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Germany's Federal Minister of Transport and
Digital Infrastructure, Alexander Dobrindt said
on Sunday that pilots should undergo alcohol,
drug and medicine consumption random testing and
that "the control system in this form is already
established in the U.S. and Australia, Europe
should follow suit." However, the
pilots union, Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) reported
publicly that they are against this measure and
believes the focus should be on prevention. In
May, Air
India
for the first time instituted psychological test
on applicant pilots.
In addition, aviation authorities in Australia, Canada,
Germany, New Zealand, Norway,
and the
United Kingdom
have implemented new regulations that require
the presence of two authorized personnel in the
cockpit at all times. Flight 9525
departed from Runway 7R at Barcelona–El Prat
Airport on March 24, at about 10 AM for
Düsseldorf Airport, the Airbus A320 was to land at
11:39 AM. At 10:30 AM, the pilots received and
confirmed their heading and altitude with French
air traffic control (ATC) and began crossing the
French coast near
Toulon.
Within minutes of speaking with ATC, the
aircraft began a rapid descent from its assigned
altitude of 38,000 feet. ATC made several
attempts to speak with the pilots. The
aircraft's Black Box recordings indicated the
captain could be heard banging on the cockpit
door and trying to break in. |
