If that info is correct, I bet that will seriously up their liability costs. One report I read said that Germans could get as little as 100k, while Ameticans killed could get several million. It’s a bizarre system.
This is horribly sad There is report of a video (not shown) of the last minurtes of the flight from a cellphone http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/31/europe/france-germanwings-plane-crash-main/
^^^^If that is true, OMG. For someone like me who is terrified of flying on a good day (thought it doesn’t stop me from traveling), it’s bad enough even imagining what those poor people went through, much less seeing even only 14 seconds of it.
So so tragic and given what appears to be the case, just incredibly maddening.
I can’t imagine that both papers are making it up and it’s not even being reported as being told someone else saw it - the editor-in chief of Bild says he saw it. I find it hard to believe he would lie about it.
I only hope that no one puts in up on the web.
I wish people would stop calling this simply a “suicide.” It is a mass homicide. The vast, vast majority of suicides, even suicides by plane are not homicides and no else gets (physically) hurt. Even the rare pilot suicides (n=2) almost always occur in private plans when the pilot is flying alone. This is not a suicide issue. It is a homicide/mass-murder-suicide one.
“Germanwings Co-Pilot Had Researched Suicide and Cockpit Doors, Prosecutors Say”
Second black box has been found.
http://news.yahoo.com/second-black-box-found-french-alps-plane-crash-134958557.html
I heard a report that seemed contrary to this, and looked up one thing. I’m not sure I’m looking at the right section, but it appears that you can be cleared to fly if you are taking Zoloft, Lexapro, Prozax, or Celexa. The report I head suggested that you had to have been taking the anti-depressant for some time, not just beginning it. I’m not familiar directly with these, but maybe they are ok. One hopes.
In any case, I’m not so sure this makes me feel better about the US screening process. I’ve always taken some comfort in the idea that people are competently trained (not always so sure of this), and that they want to live as much as the next guy. I suppose I’m still most concerned about incompetence and less about suicidal thoughts.
I think there’s all sorts of rules and caveats when you’re dealing with the FAA, dadx. Sometimes I think they don’t even know what they allow, as it can take many months for approval, sometimes when things appear simple. But I just looked it up on an approved medication website, so who knows how old or accurate that info was. Maybe it’s for people just starting something. I don’t know anyone who actually takes the stuff, that I could ask.
And if you’re flying on a major US carrier, I wouldn’t be worried about competence. It’s still so hard to get on with the majors that everyone there has been through tons of training and is highly experienced. However, that can’t completely protect against fatigue, distraction, miscommunication and complacency, unfortunately.
Why do I not doubt that? 
I think those drugs are taken by many, many people. So maybe its ok.
My guess is that the people who make these rules are searching carefully through their files to get a handle on the magnitude of this issue, and to consider whether any changes are in order because of what has happened. It’s fair to say that this doesn’t seem to have been a particular problem in the past, but that’s of little comfort to the people who are gone, and their families.
This article claims that the “black box” has yielded information which clearly implicates AL as deliberately crashing the plane rather than being incapacitated.
It’s good to finally have definitive proof that the FO deliberately crashed the plane.
Not totally on topic, but kind of related:
The JetBlue pilot who had a midair meltdown is suing JetBlue for over 15 million dollars for not recognizing the pilot’s health problems.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/27/jetblue-osbon-lawsuit-idUSL2N0WT2AV20150327
A general question - You can treat people with mental issues and permit them to hold jobs like this which can have catastrophic results. Or restrict them, leading many who would otherwise sought treatment and performed normally, but to protect their jobs they now refuse treatment, with its bad consequences. How does one mitigate the risks of the different scenarios?.
The passengers should be suing the pilot for putting them in danger.
I wonder if tbe JetBlue pilot is also suing his family and friends, as they surely should have noticed his health problems first.
Apparently, the report will come out soon. Here is one chilly detail: