Airline chiefs say cockpit attacks hard to legislate against after flydubai incident

Airline industry leaders have acknowledged that stopping an attack by a pilot inside a locked cockpit is difficult. Their comments came after a flydubai co-pilot struck the captain with an axe in an apparent attempt to crash the aircraft, and were the first public remarks since the incident.

During the event, incident data shows, the aircraft entered a steep descent and dropped 16,000 feet in 90 seconds.

The co-pilot was subdued by passengers after the captain, though injured, managed to open the cockpit door. A passenger helped steady the aircraft's path. A crew member travelling on board in a standby capacity took the controls and landed the aircraft safely.

Speaking at an Airlines for Europe press conference in Brussels, Ryanair Group chief executive Michael O'Leary pointed to the limits of regulation when faced with unpredictable individual conduct. When someone in a cockpit is a disturbed person, he said, it is very difficult to legislate for that.

Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr said mental health screening and filters for pilots are already strong across the industry, and that not every eventuality can be prevented. The industry has to accept that there is no absolute and comprehensive safety, he said. Spohr added that aviation safety standards remain high, and noted that the last comparable case involving a pilot occurred more than a decade ago. He referred to the crash of an Airbus A320.