Pilots wouldn't 'recklessly endanger' lives of public
The Germanwings air crash is now being widely reported as a murder-suicide, based on audio evidence.
Sound from cockpit voice recorder paints the picture of a young co-pilot locking everyone out while he navigated the plane into descent which led to the fatal crash in the French Alps last Tuesday.
But, the Airline Pilot Association of South Africa says a pilot would not 'recklessly endanger' the lives of the public.
This comes after reports that co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, crashed the plane deliberately because he was depressed.
President of the association, Marius Santos, says aviation is a stressful career.
He was responding to an article titled "SA faces aviation time bomb" published by the Sunday Times.
"Generally pilots undergo an initial psychometric evaluation during pre-employment screening and they don't require a yearly psychiatric evaluation with their annual medical assessments. Stress and depression are however focused on during these medical assessments," he says.
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(Edited by Laila Majiet)