Germanwings Flight Carrying at Least 148 Crashes in Southern France

[Caliga]

He could have reprogrammed the autopilot to descend to 'x' feet.  You can also program the descent rate and the aircraft will hold that as well.  You can cancel that at any time and take control, but of course you can't do that while unconscious.

...or insane.

My initial posts in this thread were pretty great, I must say.  I should be an expert witness in aviation trials.

[alfred russel]

He could have reprogrammed the autopilot to descend to 'x' feet.  You can also program the descent rate and the aircraft will hold that as well.  You can cancel that at any time and take control, but of course you can't do that while unconscious.

...or insane.

My initial posts in this thread were pretty great, I must say.  I should be an expert witness in aviation trials.

You could discuss and debate with the guy that found amelia earhart's plane. 

[Caliga]

  He hasn't found shit.

[Admiral Yi]

There's supposed to be a cell phone video floating around Germany media from inside the cabin.  The Wolfman was speculating someone on the wreckage team lifted a SIM card and sold the video.

[DGuller]

There's supposed to be a cell phone video floating around Germany media from inside the cabin.  The Wolfman was speculating someone on the wreckage team lifted a SIM card and sold the video.

I saw that story strenuously denied by some Frenchman.

[Admiral Yi]

Makes as much sense to me that someone phoned the video to someone else, who then sold it.

[garbon]

With recent media coverage, it looks like people are right to not openly talk about mental conditions they may have suffered from at one point. I just saw an article that noted confusion as to why he was ever allowed to be a pilot when he told them he had once suffered a severe depressive episode.

[lustindarkness]

With recent media coverage, it looks like people are right to not openly talk about mental conditions they may have suffered from at one point. I just saw an article that noted confusion as to why he was ever allowed to be a pilot when he told them he had once suffered a severe depressive episode.

So the article questions why he was not discriminated on based on his disability?

[Syt]

This attitude is not uncommon over here and it's why seeking therapy carries a fair bit of stigma still.  Though it's starting to get better.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

With recent media coverage, it looks like people are right to not openly talk about mental conditions they may have suffered from at one point. I just saw an article that noted confusion as to why he was ever allowed to be a pilot when he told them he had once suffered a severe depressive episode.

So the article questions why he was not discriminated on based on his disability?

It has actually been quite an uphill fight to get mental disorders properly classified as disabilities.  The ADA amendment in 2008 stopped what had been a continuous slide in the courts towards only considering debilitating conditions to be disabilities.  Prior to 01JAN09 a company could probably get away with a policy of not hiring depressed people.  Under the current wording they would probably lose.  I think it is still hard to prove a discrimination case for something like that unless it is blatant.

[crazy canuck]

With recent media coverage, it looks like people are right to not openly talk about mental conditions they may have suffered from at one point. I just saw an article that noted confusion as to why he was ever allowed to be a pilot when he told them he had once suffered a severe depressive episode.

So the article questions why he was not discriminated on based on his disability?

It has actually been quite an uphill fight to get mental disorders properly classified as disabilities.  The ADA amendment in 2008 stopped what had been a continuous slide in the courts towards only considering debilitating conditions to be disabilities.  Prior to 01JAN09 a company could probably get away with a policy of not hiring depressed people.  Under the current wording they would probably lose.  I think it is still hard to prove a discrimination case for something like that unless it is blatant.

Interesting.  Here its the other way around.  Some might argue that the definition of a disability has become too expansive.  In any event it would include a mental disorder or mental illness.  Also the level of proof required to establish a discriminatory act is very low.  The complainant need only establish the disability played some factor in the alleged discriminatory decision.  It need not be the main reason.  So in many cases the existence of the disability creates a prima facie case which is difficult for an employer to rebut.

[Admiral Yi]

With recent media coverage, it looks like people are right to not openly talk about mental conditions they may have suffered from at one point. I just saw an article that noted confusion as to why he was ever allowed to be a pilot when he told them he had once suffered a severe depressive episode.

What do you think Germanwings should have done with this information?

[Ideologue]

I flew on the return trip of that Germanwings flight a few months ago.

There was a funny moment in my flight today when the captain went to take a leak. As he opened the door to the cockpit, he turned around to see quite a few people watching intently. The bastard laughed his ass off. 

It's hi-larious.

[Ideologue]

Self-flying planes may actually be a thing of the future.  Airplanes can mostly fly themselves already.

I kind of doubt it, actually. I think we will see more and more automation, of course, but it is going to be a long time before a auto pilot can handle the emergencies as well as a well trained human.

Yeah, you'd have to completely rewire the flux capacitor and probably employ protomatter in the Genesis matrix to create an autopilot capable of flying a plane.  What are you basing this on?  Gut feeling?

Anyway, could passenger planes be flown like drones are?  If passenger flights were drones, you get rid of the risk of terrorist takeover as well as mass-murder by pilot pique.  Furthermore, it would eliminate fatigue-induced accidents, to whatever extent those exist.  (Now, I'll add the caveat I do not know how viable this is.  But drones seem to work for military applications.)

[The Brain]

With recent media coverage, it looks like people are right to not openly talk about mental conditions they may have suffered from at one point. I just saw an article that noted confusion as to why he was ever allowed to be a pilot when he told them he had once suffered a severe depressive episode.

Not everyone is cut out to be a pilot. Better to weed them out early before they mass murder people.