Germanwings tragedy: Why foolproof aviation security will never be a reality

It has been a week since the Germanwings Flight 9525’s crashed into the Alps on its journey from Barcelona to Dusseldorf. It was a tragedy which was beyond words. One co-pilot  — 27 years-old German national Andreas Lubitz of Dusseldorf — has made a mockery of all that the airlines across the world have done in the recent past — at the behest mostly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) — to secure flights on the ground and in air. [caption id=“attachment_2180655” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] According to one report, the transponder data of the plane showed that the autopilot was reprogrammed from inside the cockpit in order to diabolically lower the flight altitude from 38,000 to an absurd 110 feet. Inquiries have indicated that Lubitz suffered from bouts of depression, and possibly, he committed the diabolical crime when he was going through one such mood swings. There are several other speculations about Lubitz, including that he was laid off once for mental treatment, and a search of his house yielded anti-depressants as well as a sick-report note for the day of crash. The impression that one gains is he was successful in hiding his illness from the airlines. More shocking was the airlines’ own lack of procedure to investigate the medical condition, once there was even a whiff of a rumour about a pilot’s general state of health or his mental stability. This was poor intelligence that was culpable. Airlines in India will have to wake up to this hard reality of the need to be 100 per cent sure of the fitness of the cockpit staff before they get in. This involves a huge protocol and more investment, at a time costs are mounting and many airlines are bleeding. Post 9/11, the cockpit of every aircraft had been made into a near fortress, and any congregation of passengers near the area was totally prohibited. This was under the unexceptionable assumption that danger to the aircraft arose mainly from a rogue passengers’ forcible entry into the cockpit. There was never a thought that risk could arise from a source internal to the cockpit, such as the co-pilot in this case. In retrospect, this was an unforgivable slip-up that has now cost passengers and their families loss beyond endurance. After this unmitigated disaster, I have any number of horror scenes that haunt me day and night. Forget about a motivated pilot or his deputy crashing the airline unmindful of sacrificing his own life. What about a woman jihadist — there are any number of them all over the world, and especially those in the fray fighting for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria — receiving aviation training — a la 9/11 conspirators — and infiltrating the cabin hospitality crew with a view to sabotaging an aircraft midair? This may have looked fanciful until a few years ago. But not any longer, if one were to believe stories tagged on to how the Islamic State, the deadliest terror outfit known to us since the near fall of al Qaeda, has lured many talented Muslim youths, including teen age girls. The mystery behind three British girls studying in a well known East London school fleeing to Syria-Iraq recently through Turkey to join the Islamic State is yet to be solved. The Germanwings disaster should give ideas to such teenagers the world over to prove themselves equal to jihadist expectations. The most strident criticism of aviation security after the Germanwings disaster is directed at a lack of foolproof psychology testing of pilots. Such screening along with a routine annual medical examination exists on paper. Its thoroughness and severity vary from region to region, with the US emerging at the top. An objective audit may put Europe and Asia on a lower scale. I need a stout heart to check whether this exists at all among Indian airlines. Even if I am being cynical, New Delhi ought to order a quick survey on how our airlines rate and what precautions they have on paper and in reality. As a frequent flier I have the right to demand the outcome of such an exercise. Many others who fly as frequently as I do may be expected to join the chorus and ask for transparency. Otherwise, you will have the ludicrous sight of many of us, as soon as getting on board, going to the pilot and his co-pilot and asking him questions on his mental stability and physical fitness. Nothing can be more preposterous than this. But if it does happen, no blame can attach to passengers pro-actively seeking an assurance on the metal stability of the flying crew. If things have come to such a pass the reflection is only on the enormous complexity of modern life with its stresses and strains. The task facing civilian airlines and their security staff is formidable. Background checks before hiring all those on duty in an aircraft is an exercise riddled with huge imponderables. The vetting process is expensive and cumbersome. Only a few agencies in the trade have reached a standard high enough to identify potential offenders. The rest are unprofessional and their objective is crassly commercial. This is why infiltration of rogue elements into the flying staff will remain easy and unpreventable. It will take many more years to plug the existing loopholes. What is the role of law enforcement in this vital sector? The police can help a lot through setting up an exclusive crack squad at each airport that would keep an eye on the flying crew. Such a squad will be from among highly motivated younger policemen who are not only well trained but are also better paid than the average policeman. In India, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which mans our airports and has done remarkable work, should be able to provide the basic infrastructure to raising an exclusive aviation security force. This may not see as an end to attacks on aircraft like the one over the Alps. But it will certainly introduce an element of vigilance and deterrence that is now woefully absent.