Germanwings crash: Pilot confidentiality ”should be relaxed”

French investigators have called for medical confidentiality to be relaxed for pilots, in the wake of last year’s Germanwings disaster. Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz was urged by a doctor to attend psychiatric hospital weeks before he crashed the plane on 24 March 2015, but his employer was never alerted, their final report says. All 150 people […]

French investigators have called for medical confidentiality to be relaxed for pilots, in the wake of last year’s Germanwings disaster.
Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz was urged by a doctor to attend psychiatric hospital weeks before he crashed the plane on 24 March 2015, but his employer was never alerted, their final report says.
All 150 people on board died as Flight 9525 hit a mountain in the French Alps.
Investigators believe Lubitz brought down the plane deliberately.
He had been suffering from severe depression, they said, but doctors had been unable to disclose this.
The report, by the BEA investigation agency, said confidentiality had to be balanced with the risk an individual might pose to public safety and that “clearer rules” were needed.
It was also critical of pilots being able to make self-declarations about their health, which allowed them to hide any illnesses.