That Third Cup of Coffee

That Third Cup of Coffee

Coffee drinkers all know the drill. They finish their second cup of coffee and everything is going well. The good feeling prompts you to have another. That is the fatal error. All too soon you have to get up and head to the "facilities." There is an urgency to the mission that just cannot be resisted. For most of us the need to remedy the coffee conundrum doesn't involve flying a plane with a co-pilot that as it turns out is suicidal.

The pilot of the Germanwings Airbus stepped out of the cockpit probably to use the head and was summarily locked out by his co-pilot. No amount of pleading moved him to change his mind after he decided that his suicide needed 149 other deaths to make it worthwhile and memorable.

The anti-hijack protocols enacted internationally require that the cockpit door be closed and locked against intruders during the flight. Once the pilot stepped out and the door was locked, he, the crew and passenger were at the mercy of the only person who could stop the impending disaster. There a method for locked out pilots to regain the cockpit but that system can and must be able to be disabled from inside the cockpit.

On US Domestic flights there is a requirement for a third crew member to occupy the cockpit in the event that one of the pilots needs to step out. This guards against unfortunate disabling of the second pilot but does not guard against malicious intent. If there is foul play that replacement crew member just might be the first to go.

It is tragic that such an event as the Germanwings flight crash ever happens but that metaphorical "Third Cup of Coffee" would not have meant the end of 150 lives in this incident if the pilot did not have to leave the control to the man who had misplaced trust in him. I suspect that the foreign air carriers will now alter their cockpit protocols to avoid the conditions that allowed such a horrible crash to happen.