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Airbus A320 crashed in Southern France

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Airbus A320 crashed in Southern France

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Old 26th Mar 2015, 01:45
  #881 (permalink)  
 
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A320 Cockpit Door Panel

Cockpit Door Panel | Cockpit Door Switch
Cockpit Door Switch
UNLOCK
Unlocks door when raised above the detent and held in this position. Door must be pushed to open. UNLOCK is an override and reset selection of any previous action.

NORM
When NORM is selected, it allows the door to be locked when closed. It also allows the door to be opened after an emergency access code entry and 30 second delay in case of pilot incapacitation.

LOCK
Momentarily placing the cockpit door switch to LOCK illuminates the red cockpit access panel light, rejects keypad entry request, inhibits aural alerts, and prevents further access code entry for 20 minutes. The cockpit door switch returns to NORM when released, but remains in locked mode for 20 minutes or until UNLOCK is selected.

There is no cockpit indication when LOCK is selected; therefore, if the door is closed and the cockpit is unattended during a locked period, the door cannot be opened until the timer expires or power is removed from the airplane.
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 01:47
  #882 (permalink)  
 
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This is the last outcome, if confirmed, that you would want as a pilot.
Why? At least something can be done about it. For example reinstalling the third cockpit crew member or throwing away the locked door policy.
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 01:50
  #883 (permalink)  
 
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Would you mind to offer the general public the codes to open the doors, also?
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 01:57
  #884 (permalink)  
 
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Would you mind to offer the general public the codes to open the doors, also?
He did not offer anything. This information (and much, much more) has been on the internet for many years already.
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 02:01
  #885 (permalink)  
 
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Would you mind to offer the general public the codes to open the doors, also?
And do you think there is ONE code that opens ALL such doors ALL the time?
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 02:02
  #886 (permalink)  
 
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For what it's worth, at my airline, we are never alone on the flight deck. Anytime someone leaves their station, we have an FA come and occupy the other seat.
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 02:04
  #887 (permalink)  
 
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The FA should not be occupying a control seat. Poor policy.
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 02:07
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For some it is beyond comprehension that a Pilot would deliberately fly an aircraft into the ground, knowingly taking the lives of all on board. Regardless of profession, human beings are exactly that, human. EVERYONE has a breaking point. Work and private issues affect us all. Most deal with it well,...others don't.
I had an F/O threaten to jump off the top of the hotel on an overnight many years ago. It was very clear to myself and the F/E that he was quite serious !
His death at home some months later was more than likely self inflicted.
Divorced 4 times i was told.
We're human.....God forbid it turns out to be the cause of this crash
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 02:08
  #889 (permalink)  
 
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The policy of a crew member coming onto the flightdeck will be all well and good until there is an incident involving this crew member!
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 02:08
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Good policy...FA should also know how to call ATC.
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 02:09
  #891 (permalink)  
 
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Pilot locked out

Also per the NYT:
The French aviation authorities have made public very little, officially, about the nature of the information that has been recovered from the audio recording, and it was not clear whether it was partial or complete. France’s Bureau of Investigations and Analyses confirmed only that human voices and other cockpit sounds had been detected and would be subjected to detailed analysis.
So, can we not run off on the other bit in the article 'according to a senior military official' ...
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 02:12
  #892 (permalink)  
 
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Cockpit door of 320

This video has been on the internet since 2002 and has seen a lot of play today. I don't think it is news to a terrorist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixEHV7c3VXs
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 02:18
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"For some it is beyond comprehension that a Pilot would deliberately fly an aircraft into the ground, knowingly taking the lives of all on board. "

if it was his intention why wasn't the final flight path more vertical(like in egyptian case)? It's not like someone would survive if he didn't hit the mountain but some flat meadow...
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 02:19
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FO flying and Captain trying to regain entry if twitterati to be believed.
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 02:19
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As an aside, is it about time that we started taking mental illness amongst flight crew a bit more seriously. I was looking at my income insurance and loss of licence protection, both policies explicity rule out payments due to not being able to work after being diognosed with a mental disorder. The result of that may be for pilots who shouldn't be at work continuing to turn up.

'Are Out' maybe if there was someone responsible they just set 100' in the Altitude windon pushed EXP descent and sat back and watched it all unfold? Even if you wanted to fly the thing into the ground the overspeed protections would restrict how you could do this, unless of course you turned some things off to gain control without protections. This profile though seems to have been well controlled and stable all the way to the ground.

Last edited by Ollie Onion; 26th Mar 2015 at 02:23. Reason: reply
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 02:20
  #896 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by FIRESYSOK
The FA should not be occupying a control seat. Poor policy.
Technically, they are to occupy the observer's seat.
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 02:22
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I was wondering the same thing. If you were intent on "ending it all" wouldn't the lawn dart method be preferable? Or do the A320 control systems prevent that?
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 02:23
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Also of note Lufthansa saying they are "aware" of NYT story but have no comment - according to CNN.
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 02:24
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maybe a flight attendant banged on the cockpit door

Both pilots were well trained, experienced Lufthansa pilots. They knew what they were doing. I would wait for more official answers, whilst the silence sounds like a loud confirmation. I don’t know their protocol, i.e. if one of the flight attendants is able to access the flight deck in case of an emergency as pilots could be incapacitated due to toxic fumes
Is there any possibility that actually not a pilot, but a flight attendant banged on the door after noticed that the aircraft is descending towards Alps?
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Old 26th Mar 2015, 02:29
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I am a A320 Captain for a UK operator.

Whilst not wanting to discuss cockpit door procedures, I think it should be clear to those reading this thread that it requires a conscious person and a deliberate action of someone inside the flight deck to lock someone out and prevent entry to the flight deck.
If a lone pilot suffered a major medical issue ( heart attack, stroke, etc) the possibility of throwing a switch up instead of down is very real. Not saying this is the case, but I can't say I've ever met an experienced driver that hasn't got switch bit at least once in their career under normal conditions, let alone a person dieing.

It seems like about the time we say something can't happen in aviation, it does.
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