The final report of the French aviation accident investigation agency, the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA), on the March 24, 2015, crash of Germanwings Flight 9525, raised some disturbing and complicated issues, so it is imperative that the aviation industry, regulators and the medical community read the report and carefully consider its recommendations.
The BEA found that the crash of the Airbus A320 in the French Alps, which resulted in the deaths of 144 passengers and six crewmembers, was due to the “deliberate and planned action of the copilot, who decided to commit suicide while alone in the cockpit. The process for medical certification of pilots, in particular self-reporting in case of decrease in medical fitness between two periodic medical evaluations, did not succeed in preventing the copilot, who was experiencing mental disorder with psychotic symptoms, from exercising the privilege of his license.”
According to the report, the investigation found that a pri…
