Germanwings air crash investigation

摘要

1. The Germanwings disaster on 24 March 2015, in which 150 people died, was caused by the co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashing the plane he was flying into a mountain in the French Alps 2. In the months before the crash Lubitz had been seeing doctors because of depression and had failed to disclose this to the aviation medical examiners, his employer or the authorities 3. Private physicians and a psychiatrist who were treating Lubitz did not disclose information about his mental health to the authorities 4. On the day of the crash Lubitz was suffering a psychiatric disorder, which was possibly a psychotic depressive episode, and was taking psychotropic medication, which made him unfit to fly 5. The investigation report by the French Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authority considered the various potential barriers that had prevented Lubitz's unfitness to fly being disclosed to the relevant authorities and aviation medical examiners 6. The report recommends: developing clear rules on when healthcare professionals should report their concerns over a pilot's mental health to the relevant authority, even in the absence of the pilot's consent; an obligation on pilots to disclose their profession to their doctor; wider use of pilot peer support networks; consideration of when a pilot can continue to fly when on specified anti-depressant drugs; and measures to encourage self-disclosure of mental ill health, particularly to mitigate the financial consequences of loss of licence on medical grounds 7. The recommendations have been welcomed by professional pilots' associations, including the British Airline Pilots Association and the European Cockpit Association.