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Germanwings Co-pilot Intentionally Crashed Plane

posted by LaminatorX on Thursday March 26 2015, @04:19PM   
from the trust-no-one dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

BBC reports the co-pilot of the Germanwings flight that crashed in the Alps intentionally locked the pilot out of the cabin and initiated the flight's descent into the ground:

The co-pilot of the Germanwings flight that crashed in the French Alps, named as Andreas Lubitz, appeared to want to "destroy the plane", officials said.

Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin, citing information from the "black box" voice recorder, said the co-pilot was alone in the cockpit.

He intentionally started a descent while the pilot was locked out.

Mr Robin said there was "absolute silence in the cockpit" as the pilot fought to re-enter it.

Air traffic controllers made repeated attempts to contact the aircraft, but to no avail, he said.

The story seems SN-worthy because it is an object lesson in the consequences for our lives when we put complex machines and systems into the hands of others. In this case it was a trained pilot who killed a plane full of people who were powerless to stop him. Another example could be engineers who sabotage a dam and wipe out entire communities downstream. We mostly don't think about stuff like this because there is an invisible web of trust, sometimes called a "social contract," that leads people to get on a plane, or go to work, or take their kids to school without giving it a second thought. But when that social contract unravels, all bets are off...

• Re:SuicideRe:Suicide (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 26 2015, @04:52PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 26 2015, @04:52PM (#162814)

  > If want to take your own life, then fine, I have no issue with that. Just don't involve anyone else.

  If suicide was his goal, then it could easily have been the same thing that motivates people to go on shooting sprees. [wired.com]

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• Re:Suicide(Score: 5, Informative) by kaszz on Thursday March 26 2015, @07:02PM

  by kaszz (4211) on Thursday March 26 2015, @07:02PM (#162903) Journal

  Why spree killers kill themselves [wired.com]:

  The article points out the warning signs or perhaps pre-requisites:

  It’s about self-loathing and perceived injustice. And location matters.

  The core connection is likely this:

  Criminologist Jack Gibbs’s theory of social control suggests that when an individual commits murder, he or she does so because the social system is perceived to have failed in its responsibility to control the behavior of others and thus protect that individual’s rights. Unable to rely on broader instruments of social control, the murderer tries to “correct” past injustices by employing his or her own direct control over others, which manifests itself through violence.
  Hopelessness is one of the most common reasons why people seek death.

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