The co-pilot of the doomed Germanwings flight
deliberately crashed the plane into the French Alps after "rehearsing" the
descent on an earlier flight, French investigators said on Wednesday.
The BEA (Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety) investigators said the co-pilot, 27-year-old Andreas Lubitz, had practiced the maneuver on the outbound trip from Dusseldorf to Barcelona just hours before his suicidal actions on the return flight.
"Several altitude selections toward 100 ft (31.25 meters) were recorded during descent on the flight that preceded the accident flight, while the co-pilot was alone in the cockpit," read the report. Data from the earlier flight was found in one of two black boxes from the aircraft.
Remi Jouty, the director of the BEA, told journalists there had been no "noticeable effect" as the plane had already begun its descent into Barcelona while he was carrying out the practice manipulations.
The Germanwings Airbus 320 crashed in the French Alps on March 24, killing all 150 people on board.
The probe into the crash confirmed initial suspicions that Lubitz deliberately brought the plane down. On the fatal flight back to Dusseldorf which left at 9 am local time, everything initially proceeded normally, with Lubitz even eating his meal 15 minutes into the flight, the report said.
At 9:30 am the captain left the cockpit to go to the toilet, and the selected altitude on the flight control unit changed "in one second" from cruising altitude of 11,600 meters to 31.25 meters - the minimum height possible to select on an A320. The speed of the plane was also gradually increased.
During the descent, air traffic controllers in the city of Marseille tried to call the plane 11 times on three different frequencies with no response. The air force also tried to contact the plane three times to no avail.
The cockpit recorder also showed the pilot's frantic efforts to re-enter the cockpit.
The BEA (Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety) investigators said the co-pilot, 27-year-old Andreas Lubitz, had practiced the maneuver on the outbound trip from Dusseldorf to Barcelona just hours before his suicidal actions on the return flight.
"Several altitude selections toward 100 ft (31.25 meters) were recorded during descent on the flight that preceded the accident flight, while the co-pilot was alone in the cockpit," read the report. Data from the earlier flight was found in one of two black boxes from the aircraft.
Remi Jouty, the director of the BEA, told journalists there had been no "noticeable effect" as the plane had already begun its descent into Barcelona while he was carrying out the practice manipulations.
The Germanwings Airbus 320 crashed in the French Alps on March 24, killing all 150 people on board.
The probe into the crash confirmed initial suspicions that Lubitz deliberately brought the plane down. On the fatal flight back to Dusseldorf which left at 9 am local time, everything initially proceeded normally, with Lubitz even eating his meal 15 minutes into the flight, the report said.
At 9:30 am the captain left the cockpit to go to the toilet, and the selected altitude on the flight control unit changed "in one second" from cruising altitude of 11,600 meters to 31.25 meters - the minimum height possible to select on an A320. The speed of the plane was also gradually increased.
During the descent, air traffic controllers in the city of Marseille tried to call the plane 11 times on three different frequencies with no response. The air force also tried to contact the plane three times to no avail.
The cockpit recorder also showed the pilot's frantic efforts to re-enter the cockpit.
没有评论:
发表评论