mourn. In my experience the families will give and receive support from one another - only someone who has experienced such a thing can really share the emotions such a tragedy engenders, but if it truly was the co-pilot who willfully caused the crash then his family's suffering will be unimaginable and they will be isolated from sharing the event with the other mourners.

Me too Mishap but to go to such lengths and take so many innocents with you??? I can't have sympathy for that.

Anyway we are speculating. It could have been a very deliberate terrorist attack. Or something completely different that we had not thought of.

I do have sympathy with those suffering from mental illness. It is not a lifestyle choice.

Mishap in 30 years of nursing I supported and helped many many people who were ill and dying and their relatives including my own parents and my best friend - I do have some insight I think and if I hadn't had some faith I couldn't have done it. I also saw a great deal number of people recover when they weren't expected to. I don't expect anyone to share my belief it in fact in fact fewer and fewer people do.

I think we should leave me alone now and focus on the bigger issues.