Dubai: Residents who are frequent flyers said the recent spate of airline crashes have not affected their travel plans, although it raises some concerns.
Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 crashed into the French Alps last Tuesday, killing all 150 people onboard. The crash was believed to have been deliberately planned by the co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, after locking his captain out of the cockpit.
The Germanwings crash is the latest in a spate of aviation tragedies in the last 13 months — Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that disappeared in March, another Malaysia Airlines MH17 that was gunned down on the Ukraine-Russian border in July, and AirAsia Flight 8501 that crashed due to stormy weather in December.
But this time, investigators of the ill-fated Germanwings flight are leaning on a possible case of suicide.
Indian expatriate Rajesh Sherma, who flies monthly to India, said he believes the incident was just a one-off case but said nonetheless that more stringent measures should be made to ensure everyone’s safety.
“Aviation standard operating procedures should be changed in that lone pilots should never be allowed in the cockpit under any circumstances. Also, there should be a procedure for the flight crew to be able to disable locks from outside [during emergency situations],” Sherma told Gulf News.
“This definitely demands much more scrutiny on the part of regulators to check not only the physical but also the mental health of pilots. There should be regular mental health aptitude exams to assess if they’re fit to fly,” he added.
Danny, an IT consultant who flies 15 to 20 times a year in the Mena region, said routine checks should be made not only on the pilots but also on everyone involved in the flight.
“There should be a routine check on the pilots and the crew, even the ground crew involved in the maintenance of the aircraft should be included. This has to be done in conjunction with the proper maintenance of the aircrafts — only airworthy aircrafts should be allowed to fly,” Danny said.
Egyptian expatriate Emad Labib, a businessman who flies to 25 to 35 countries a year, said there’s no reason to fear as aviation has become much safer now compared to earlier.
“If you look at statistics, deaths caused by road accidents are much higher than in aviation. Also, the crashes are much less frequent now than before if you ask me, who’s been a frequent flyer for the past 35 years. The aviation industry has become much more safe now,” Labib said.
“Cancelling a flight based on fears per se isn’t possible. Nobody will cancel even if he’s travelling for leisure. The chances of that may be one in a million,” he added.
