Last week, Germanwings flight 9525 crashed into the French Alps with no apparent physical or internal cause. However, after the recent discovery of a recording taken just before the crash, it was revealed that copilot, Andreas Lubitz, intentionally crashed the plane. The recording showed that the pilot left the cockpit to use the restroom, and the copilot took over. Then, Lubitz changed the autopilot settings from 38,000 ft to 100 ft causing the plane to descend over the Alps. The recording revealed that the pilot, locked out of the cockpit, was banging on the door, and screaming to be let in, while passengers were screaming in the background before the plane finally crashed into the French Alps. This horrific incident led to 150 deaths, including 2 infants, 16 students on an exchange trip, as well as staff and many other families; there were no survivors. Investigations are being conducted in order to find out Lubitz' motives as well as if he had any terrorist or religious affiliations.
This is one completely horrifying tragedy and it is causing international outrage and insecurity. Similarly, the 9-11 crash in New York City of the World Trade Center yielded like responses from the public: refrain from using air travel, increased security, etc. Although this crash was not the act of terrorism, it still shows how a leader (copilot Lubitz) betrayed the trust of his passengers and took advantage of his authority.
Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/29/europe/france-germanwings-plane-crash-main/index.html
This has been especially frightening to me because I have family members and friends who are flight attendants and pilots, especially in the past decade because air travel has been a target for terrorism groups.
ReplyDelete