EU airliners urged to have two crew members in cockpit

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has recommended that airliners have at least two people present in the cockpit at all times during flights, in a bid to avoid incidents similar to a Germanwings aircraft crash in March.

The EASA said Friday that airlines should ensure that “at least two crew, including at least one qualified pilot, are in the flight crew compartment at all times of the flight.”

The recommendation came nearly four months after a lone pilot deliberately slammed a Germanwings plane into the French Alps, killing all the 150 people onboard.

The 27-year-old German co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, locked the other pilot out of the cockpit on a flight from Barcelona to Duesseldorf on March 24 and then deliberately crashed the Airbus A320 as his colleague desperately attempted to get back in.

Later investigations showed that Lubitz had records of severe depression, with French prosecutors saying he suffered from “psychosis” and had consulted 41 different doctors in the previous five years out of fear that he may lose his sight. He had reportedly said “life has no sense with this loss of vision.”

The EASA said that psychological evaluation should be in place for all pilots during training or before they start the job while airlines should also perform random drug and alcohol tests. Investigations over the past months have not mentioned drug or alcohol as potential factors in the Germanwings tragedy.

Immediately after the March crash, the European watchdog released the guidelines in the form of temporary recommendations. Many airline companies had already enforced the measures before the March incident and some others began to adopt them after the crash.

The European Commission is to review the EASA recommendation in three months.

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