European aviation safety agency EASA has published proposals for a rules update on pilots’ medical fitness including mental health assessments.
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Europe’s aviation watchdog issued new recommendations Tuesday to keep better tabs on crews following a deliberate crash in the French Alps previous year cause by a depressed co-pilot.
In March 2015, Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit during a flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf and deliberately crashed the jet into a remote Alpine slope, killing all 150 people on board.
The agency also proposed improving the “quality of the aero-medical examinations by improving the training, oversight and competency assessment of the AMEs”.
The proposals, which are part of its action plan following the Germanwings crash, will be put forward to the European Commission and will be the basis for legislation to be presented by the Commission end of 2016, the EASA said in a statement.
In the aftermath of the tragedy French investigators recommended that regular “special examinations” should be carried out on pilots with a “medical history of mental disorder”.
EASA previously planned to recommend that two people should always be in the cockpit, but softened its stance after talks with industry representatives.
An EASA spokesperson said: “The risk assessment can be summed-up as: how well do you know your crew and how well do you control risks in your organisation”.
Directly after the 2015 crash, EASA introduced a rule requiring two crew members to be in the cockpit at all times.
According to the French report, Lubitz consulted dozens of doctors about perceived vision troubles and sleeplessness.
Although doctors had told Lubitz that he was not fit to work, under medical confidentiality rules, the budget carrier was not given this information.
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It was later revealed the 27-year-old pilot had a history of clinical depression and suicidal tendencies and the case has raised questions about medical checks faced by pilots as well as doctor-patient confidentiality.
