Contradictions in Germanwings crash: Aviation expert

Contradictions in Germanwings crash: Aviation expert

Contradictions leading to questions have been raised following the Germanwings crash overnight.

The controlled steady descent by the pilots of the doomed Germanwings aircraft and the lack of radio transmission to air traffic controllers is “very odd”, the head of the UNSW school of aviation, Professor Jason Middleton claims.

Speaking to Travel Weekly this morning, Professor Middleton said the two black boxes, one of which has been recovered, is expected to answer raised questions, in particular contradictions, arising from the Germanwings crash, which killed 150 passengers including two Australians, yesterday.

“You would expect over 8 minutes of descent the pilots would’ve made a radio transmission, as it’s only a matter of pressing button on control panel. Whatever the circumstances were, the fact that no message went to traffic control is very odd,” Middleton told Travel Weekly.

“Pilots would’ve had time, unless the pilots were not at the controls. Every pilot from first five hours (of training) learns to say if they’ve got a problem, to signal ‘Mayday’ and air traffic control will be alerted.”

However, Middleton said the reason for the Germanwings crash was “probably not a pilot error”.

“There are two contradictions with the plane crash. The first is that the descent rate was steady, and appears to have been under pilot control, it didn’t suffer any technical errors like having its wings ripped off or anything, it flew down at a relatively rapid rate on a steady path, and was under the control of autopilot at least.

But the second contradiction, Middleton said, was “the fact that there was no air traffic control message from pilots”.

“One suggests pilots had the plane under control, the other suggests pilot were unable to get message out for whatever reason, whether they were incapable of doing so, or their radio system was not working.”

“Something would have to cause [the descent], such as an explosive decompression, but then you’d expect the pilot would control the descent and expect them to get a message out,” Middleton said.

Professor Jason Middleton

Professor Jason Middleton

Middleton said answers from questions raised will be “answered in about two days once they get the flight data from the black box.”

“It’s easy to speculate on possible causes, but the reality is there’s so many of them.”

When questioned if the age of the Germanwings aircraft, which has been in Lufthansa’s service since 1991, could have been a possible factor in the crash, Middleton said it was within a “normal” approved aircraft life cycle, but “towards the end” of its lifespan.

“[The plane] is within the normal life cycle of those aeroplanes.”

“Some of those aeroplanes can undergo additional services to extend lifetime, whether the plane underwent this, it is unknown,” Middleton said.

Middleton pointed out the aircraft was in service with Lufthansa Technik, a world leading manufacturer-independent provider of maintenance, saying it has an “excellent reputation in terms of maintenance and quality control”.

Middleton also said more air accidents are “likely over the next decade”.

Image: News.yahoo.com

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

    Latest comments
    1. If Prof Middleton really is a pilot he will know that in abnormal/unusual situations there are three things the tech crew must do and they must be done in this order:
      1. Aviate (Fly the airplane)
      2. Navigate (Make that where you are and where you are going is safe)
      3 Communicate (Tell people what is happening) – this one is a long way behind the others.

      One would hope that if he is teaching communicate as THE priority nobody is hiring his pupils.

aircraft aviation Germanwings Plane Crash Professor Jason Middleton UNSW

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