Germanwings CEO: Co-pilot trained in Arizona

[bearssoapbox]

http://www.fox23.com/news/news/national/germanwings-ceo-co-pilot-trained-arizona/nkfxF/?icmp=cmgcontent_internallink_relatedcontent_2014_partners5

"The BBC reported Lubitz had taking a break from his training six years ago, but restarted after "the suitability of the candidate was re-established."

Lubitz, who was 28-years-old, was cleared to fly without any warnings, Carsten Spohr, CEO of Lufthansa said."
~~~~

You just never know.

[Major Nikon]

1. Not that uncommon for foreign pilots

Flight training is expensive as shit in Europe. It's cheaper for them to live here and train.

[bearssoapbox]

2. Didn't know that.

Is one any better than the other in the quality of training?

[Major Nikon]

6. I can't say because all the foreign pilots I know trained in the US

I have no reason to suspect Europe doesn't have excellent flight instructors, but planes are much more expensive to own or rent, fuel is much more expensive, and virtually every airport in Europe has various fees, all of which make privately funded training out of the reach of many.

[bearssoapbox]

8. Makes sense

Thanks.

[Lee-Lee]

7. It's mostly weather

Places like Arizona rarely have bad fog, rain or snow that restricts the available flight time.

Getmany, on the other hand, has lots of bad weather. So much so that since the 1950's German Air Force pilots have done all or most of their initial flight training in the US in bases in the desert southwest.

They can set a schedule for training and keep to it with few or no weather problems, while trying to do the same training in Getmany could take 2-3x longer and have an unpredictable time table due to weather.

[bearssoapbox]

9. Thanks

I learn something every day on DU.

I can see where the weather would be more stable in AZ than Germany.

[KamaAina]

4. Some of the Nineleven(TM) hijackers took flight lessons in Florida

lest we forget.

[KamaAina]

3. By fundie nutjobs, perhaps?

The Air Force is riddled with fundies. It's not unreasonable to think that some fundie Air Force vets got jobs at a flight school in Arizona.

[Dreamer Tatum]

5. Let me be sure I ridicule you correctly.

Perhaps he was trained by fundies.

And fundies, when they train pilots (and we all know that pilot training is, by and large, delivered by fundies), instruct
those pilots that the best way to fly an airplane is into a mountain. And of course, anyone who receives that training
is utterly powerless to ignore such training, expose such training, and so forth. They simply fly planes into mountains.

Is that your thesis?

Even if I'm off a little, I still pity you.

[KamaAina]

10. Um, no, it isn't.

My thesis is that they may have converted him. Then other fundie nutjobs might have convinced him that god wanted him to fly a plane into the ground, just as Muslim fundie nutjobs did with the copilot of Egyptair flight 990.

[Dreamer Tatum]

13. That is the most ridiculous thing I have seen on DU since 2001.

Congrats. You deserve some sort of prize.

[KamaAina]

15. More ridiculous than the moon bombing thing?

No way! Thanks, buddy!

[cherokeeprogressive]

20. NOTHING is more ridiculous than the moon bombing thread.

So no matter how stupid some of my posts are... I'll always have that backstop.

[Travelman]

18. That's really saying something. n/t

[panader0]

11. No, it's because it's Arizona again.....

[cherokeeprogressive]

12. What if he was trained by former Coast Guard pilots?

Is the Coast Guard free from fundies?

[Dreamer Tatum]

14. This epidemic of fundies teaching people to crash planes into mountains has to stop.

How many more can we endure?

[cherokeeprogressive]

16. Sometimes I'm afraid we'll never learn that the world is truly a terrible place; fundies everywhere.

Those fundies perpetrate all manner of bad things on society at large and brainwashing student pilots, then teaching them to fly aircraft into mountains while maintaining strict secrecy is merely a taste of what they're capable of.

If we'd only open our eyes...

[KamaAina]

19. Actually, the Muslim fundie copilot flew into the ocean

Get your facts straight, please.

[KamaAina]

17. More so than the Air Force.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4676698

The Air Force Academy says it is taking measures to address concerns that Evangelical Christians exercise too much influence at the school and are trying to force their religion on others.