The Australian pilot said in the event the pilot flying the aircraft had been incapacitated, the plane would have continued at cruising altitude using its autopilot function. The Germanwings aircraft descended from its cruising altitude of 38,000 feet before hitting a mountain in the French alps eight minutes later. 'You can't have a situation that fixes everything or is fail-safe.' 'They make the cockpit so it is inaccessible, and it is inaccessible to another pilot as well,' he said. Ron Bartsch, the chairman of AvLaw International and a former head of safety at Qantas, said flight decks had been made especially secure to prevent terrorists from gaining access, but it had a dual effect. A Qantas spokesman said the airline had multi-layered systems in place to protect the flight deck. Aviation sources said Qantas does not require a second person in the flight deck at all times. A Virgin spokeswoman said the airline would not comment on its safety and security policies other than saying robust procedures were in place. It is understood the Civil Aviation Safety Authority does not require a second person in the cockpit at all times. In the US, many airlines have a 'two in the cockpit' policy which means if one pilot exits to use the toilet or for any other reason, a flight attendant must then enter the flight deck. Credit:UncreditedĪ 2002 Airbus promotional video showed the reinforced flight deck could be entered after 30 seconds provided the right code was used in the event of no response from pilots, but there is a manual override on the feature during that period. The Germanwings A320 crashed in a remote section of the French Alps. However, in the event the pilot flying the aircraft does not want the other pilot to enter the flight deck, the one in the cockpit has the ability to block entry if he reacts before the door would open automatically. 'You can hear he is trying to smash the door down,' the official said.Īn Australian A320 pilot, who declined to be named, said the locked flight deck of the aircraft could be entered using an emergency code on a keypad – in the case of the pilot flying the aircraft being incapacitated, the door will automatically open after a set period of time if the correct code is entered. The New York Times has reported, citing an official involved in the Germanwings crash investigation, that the cockpit voice recorder shows one of the pilots had left the flight deck and could not regain entry. It is possible for one pilot of an Airbus A320 to lock the other pilot out of the cockpit to the extent that he cannot regain entry, even if the aircraft is in a fatal dive, says an Australian pilot of an A320.

A320 plane crash