Brussels, 07/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has set up a task force to examine the results of the preliminary report by the French Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authority (BEA) into the crash of the Germanwings Airbus A320 (see EUROPE 11284).
The team of experts met for the first time on Thursday 7 May, but has not set a deadline for its conclusions. It brings together representatives of the industry, pilots' associations and international regulators, who have been tasked with examining the following: the cockpit door locking system, cockpit access and exit procedures and the criteria and procedures applied to the medical monitoring of pilots. This work will be carried out in parallel to the ongoing investigation of the BEA.
“In order to avoid accidents in the future, the European Commission will take the necessary measures at European Union level if there is anything that can be done to improve the security and safety of civil aviation”, a spokesperson to the European institution announced.
According to the report published by the BEA on Wednesday 6 May, the German co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, who caused the A320 to crash, “was alone in the cockpit” and “deliberately” set the automatic pilot controls to bring the aircraft into a descent until it crashed into the mountains. He had even “repeated this act” on the outbound flight, but to no “considerable effect”. (Mathieu Bion)