Australian government changes cockpit rules following Germanwings crash

TWO people will need to stay in the cockpit at all times as part of changes announced by the federal government today.

PERTH NOW 11-06-10 A team of 14 crew gather at the Perth International Airport waiting to board a QANTAS airbus ( pictured ) that will join in the search for sailor Abby Sunderland . ( 12 crew are from FESA and two are from the police force ) A QANTAS airbus from Perth has joined an international search for a 16-year-old solo sailor missing in the southern Indian Ocean and feared lost at sea. The airbus will take off at first light to join the search for a solo teenage girl sailor Abby Sunderland, who is missing in mountainous seas in the middle of the Indian Ocean. GENERIC . PICTURE : KERRIS BERRINGTON . Perthnow generic

AUSTRALIA will require that at least two people remain in the cockpit during domestic and international flights as part of revised safety requirements announced today.

Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss announced that airlines would move immediately to implement the new measure and he expected it to be in place within hours.

Mr Truss said that the government had been in discussions with airlines about their safety procedures following the Germanwings crash that killed 150 people.

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The current regulations in Australia do not require an airline to replace a pilot who temporarily leaves the cockpit, to use the toilet, for example. Under the new measures, a flight attendant would have to sit in the cockpit if one of the pilots is absent.

The new measure will apply to all aircraft with 50 or more passengers.

The changes follow revelations that the co-pilot of the Germanwings flight was likely the cause of the accident that saw the plane crash in the French Alps.

Previously neither Qantas nor Virgin Australia required two people to remain in the cockpit at all times, but the US Federal Aviation Administration already has this rule in place.