To: combjelly who wrote (846020 ) 3/29/2015 2:29:59 PM From: tejek Read Replies (5) | Respond to If true, no kidding. That is pretty lax. Germany ’s Federal Aviation Office said on Friday that Mr. Lubitz had a known medical condition, though he was still permitted to fly. Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa’s chief executive, said at a news conference on Thursday that Mr. Lubitz “was 100 percent flightworthy without any limitations. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/world/europe/pilot-andreas-lubitz-sought-treatment-for-vision-problems-before-germanwings-crash-authorities-say.html Authorities would not reveal the exact nature of Lubitz's illness. But an official from the German prosecutor's office in Duesseldorf said earlier that the doctors' notes were related to a "long-lasting condition". Asked whether they were also related to psychiatric problems, he said, "Read between the lines." nzherald.co.nz They should put a button on all airliners. If pressed, it doesn't allow the plane to descend below the level of the tallest object within 250 kilometers. If it is below that altitude, it climbs there. The only way to unlock it is to have ground control do it. If need be, ground control can move the plane to an underpopulated area in case someone wants to fly it until it runs out of fuel. If feasible, maybe the option to force it down at a nearby airport. Not sure if this is practical, though. The rest could be done with a minor hardware addition, the button, and some software. Yes, the phrase "some software" can be incredibly complex, especially with systems that weren't designed to do that from the beginning. But it is conceivable and doesn't involve some really critical parts, unlike the force landing scenario.
