The Record Journal of Meriden (Conn.), April 1:

It’s difficult to imagine a more terrifying situation than an airline pilot locked out of the cockpit in midair. The co-pilot isn’t responding to knocks at the door, or pleas from the pilot to open it. Passengers on the packed jet take notice. The plane begins a descent. The pilot slams his body into the cockpit door in an attempt to push it open. It doesn’t budge. Next, he goes at it with an axe, but to no avail. Terror grips the cabin. The descent continues. Screams. Tears. Seconds later, the aircraft smashes into a mountain traveling at more than 400 miles per hour.

This was the fate of Germanwings Flight 9525, which met its brutal end in the French Alps the morning of March 24. Going by the plane’s black box recording, it appears the co-pilot, 27-year-old Andreas Lubitz, intentionally locked the pilot out of the cockpit, then set the plane on its doomed course, killing all 150 people on board.

Lubitz’s motivation remains unknown.

This horrific incident, once again, has the world pondering what more airlines can do to protect passengers from those seeking to commandeer a plane.

Fortified cockpit doors were implemented after the 9/11 hijackers simply walked up to the pilots that morning and seized control of operations.

While keeping pilots secured inside the cockpit is a wise and seemingly safe measure to dissuade such terrorism from happening again, the Germanwings tragedy showed us that even a locked cockpit door can be exploited for evil means.

So, now what? How do we prevent suicidal ”“ perhaps homicidal is more apt ”“ pilots from sequestering themselves away from the rest of the crew and doing what Andreas Lubitz is believed to have done, without keeping the cockpit door unlocked and open to possible intrusion?

Maybe cockpit doors should be passcode entry only, or able to be manipulated by air traffic controllers on terra firma. Perhaps at least two crew members should be in the cockpit at all times.

Genius problem solvers abound in this world. Certainly there is a reasonable solution within reach. We owe it to those poor souls who were scattered about the French Alps March 24 to find it.