New Delhi/Mumbai: An incident like the Germanwings plane crash in the French Alps is unlikely to happen to Indian airlines. Local rules make it compulsory for carriers to have at least two crew members in the cockpit at all times during a flight.
If one of the pilots steps out, a cabin crew member must step in. That would avoid a situation like what happened, according to preliminary investigations, to the German airline's flight to Dusseldorf from Barcelona: the co-pilot locking out his colleague and deliberately slamming the Airbus 320 to an alpine ridge at about 650 km an hour, killing all 150 on board.
Airlines in the US need to follow a similar rule. But it is not compulsory yet in Europe. On Friday, Germanwings' parent Lufthansa said it will introduce new rules requiring two crew members to be in the cockpit at all times. Several other airlines have also announced such steps.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India's aviation regulator, introduced the policy in 2010, after a mid-flight incident in an Air India Express plane. The flight between Dubai and Pune plunged several thousand feet while on autopilot, as the co-pilot, who was alone in the cockpit at the time, had blanked out. The commander had gone to the toilet.
During an inquiry, it was found that the commander realised that the flight was losing altitude and rushed back and knocked on the locked cockpit door, but there was no response. When repeated knocking elicited no response, he punched in the code on the electronic door lock and entered the cockpit.
He found the autopilot disengaged. The co-pilot was unable to bring the plane under control. The commander took control of the aircraft in the manual mode.
28/03/15 Mihir Mishra & Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times
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If one of the pilots steps out, a cabin crew member must step in. That would avoid a situation like what happened, according to preliminary investigations, to the German airline's flight to Dusseldorf from Barcelona: the co-pilot locking out his colleague and deliberately slamming the Airbus 320 to an alpine ridge at about 650 km an hour, killing all 150 on board.
Airlines in the US need to follow a similar rule. But it is not compulsory yet in Europe. On Friday, Germanwings' parent Lufthansa said it will introduce new rules requiring two crew members to be in the cockpit at all times. Several other airlines have also announced such steps.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India's aviation regulator, introduced the policy in 2010, after a mid-flight incident in an Air India Express plane. The flight between Dubai and Pune plunged several thousand feet while on autopilot, as the co-pilot, who was alone in the cockpit at the time, had blanked out. The commander had gone to the toilet.
During an inquiry, it was found that the commander realised that the flight was losing altitude and rushed back and knocked on the locked cockpit door, but there was no response. When repeated knocking elicited no response, he punched in the code on the electronic door lock and entered the cockpit.
He found the autopilot disengaged. The co-pilot was unable to bring the plane under control. The commander took control of the aircraft in the manual mode.
28/03/15 Mihir Mishra & Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times
