The 9/11 disaster changed the aircraft design to keep the cockpit away from terrorists, but the same change led to the Germanwings flight disaster in the Alps 14 years later.
9/11 was the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United States. It changed the foreign policy of the United States and continues to affect people today.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, four commercial airlines were hijacked. Al-Qaeda Terrorists were able to enter the cockpit and take over control.
American Airlines 11, 77 and United Airlines 93 and 175 are four planes that crashed in different locations in the United States
It is unclear exactly how the hijacker got into the cockpit of U.S. Cabin 11. Reports from flight attendant Betty Ong speculated that they “broke in.”
When the passengers on United 93 resisted the hijackers and tried to prevent the terrorists from reaching their intended target in Washington, DC, other planes attacked the two World Trade Center buildings and Pentagon.
Thousands of people were killed in these attacks, and many more were injured or suffered complications due to the rapid response to the disaster.
After the attack, the then president George W. Bush The Aviation and Transportation Safety Law was signed in November 2001 to prevent such incidents from happening again.
A key part of the legislation is that airlines must comply to strengthen their cockpit doors, in particular: “Strengthen the cockpit doors to deny pilots from the cabin to the cockpit.”
This means that when the locking mechanism is engaged, people outside the cockpit will be denied entry.
It is hoped that by strengthening the cockpit doors, the pilots will remain safe and deny or delay the hijackers from entering and taking over the aircraft used for terrorist attacks.
But measures designed to protect pilots from terrorist hijackers and other attempts to interrupt or stop flights had tragic consequences in 2015.
In March of the same year, Germanwings Flight 9525 took off from Barcelona El Prat Airport in Spain to Dusseldorf Airport in Germany. Germanwings is a low-cost airline of Germany’s largest airline Lufthansa.
However, this plane will never complete its journey. It was deliberately put down by the co-pilot Andreas Lubitz after locking the cockpit door when he was alone.
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When the plane hit the French Alps, all 144 passengers and 6 crew members were killed.
Junction French and German investigations The crash concluded in January 2017 that Lubitz was fully responsible for the crash. He had considered suicide before but was later declared healthy and allowed to fly.
According to the report, “the reinforced structure of the cockpit door is designed for safety reasons to resist penetration. Before the aircraft hits the terrain of the French Alps, it cannot be damaged from the outside to allow people to enter.”
according to British Broadcasting Corporation, Lubitz’s parents dispute the results of the report And argued that their son had suicidal tendencies.
After the crash, many countries, including Australia and Canada, required two authorized personnel to be in the cockpit at all times to avoid similar disasters.
However, in various countries European Union -The place where the Germanwings crashed-still allow a pilot in the cockpit.
The EU Aviation Safety Agency spokesperson clarified the current guidelines and requirements of airlines in the region.
The agency said in a statement to Newsweek: “Single pilots are currently allowed to operate I The regulatory framework is limited to non-commercial operations or commercial operations with a small number of passengers.
“However, for the commercial operation of large aircraft, usually airlines, the rules require a second pilot in the cockpit, in line with the requirements of other regulatory agencies around the world, to ensure more effective’flight management’, including failure conditions and ensuring Redundancy If one of the pilots is “disabled”, it will eventually lead to a higher level of safety, which is the standard for airline operations today.”
Having two pilots is not the only possible safeguard. The agency also stated that new technologies are improving automation and can “improve resilience to failure conditions and external threats.”
In addition, there are methods to monitor pilots and reduce their workload during flight.
It identifies several factors that need to be addressed to ensure safe flight in the future, including:
- Pilot workload and fatigue;
- Error management and situational awareness; pilot disability;
- Sleep inertial return control when the pilot is resting, etc.
Weekly newspaper Lufthansa has been contacted for comments.
Emmanuel Foudrot/Reuters
