By Natalia Zea, March 26, 2015
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The horrific and deliberate crash of the Germanwings flight into the
French Alps is on the minds of travelers as they get ready to board flights…including hundreds
on Lufthansa Airlines, which owns the carrier of the doomed flight.
“It’s really terrible,” said German national Eva Deck.
Deck was disturbed to learn the co-pilot apparently crashed the plane on purpose, but in a way,
they were relieved.
”The feeling when I go to the plane, it’s better that it was not a technical defect, but for the
relatives but for the persons who was killed, it was terrible,” said Deck.
The incident does not make Peter Deck question his airline of choice.
“I feel good, I feel good when I fly with Lufthansa,” he told CBS4’s Natalia Zea.
However, aviation security expert and attorney with Podhurst Orseck, P.A. Ray Rasco says the
crash does reveal glaring differences in terms of government regulation. In this case, the United
States’ rules are tougher regarding the cockpit.
“ In the United States after 911, the co-pilot cannot be alone in the cockpit, at least a steward or
stewardess has to be in there with him. And on this particular occasion, in Europe, Lufthansa
specifically do not have that same requirement,” Rasco told Zea.
Norwegian Airlines and Air Canada strengthened their cockpit policies today as a result of this
disaster.
South Florida traveler, Fawad Shabbier is a safety investigator for Air Canada.
He’s tasked with ensuring the fleet has no defects…he says the same is not so easily done in
terms of who controls the plane.
“As far as human beings go, you can’t look too deep into the psyche of a person and know what
exactly is in their mind,” said Shabbier.
Rasco points out though, that Germanwings psychologically tests its pilots less than many other
carriers.
“Many airlines regularly psychologically test their pilots and co-pilots once a year.”
Airline passenger Chuck Meyer knows well that security procedures vary between airlines.
“When you fly on enough different airlines you realize they all run different ways. And if you’re
in different parts of the world, there are certain planes you think twice before getting on, and I
don’t fly on those planes,” he said.
Traveling to 38 countries over his career has led to Meyer being choosy and doing his research
well before stepping foot on the plane.
“So you read through enough, you start to formulate some opinions that are probably close to
correct, and it is your life and now you decide which airplane you want to fly.”
Rasco suggests looking into the records of airlines.
“You can look at their safety record, you can look at their prior history of accidents, you can also
look at the regulations they have, the screening regulations they have for the pilots. What kind of
requirements they have to meet.