Both Passenger Super 8 footage, photographic film, and the INS core memory (this was 1979) on the ANZ KSSU DC-10 survived the impact as did the FDR.

This was Erebus so the CFIT profile might be similar.

Air Traffic Control can see whatever altitude?
 

This is not so. The ATC tag will show the altitude the aircraft is cleared to (controller manual input processed by the ATC FDPS) and the actual FL and attitude of the aircraft (climbing, descending, level) derived from mode C.

Nobody has confirmed he only had 630 TT, 630 on the type sounds more likely.....

German Airlines have announced that they are going with the two in cockpit rule.

Risk can't be eliminated, but can be mitigated
 

It's true that we can't eliminate all risks completely, but that doesn't mean that some risks can't be eliminated, and the remaining risks reduced to the bare minimum. The simple step of requiring two crew members in the cockpit at all times (with appropriate procedures and training) is an example. Can be immediately implemented at an insignificant cost, and it would greatly complicate perpetrating this sort of thing.

The picture being shown on BBC of the Co-pilot sitting in front of the bridge with one of the highest suicide rates on the planet is erie.
Maybe if they had not put the anti-jump fences on the bridge ,he might have just jumped off the bridge instead of killing all those innocent pax.

Such recordings (if they exist) are the property of the deceased passengers and must be returned to their relatives. Who then should be free to decide whether to publish them or not.

You cannot simply confiscate property of other people on "moral grounds".

This would appear to me, to have nothing to do with suicide.
If the guy wanted that, there are many other methods at his disposal, which do not involve the loss of so very many innocents.

This conclusion can reasonably be made by cross matching the timestamps of the ADB mode-s "selected altitude" messages with the timing of the sounds of someone pushing FMC buttons on the CVR.

Airbus computers are the problem
pay to fle is the problem
asian pilots are the problem
not sufficient training is the problem

none of those..pretty sad, maybe is time that the whole industry review the system

Having Squitter data showing manual input clearly is not, in my opinion, definitive as to state of mind or intent of the F/O. We can deduce, but my question would be, why in the world did the F/O manually input 100, and stay on FP ? I would like a mental health professional to show me the percentage of folks so minded, that would take deliberate action and make no attempt to expedite it, ie, roll it over, nor take advantage of the CVR to explain to his actions to loved ones or those he might have been aggrieved at.

Doesn't add up. And to sit there listening to the pilot banging on the door to get in... human nature is not to just sit there and "know" entry would not be gained in time... and yet he did apparently nothing to expedite departure from controlled flight. Doesn't add up. There is more to this.... just has to be. I don't like speculating and I hate that the media has "solved" it because of the French guy preliminary statement.

If I may comment from within my limited area of expertise: people who successfully commit suicide are indeed often oblivious to collateral damage for example a jumper from a tall building who hits an unfortunate passerby on the pavement below. What is extraordinarily rare however is the combination of (1) a successful suicide (not just attempted) who takes a large number of people with him or her in the implementation of the suicide plan; (2) no before- or after- messaging or notes; and (3) a successful suicide plan that requires a sequence of deliberate acts and not a momentary irrevocable act.

And in the absence of information, the vacuum is filled with speculation. (Exactly as I am doing now). People want to be able to assess the risk themselves rather than be patronized by the professionals. This very likely is as true in aviation as it is in my line of work.

When I first lost a friend and classmate in the Silkair crash, is when I first realized just how little information the travelling public were ever allowed to hear or read about these incidents. And how politicized air 'accident'* investigations are (something I'm sure professional pilots decry as well).

*(scare quotes around the word accident because SilkAir was not an accident of course...)

Security Code Attempt
 

I have tried to follow-up on the last hours now and wonder whether there has been a source and/or confirmation that the captain did indeed try the security code (30 sec call sound in cockpit, easily to hear on CVR) and that this attempt was denied by the FO?

Earlier, I had read somebody state that LH CEO stated this. But from the TV material I saw now, one cannot derive that. Thanks for your help.

If the PIC exited the cockpit after cruise was established, then who else (or what else) could have initiated the 'controlled' descent?

"Pay and Conditions" may be a contributing factor not necessarily because of financial and emotional stress but because the available rewards affect the size and quality of the recruiting pool from which pilot trainees are selected.

There is also ample evidence, in terms of anecdotal divorce data, that the peripatetic lifestyle of travelling pilots for example, staying in a different hotel room each night, shift work, etc. does not necessarily make it easy to form strong family and social relationships of the sort that provide much support in times of stress.

To put that another way, if we treat piloting as "just another job", and make irrelevant comparisons with the employment stress levels of many posters here, we are missing the point.

Piloting isn't "an ordinary job" because there is a requirement for concise and accurate actions at all times in the air that cannot be delayed. In this piloting resembles the work of surgeons and trial lawyers and not much else. Pretty much everyone else can take time out to consider their course of action, pilots can't. Even ships Captains can anchor and train drivers can stop the train. Pilots can't.

I can well imagine a young pilot, perhaps with domestic personal issues, a crushing training loan to repay, a demanding job performance requirement, a demanding work schedule and an unsympathetic employer or captain, suddenly deciding their "dream job" isn't….and finding it is all too much to cope with.

Please spare me the outraged comments regarding professionalism and irrelevant asides, depression is a very real problem that attacks all levels of society and to think that pilots are some how immune is idiotic.

Mean while the knee jerk response of regulators will probably be to pull the medical certificates of anyone who has ever mentioned "the D word", consulted a psychiatrist or been prescribed SSRIs.


This will not be a popular subject with airline management.

SIMPLE QUESTIONS
 

Was the total time of the copilot some 600 hours , or was that the time in type?

Why would anyone leave a 600 hour pilot alone in the cockpit? I hate using the airplane lavatory in flight. it was only a two hour flight, get my drift?

Dougie bougey - then you you would probably not go anywhere or have anything done if the mental health history of your doctor, taxi driver, train driver, pilot, mechanic etc were to be revealed. At least 1 in 4, remember that.

I would break my heart and somewhat offend me if someone didn't wish me to do my job for them because of a mental health history, especially if I was completely competent.

Granted if one becomes impaired, then they should be taken off duty, but if they are well and capable, why not?

No, the OP is correct, at least for those Mode S radars that interrogate for downloadable parameters (DAPs).

The controller gets to see the SELECTED altitude. The whole point is that, by comparing that to the CLEARED altitude, the controller gets an early warning of a potential level bust where the two values aren't the same.

The fact is, if you look after your staff financially, training, roster, leave and generally like a human being, there is less chance they will want to spear an A320 into central France.

[QUOTE]As for ignorance, well by definition as a lack of knowledge, we can all suffer that sometimes but if memory serves, your posts are about dumbing down the career and terms and profitability, then one catastrophic hull and passenger loss will teach you a lot about economics of airline shares if you do indeed hold them./QUOTE]

This was a quote I made from the "airlines making their pilots pay"

GW will find out this cost now.

Federal Express Flight 705 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This was a mad jumpseater who tried to kill the pilots, I'm guessing a hostie wouldn't be much of an issue to a man of a mission.


As I said, fix the industry, it will add no more than a euro on a ticket.

Odysseus, given that you have only made three posts in fifteen years I have to respect what you say, as you obviously felt strongly enough to reply to this.

I would however, for the sake of Captain Tsu, and for those reading like to state that no conclusive evidence was found to prove the tragedy was deliberate, and much of the supposition regarding other personal issues were found to be false (but still persist).

Every few years or so, somebody states definitively that the Silk Air was suicide/murder by Tsu but nothing has been proven, and every few years I'll be here to defend him until anything is proven to the contrary.