General Secretary Jim McAuslan said flying remains the safest form of transport, and warned that he hoped this disaster does not result in a further stigmatisation of mental health issues. The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) said in a statement it will look at the report's findings and support 'any recommendation that could help prevent a tragedy like this in future'. 'In particular the news regarding the extent of co-pilot Andreas Lubitz's medical history and the severity of his mental health condition raises very serious questions about how he was assessed and how the fitness of commercial airline pilots should be assessed.' 'Nothing can turn back the clock or bring the innocent victims back but the families now want to see important lessons learned from this so that it reduces the risk of similar incidents. Mr Morris added: 'It's crucial that any reasonable recommendations made in the accident report to improve aviation safety are implemented as soon as possible. He said they want to know why more was not done to prevent the co-pilot from flying 'when it seems clear from the evidence already available that he was a potential risk to himself and passengers'. Jim Morris, an expert aviation lawyer at Irwin Mitchell and former RAF pilot, said: 'The information about this tragedy has already been devastating for the families to hear.' Specialist aviation lawyers Irwin Mitchell, who are representing British families, say they want to see 'important lessons learned'. The other British victims were Martyn Matthews, 50, from Wolverhampton, and seven-month-old Julian Pracz-Bandres, from Manchester, who died alongside his mother, Spanish-born Marina Bandres Lopez-Belio, 37. Paul Bramley, 28, originally from Hull, was one of three Britons who died in the tragedy. The families of the victims have urged accident investigators to make clear recommendations to improve aviation safety, ahead of the publication of the report. 'The reluctance of pilots to declare their problems and seek medical assistance. The BEA recommendations also include peer support groups and other measures to remove the stigma and fear of losing a job that many pilots face for mental health issues. 'That's why I think clearer rules are needed to preserve public security,' he told reporters at a press conference in the French city of Le Bourget. Germany's confidentiality laws prevent sensitive personal information from being widely shared, though doctors are allowed to suspend patient privacy if they believe there is a concrete danger to the person's safety or that of others.ĭesjardin described Germany's privacy rules as being especially strict, and said that doctors fear losing their jobs if they unnecessarily report a problem to authorities. Many airlines and regulators have issued changes since the March 2015 Germanwings crash in the French Alps and now require at least two people to be in the cockpit at any given time to prevent similar crashes. Germany's confidentiality laws prevent sensitive personal information from being widely shared, a factor which may have contributed to the crash on March 24 last year
The BEA said it was still just as important to protect the cockpit from attackers elsewhere in the plane.Ĭurrent cockpits are equipped with a code system to prevent the kind of hijackings that occurred on September 11.īEA investigator Arnaud Desjardin said 'a lockage system cannot be created to prevent threats coming from outside and inside the cockpit'. However, it refrained from suggesting changes to airplane cockpit rules - despite Lubitz having committed the atrocity by locking his pilot out of the control room. Today French accident investigation agency BEA published its final report into the crash.
It also showed he was taking the highest dose of Mirtazapine, an anti-depressant which is also used as a drug to induce sleep. The message read: 'I am afraid to go blind and I can't get this possibility out of my head.' Because Lubitz didn't inform anyone of his doctors' warnings, the BEA said, 'no action could have been taken by the authorities or his employer to prevent him from flying'.Īn email Lubitz sent to one doctor revealed that he was concerned that he was losing his eyesight - and that it would cost him his job as a pilot.