Germanwings Crash "Intentional"

[Anonymous]

It's almost like, say, the GPS system in your phone, or in your car.  There are ways you can disable that feature.  Pilots can do the same, if they want to.  At least on most planes that I'm aware of...

I thought jets would have more that that.

[Anonymous]

That all they have!  A transponder, which can usually be disabled by pilots, and then ground based radar, which would be what the flight control tower uses to 'see' if there is no transponder active...

[Anonymous]

Now, with a transponder active, many airports actually land planes without any pilot input!  It's automatic!  A Pilot doesn't even have to land the plane!  Ground based radar could never do this, even if it was somehow 'interconnected.'



I state this only because, perhaps this is a reason why Pilots are given the option of switching the transponder off, if in case there is any fault with that system interfering with other systems.

[Anonymous]

That all they have!  A transponder, which can usually be disabled by pilots, and then ground based radar, which would be what the flight control tower uses to 'see' if there is no transponder active...

Does the plane have to be within a radius of the flight control tower to see if the transponder is active?

[Romero]

Plane transponders are picked up by secondary radar which doesn't have to be near the control tower. But they have to be on land and they have a range of about only 300km, so that can leave some big blind spots when the plane is over the ocean.



Well, it looks like the co-pilot was hiding an illness and may have been suicidal.

Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz appears to have hidden evidence of an illness from his employers, including having been excused by a doctor from work on Tuesday, the day authorities say he crashed a passenger plane into a mountain, prosecutors said.



The evidence came from searches of Lubitz's homes in two German cities as authorities sought an explanation of why he locked himself into the cockpit and crashed the Airbus A320 into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board.



Torn-up sick notes for the day of the crash "support the current preliminary assessment that the deceased hid his illness from his employer and colleagues," Duesseldorf prosecutors' office spokesman Ralf Herrenbrueck said Friday. Such sick notes from doctors excusing employees from work are common in Germany, even for minor illnesses.



Prosecutors didn't say what type of illness - mental or physical - Lubitz may have been suffering from. German media reported Friday that the 27-year-old had suffered from depression.



A Duesseldorf hospital confirmed Friday that Lubitz had been a patient there over the past two months. Duesseldorf University Hospital said he last came to the hospital for a "diagnostic evaluation" on March 10. It declined to provide details of his condition but denied reports that it had treated Lubitz for depression.



Herrenbrueck said the medical documents found indicated "an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment" but no suicide note was found. He added there was no indication of any political or religious motivation for Lubitz's actions.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/27/andreas-lubitz-suicide_n_6954098.html">//http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/27/andreas-lubitz-suicide_n_6954098.html

Apparently in previous medical, psychological and training tests getting his license, there were no signs of any problems.

[Anonymous]

Plane transponders are picked up by secondary radar which doesn't have to be near the control tower. But they have to be on land and they have a range of about only 300km, so that can leave some big blind spots when the plane is over the ocean.



Well, it looks like the co-pilot was hiding an illness and may have been suicidal.

Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz appears to have hidden evidence of an illness from his employers, including having been excused by a doctor from work on Tuesday, the day authorities say he crashed a passenger plane into a mountain, prosecutors said.



The evidence came from searches of Lubitz's homes in two German cities as authorities sought an explanation of why he locked himself into the cockpit and crashed the Airbus A320 into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board.



Torn-up sick notes for the day of the crash "support the current preliminary assessment that the deceased hid his illness from his employer and colleagues," Duesseldorf prosecutors' office spokesman Ralf Herrenbrueck said Friday. Such sick notes from doctors excusing employees from work are common in Germany, even for minor illnesses.



Prosecutors didn't say what type of illness - mental or physical - Lubitz may have been suffering from. German media reported Friday that the 27-year-old had suffered from depression.



A Duesseldorf hospital confirmed Friday that Lubitz had been a patient there over the past two months. Duesseldorf University Hospital said he last came to the hospital for a "diagnostic evaluation" on March 10. It declined to provide details of his condition but denied reports that it had treated Lubitz for depression.



Herrenbrueck said the medical documents found indicated "an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment" but no suicide note was found. He added there was no indication of any political or religious motivation for Lubitz's actions.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/27/andreas-lubitz-suicide_n_6954098.html">//http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/27/andreas-lubitz-suicide_n_6954098.html

Apparently in previous medical, psychological and training tests getting his license, there were no signs of any problems.

Oh my, that is terrible Romero.

[@realAzhyaAryola]

Now they're suggesting that it may be useful to remote control a plane from the control tower and also to put a camera in the cockpit to monitor activity. Tweaking the system.



I don't know that I feel safe with the notion of a remote controlled plane. They'll hijack the control tower!

[Anonymous]

Now they're suggesting that it may be useful to remote control a plane from the control tower and also to put a camera in the cockpit to monitor activity. Tweaking the system.



I don't know that I feel safe with the notion of a remote controlled plane. They'll hijack the control tower!

I bought a remote controlled airplane for my son and husband..



They love it.

 ac_toofunny

[Annie]

I was on a bus last year and the driver was on his cell phone. He was very visibly upset and arguing with what seemed like his girlfriend. The conversation was about her dumping him and he was pleading with her to take him back while he got angrier and angrier. He was driving erratically and I thought he would crash or hit someone. I was only going a few stops but I did report it, I don't know what became of it. When something like being dumped, emotions can go all screwy at that moment. It's very scary.

[Annie]

Now they're suggesting that it may be useful to remote control a plane from the control tower and also to put a camera in the cockpit to monitor activity. Tweaking the system.



I don't know that I feel safe with the notion of a remote controlled plane. They'll hijack the control tower!

I bought a remote controlled airplane for my son and husband..



They love it.

 ac_toofunny

I bought my son a remote controlled little helicopter years ago. His best friend came over the next day and flew it under his bed and broke it.  ac_crying  My son wasn't very upset because he was happy his best friend got to at least play with it.  ac_toofunny

[Anonymous]

Well, it looks like the co-pilot was hiding an illness and may have been suicidal.

I already stated that in this thread, and that his girlfriend had recently dumped him also, which most likely was the trigger.

[Annie]

Of course it was a trigger. But he failed to realize that with time things do get better and that he CAN move on and find happiness again. It's too bad he had to take out so many innocent people.

[Anonymous]

It's too bad he had to take out so many innocent people.

It is too bad.  They could've simply been 'collateral damage,' or maybe in his own mind a way of 'getting back' at the world that had wronged him.

[reel]

So maybe the dude was sick, passed out, fell on the controls, and with his last conscious thought tries to toggle the cockpit door switch to unlock so the captain can get back in, but in a tragic mistake toggles it to lock instead?



possible?  I think so.  They could hear him breathing, but he didn't say a word or make a sound.  That seems odd.  You'd have to have a serious mental issue to be that cold.  At the very least, his breathing would have come heavier and faster as the mountain side approached and the adrenaline kicked in.  Maybe the media is demonizing this chap and all he's guilty of is passing out at the wheel during a tense moment.

[Anonymous]

Apparently the autopilot was manually set to descend to 100 feet (the lowest setting)...