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

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...

 
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  • (Score: 2) by subs on Friday March 27 2015, @01:04PM

    by subs (4485) on Friday March 27 2015, @01:04PM (#163172)

    This guy waited until the captain was out of the cockpit, so it looks like it was some deterrent.

    That doesn't follow. A much simpler explanation was that he knew he didn't have to get his hands dirty, so he waited it out.

    Why assume this is to do with how the company treated its employees?

    Because I know the working conditions for pilots at some of these low-cost airlines and they're atrocious. Many times, the likes of Ryanair don't actually employ many of the pilots that work for them. Instead, they hire them on a per-flight basis and let them go as soon as high-season ends. Considering how expensive and intensive pilot training is, the enormous responsibility that they shoulder and the sacrifices that many pilots make in terms of not having time for a personal life, that sort of additional douchebaggery from management can really mess with you.

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