By Julia Payne and Joanna Plucinska
BRUSSELS/LONDON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Airline executives said safety standards remained high after a flydubai co-pilot attacked the captain with an axe last week in an alleged attempt to crash the plane, but acknowledged it was hard to guard against a rogue pilot.
The comments, among the first by airline chiefs since the attack, highlight the industry's struggle to address safety and security concerns after an incident that caused the jet to plunge 16,000 feet in 30
seconds.
The flydubai co-pilot was eventually overpowered by passengers after the injured captain opened the cockpit door. A passenger helped stabilise the plane before a standby crew member who was on board landed it safely.
"If you have somebody who is a mad person in a cockpit, it's very difficult to legislate for it," Ryanair Group Chief Executive Michael O'Leary told reporters on the sidelines of an Airlines for Europe (A4E) press conference in Brussels.
'NO ABSOLUTE SAFETY'
Reuters reported this week, citing two Israeli officials familiar with the investigation, that the flydubai co-pilot told interrogators in the UAE, where he is in custody, that he had planned the attack before joining the Dubai state-owned airline.
The UAE has not announced any formal charges against the co-pilot and it is not known if he has appointed legal counsel.
Saudi Arabia has opened an air accident investigation into the incident, Reuters reported, while experts assess the implications for aviation safety alongside the separate UAE-led criminal probe, three people close to the matter said.
Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr said it was impossible to prevent every incident and that aviation safety standards remain high. He said that the last comparable case involving a pilot occurred more than a decade ago.
A Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed in the French Alps in 2015 after the co-pilot locked the captain out of the cockpit and deliberately flew the aircraft into a mountainside, killing 150 people.
"We have to face the fact that there is no absolute safety and security in this industry," Spohr told reporters, adding that mental health screening of pilots was already robust.
(Reporting by Julia Payne and Joanna Plucinska. Editing by Adam Jourdan and Mark Potter)
