Establishing contingency plans, improving cockpit security, and alleviating psychological stress for pilots are some of the suggestions experts recommend to avoid a repeat of scenarios where pilots intentionally cause accidents.

Wreckage of the Germanwings plane at the crash site. Photo: Reuters

At this point, it is almost clear that Germanwings flight 4U 9525, which crashed in the Alps in southeastern France on March 24, was deliberately locked in the cockpit and then deliberately crashed the plane into the mountains.

The locked door, erected to protect pilots from dangerous passengers, especially terrorists, has now become a barrier preventing the captain from returning to the cockpit, allowing the co-pilot to carry out their scheme alone inside this impenetrable territory. This security mechanism was established nearly 14 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

It is still too early to draw definitive conclusions, but the details that have emerged have highlighted a number of structural issues that experts and authorities need to address immediately.

First, the risk of pilots intentionally causing accidents is very real. Many similar incidents have occurred in the past.

On December 19, 1997, SilkAir Flight 185, an Indonesian airline, departed from Jakarta, Indonesia, bound for Singapore, and crashed into the Musi River near Palembang, southern Sumatra, killing 97 passengers and 7 crew members.

The investigation team concluded the plane crash was the result of a series of deliberate actions by the captain. The Boeing 737, piloted by Singaporean pilot Tsu Way Ming, plummeted from 10,668 meters into the river in just one minute. The plane was traveling so fast that it nearly reached supersonic speed before breaking apart. The cockpit voice recorder was destroyed. According to experts, this could only have happened if someone had intentionally disabled the electronic circuitry from within. Several reports indicated the captain had serious personal problems.

According to CNN, we still haven't developed truly effective contingency plans for cockpit security. Perhaps providing a separate password or electronic key for both pilots, or for the pilot and chief flight attendant, to access the cockpit is necessary. The survival of a flight shouldn't rely solely on a single layer of security. While this system proved somewhat effective after 9/11, it has become outdated in the face of current threats.

Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz. Photo:

Secondly, regardless of a pilot's mindset or circumstances, modern airlines like Lufthansa should more extensively implement voluntary stress reduction therapies for them. Pilots share many ideological similarities with military personnel. They are tough and strong, yet still harbor significant psychological vulnerabilities. Airlines need to ensure that a pilot seeking counseling is not unjustly punished.

Authorities said Andreas Lubitz, co-pilot of flight 4U 9525, may also have been experiencing a "personal life crisis" at the time of the accident. German media reported that co-pilot Lubitz had broken up with his girlfriend.

According to Scott Shappell, a professor of human factors at Embry-Riddle Aviation University and a former pilot and accident investigator, pilots rarely disclose mental health issues, including signs of depression or anxiety, because it could disqualify them from flying, significantly impacting their careers.

Ultimately, the oversensitivity or tendency to avoid using the word "terrorism" needs to change, according to Juliette Kayyem, a CNN security analyst. Before the news broke that the co-pilot had taken control and deliberately crashed the plane into the mountain, authorities had quickly ruled out the possibility of a terrorist attack.

But the co-pilot's actions were clearly terrorism in the conventional sense: an act that incites fear in the general public. The only thing that remains unclear is whether its purpose was to serve a political agenda or was purely personal.

"If someone takes their own life but wants to take the lives of 149 other people with them, we have to use different words to describe it; it can't be called suicide," emphasized Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr.

According to Vnexpress