Why did Germanwings pilot leave cockpit? Local expert shocked by crash, rejects rush to judgment

A Southland aviation security expert said Thursday he was stunned at revelations a co-pilot intentionally crashed a Germanwings A320 in the French Alps, saying a litany of questions remain — including why the pilot left the cockpit and why a possible terrorist link is being downplayed.

“I’m shocked because the process of accepting a pilot into the network of pilots — it’s pretty thorough,” Glen E. Winn, an instructor at the USC Aviation Safety and Security Program and a consultant in aviation security and terrorism, told City News Service. “… Obviously (this) is going to show gaps somewhere. We don’t know what that is yet.”

Winn said Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings, has an impeccable record when it comes to pilot monitoring and safety, so news that co- pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed the plane — killing 144 passengers and five other crew members aboard — raises a multitude of questions that will have to be addressed during an extensive inquiry.

But Winn told CNS he was surprised a French prosecutor was quick to dismiss a possible terrorist angle to the crash.

“I can’t do that and I wouldn’t,” Winn said, insisting that a thorough check will have to be made into Lubitz, a 27-year-old German with no known criminal background.

He said investigators will have to look into Lubitz’s social life, friends, relatives and other people with whom he has been in contact.

He also said the crash raises questions about why Lubitz was left alone in the cockpit during the roughly two-hour flight from Barcelona, Spain, to Dusseldorf, Germany.

“The mystery to me, another piece of this, is why did the captain leave the cockpit?” he said.

Winn said the pilot left the cockpit less than an hour into the flight, adding that “normally people take care of their personal needs” before taking off on a short flight.

“So that piece I don’t understand,” he said.

Adding to that question is the fact that Lubitz was left in complete control of the plane when he had only 630 hours of flight experience.

“That’s not a lot of hours,” Winn said. “I don’t know if that’s his total flying hours or if that was just on an A320. … To be flying that aircraft with 150 people on it, it doesn’t give me a lot of confidence. … I’m comfortable when you’re talking over 1,000 hours.”

— City News Service