Germany plans random testing of pilots following Germanwings crash in March

Germany plans legislation requiring random drug and alcohol testing of pilots, hoping to reduce the risk of a repeat of the Germanwings crash in March, transport minister Alexander Dobrindt was quoted as saying yesterday.

The plans follow the recommendation of a taskforce set up by the transport ministry, after a pilot barricaded himself inside the cockpit of a plane and crashed it in the Alps, killing all 150 people on board.

Prosecutors have found evidence that the co-pilot, who had suffered severe depression and may have feared losing his job, had researched suicide methods and concealed an illness from his employer, sparking a debate on supervision and medical secrecy.

“I think it’s sensible that pilots are checked on a random basis for the consumption of alcohol, drugs, and medicines,” Dobrindt told newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

“Experts around the world see positive effects from this to boost operational safety in aviation.”

Yet Markus Wahl, a spokesman for German pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit, was critical of the proposal. Wahl was quoted by Bild am Sonntagas saying: “From our point of view the planned random tests are completely wrong.

“They have nothing to do with the Germanwings disaster and will put an entire professional group under general suspicion.”