The captain, a veteran of 35 years with Qantas and the Royal Australian Air Force, kept calm and remained in control. He flew the giant plane in a loop while the crew worked through a horrific cascade of failure messages from the on-board computers. Two hours later he landed it safely back at Singapore, blowing four tyres. All 469 people on board were saved.

Since this incident, Captain Richard de Crespigny has become a well known name. His website, QF32,  is a source of information for pasengers.  This week "The Captain" answers questions we are all wanting to know the answers to about safety in the cockpit following the Germanwings tragedy.