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Germanwings: Australia tightens cockpit safety laws in wake of French Alps plane crash

Rescue workers in the French Alps. Photo: AP

At least two people must remain in the cockpit at all times on domestic and international flights, the Federal Government has announced.

The new rules come following a review of Australia's aviation regulations after a plane carrying 150 people crashed in the French Alps last week.

Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz has been blamed for the crash, and was alone in the cockpit when the plane slammed into the mountainside.

Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said the new policy would apply to aircraft with 50 or more passengers.

"This will mean that one of the flight attendants would come and sit in the cockpit if one of the pilots needed to leave the flight deck for any reason," Mr Truss said.

Cabinet's national security committee discussed the measure over the weekend as part of a review of Australia's aviation laws.


The black box voice recorder retrieved from the wreckage of the Germanwings flight revealed Lubitz, 27, locked his colleague out of the cockpit after he had left to go to the toilet during the flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf.

Lubitz then apparently set the plane on course to fly into a mountainside in the French Alps, as the other pilot tried to break the cockpit door down.

As investigators sought to build a picture of Lubitz and any possible motives, media reports emerged that he suffered from a problem with his eye, adding to earlier reports he was severely depressed.

German prosecutors said they believed Lubitz hid an illness from his airline employer but did not specify the ailment.

They added he had been written off sick on the day the plane crashed.

The search for the plane's second black box is still continuing.

Germany is to hold a national memorial ceremony on April 17 for the victims of the disaster, half of whom were German, with Spain accounting for at least 50 and the remainder composed of more than a dozen other nationalities, including two Australians.