Germanwings: European airlines place 'rule of two' on cockpits

ANKARA 

International airlines and regulators have announced they will impose a rule requiring two crew members to be in the cockpit of passenger aircraft at all times following the Germanwings air crash in southern France in which 150 people died.

Two authorized people must be present in a cockpit at all times during a flight under the new procedures announced on Friday in Europe and Canada, which came after French prosecutors said co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked his colleague out of the cockpit of flight 4U 9525 and then deliberately crashed the plane into the French Alps on Tuesday.

The Lufthansa Group, the parent company of low-budget airline Germanwings, said it would adopt the new procedure as soon as possible along with other German airlines, the German aviation industry association BDLI and Germany’s aviation authority LBA.

Lufthansa said it would also expand its safety structures and create a new position of Group Safety Pilot, held by a Captain Werner Maas, in addition to existing safety pilots at each of its member airlines.

Maas will have overarching responsibility across the group for examining and further refining all flight safety procedures.

- New rule

In the U.K., the Civil Aviation Authority said it was reconsidering its regulation of safety procedures, while low-budget airline Easyjet said it could "confirm that it will change its procedure".

The Norwegian Air Shuttle said it would bring in a new rule for such a procedure into effect "without delay".

The Canadian Aviation Authority asked all UK carriers to review their procedures.

It said in a statement: "Following the details that have emerged regarding the tragic Germanwings incident, we are coordinating closely with colleagues at the European Aviation Safety Agency and have contacted all U.K. operators to require them to review all relevant procedures."

- Strict rules

The U.S. has existing strict rules about the presence of crew in the cockpit. 

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a written response to questions raised by the French disaster: "When one of the pilots exits the cockpit for any reason, another qualified crew member must lock the door and remain on the flight deck until the pilot returns to his or her station."

"A qualified crew member could be a flight attendant or a relief pilot serving as part of the crew."

However, a spokesman for the European Aviation Safety Agency in Cologne said in an interview no regulatory requirement currently existed in Europe for a cabin crew member to be present in the cockpit when one of the pilots leaves. 

EASA said that it had two investigators working with French police at the scene of the accident and it would draw its conclusions later.