A co-pilot’s decision to deliberately fly a German jetliner into the French Alps, killing 150 people, has prompted Air Malta to make it compulsory for two crew members to be in the cockpit at all times.

The national carrier’s move followed the decision made by other airlines, including Norwegian Air Shuttle, Britain’s EasyJet, Air Canada, Air New Zealand and Air Berlin, which rushed to change their security procedures within hours of the tragedy involving the Germanwings Airbus A320 on Tuesday.

The co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, who appears to have deliberately crashed the plane. Photos: ReutersThe co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, who appears to have deliberately crashed the plane. Photos: Reuters

Canada said it would immediately impose the two-man protocol on all its airlines and those that already had such rules in place, including Ryanair, issued statements pointing this out.

The United States already requires two crew members to be in the cabin at all times but until Tuesday’s tragedy many airlines allowed pilots to leave the flight deck, to use the bathroom, for instance, as long as one pilot remained at the controls.

Germanwings parent company, Lufthansa, did not announce the policy immediately, its CEO, Carsten Spohr, at first saying he believed it was unnecessary. However, yesterday, the German company did an about-turn, announcing it too had adopted the two-man rule.

The cockpit voice recorder, recovered from the crash site, leaves little doubt that 28-year-old co-pilot Andreas Lubitz purposely started an eight-minute descent into the mountains while locking out the captain.

It emerged yesterday that Mr Lubitz had hidden details of an existing illness from his employers. “Documents with medical contents were confiscated that point towards an existing illness and corresponding treatment by doctors,” said the prosecutors’ office in Düsseldorf, where the co-pilot lived and where the doomed flight from Barcelona was heading.

“The fact there are sick notes saying he was unable to work, among other things, that were found torn up, which were recent and even from the day of the crime, support the assumption, based on the preliminary examination, that the deceased hid his illness from his employer and his professional colleagues,” the German prosecutors said.

The documents were found during searches at Mr Lubitz’s homes in Düsseldorf and Montabaur, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Reports in the German media have suggested Mr Lubitz suffered from depression in the past and that his employer would have been aware of his history.

Germany’s Bild newspaper reported yesterday that Mr Lubitz had suffered from depression during the period when he broke off his training six years ago. It said he spent more than a year in psychiatric treatment.

The newspaper also revealed that the captain locked out of the cockpit unsuccessfully used an onboard security axe in a bid to break down the cockpit’s grenade-proof door.

Lufthansa has acknowledged that Mr Lubitz suspended his training in 2009 but said there was nothing in the pilot’s background to suggest he was a risk.

A French Gendarmerie helicopter at the scene yesterday.A French Gendarmerie helicopter at the scene yesterday.

“After he was cleared again, he resumed training. He passed all the subsequent tests and checks with flying colours. His flying abilities were flawless,” Mr Spohr said.

Citing what it termed as internal documents submitted by Lufthansa’s Aero Medical Centre to the German authorities, Bild reported that Mr Lubitz had suffered from depression and anxiety and had been judged to have suffered a “serious depressive episode” around the time he suspended his training.

Lufthansa and German prosecutors declined to comment on the report, which, if confirmed, could give rise to questions on the airline’s screening procedures for pilots and even expose it to substantial liabilities. An inter­national agreement generally limits airline liability to about $157,400 for each passenger who dies in a crash. However, the families could pursue compensation for bigger damages if they sue.

Lawyers who represented families in past airline disasters told Reuters that potential lawsuits could focus on whether Germanwings properly screened the co-pilot before and during his employment and on whether the airline should have had a policy requiring two or more people in the cockpit at all times during a flight.

Since the September 11, 2001 attack in the US, when terrorists hijacked airliners to use them in kamikaze missions, civil aviation regulators have required cockpit doors to be armoured and locked throughout the flight.

But the idea that pilots could themselves pose a danger could mean a revision of such policies, said retired French crash investigator Alain Bouillard. “Today, we have the reverse question: should we be blocking doors,” he asked.

The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines 370 last year had also raised similar questions, although whether the pilots played any role in what happened still remains unknown since nothing has yet been found.

LAM flight TM-470 crashed in Namibia in November 2013, causing the death of 33 people, and the investigators found there were “intentional actions by the pilot” once the first officer had left the flight deck.

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