http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/world/europe/germanwings-airbus-crash.html
It's actually a lot safer than that, while the number of incidents has gone down considerably, the number of flights has gone up exponentially, so percentage-wise the number of incidents has plummeted.
Oh great, the Pilot was Malaysian! Anning Wong being named as pilot of doomed #Germanwings plane #4U9525 https://t.co/8ViYUOiU5S
Here's a video about the A320 cockpit door unlocking procedure. Can lead to the conclusion that this was a malicious act...
While pilot suicide seems the most likely now it still sounds kinda strange. If I were a suicidal pilot wanting to take a plane down I would probably just put it into a roll and have it hit the ground in 30 seconds (sort of like EgyptAir Flight 990) before anyone knew what hit them. Why did he put the plane into a controlled 8 minute descent giving the pilot and crew plenty of time to try and stop him?
I believe the Airbus system wouldn't allow that. Such an attempt would get overridden...Source: The Interwebz
I believe you are correct, you just completed the last piece of the puzzle for me (EgytAir 990 was a Boeing 767)
And Air France was the opposite problem. The pilot was pulling back on the joystick during a stall without realizing what he was doing until it was too late. They've probably mitigated that scenario as well since then.
Marseille prosecutor says the co-pilot input the descent command into the flight computer after the captain exited cockpit.— Nicola Clark (@_nicolaclark) March 26, 2015
Marseille prosecutor says the co-pilot input the descent command into the flight computer after the captain exited cockpit.
Marseille prosecutor says the most likely interpretation is that the co-pilot refused to open the door through "voluntary abstention"— Nicola Clark (@_nicolaclark) March 26, 2015
Marseille prosecutor says the most likely interpretation is that the co-pilot refused to open the door through "voluntary abstention"
Not looking good:Marseille prosecutor says the co-pilot input the descent command into the flight computer after the captain exited cockpit.— Nicola Clark (@_nicolaclark) March 26, 2015Marseille prosecutor says the most likely interpretation is that the co-pilot refused to open the door through "voluntary abstention"— Nicola Clark (@_nicolaclark) March 26, 2015