A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
Sometimes I lives in the country
Sometimes I lives in town
Sometimes I take a great notion
To jump into the river an’ drown
Could Huddie Ledbetter’s classic song, Goodnight Irene, explain why Andreas Lubitz flew Germanwings 9525 into the French Alps, killing himself and 149 others? According to Leeham News’ Bjorn Fehrm, some French psychologists think that Lubitz’s having had a great notion is a possibility:
French psychological experts appearing on Nationwide networks have described that the idea to lock a cockpit door and to commit suicide by crashing an aircraft can be premeditated but can also be thought of a psychotic moment. Both are dependent of the suitable moment appearing and this is where we are coming to the real subject of this column: no cockpits with pilots left alone.
Historically the cockpits have made these kind of tragic events few and far apart. Older aircraft required a three man crew. Thereby the situation with a pilot alone in the cockpit did not happen and the kind of events of the last year were few and far apart. The present two person flight crews with a third pilot only for long-range flights has created several orders of magnitude increase of these “moments” when a sick human mind can snap. The debate is already raging what a second cabin crew can achieve in a cockpit if the remaining pilot has decided to take the opportunity to kill himself and all in the aircraft.
To me, the point is that the barrier to psychotic moments gets raised so that in the overwhelming majority of cases, it will simply not trigger. Should a premeditated or psychotic moment deed be triggered, the probability of it succeeding will be significantly diminished with a second person in the cockpit, especially if a bit of procedural thought is put into how the crew member is executing the relief and the rules around it.
That makes a great deal of sense. We’ll never know for sure whether Lubitz’s monstrous deed was premeditated or a psychotic moment, a great notion. But I think that alone in the cockpit, his demons, his only companions, overwhelmed him, and in a trance of sorts, he ordered the autopilot to fly the A320 into the ground, then leaned back and retreated into a catatonic state. Had another human being been present and interacting with him, the great notion might never have occurred, let alone been seized. Perhaps his suicidal impulse would have only been deferred, but if it had been deferred to a time when he was not at the controls of an airliner, 149 passengers might still be alive.
Note. Leeham News (partial paywall) is one of the best websites for aviation news and analysis.