Thursday, March 26, 2015

Crash of the Airbus A320: the co-pilot operated controls for … – The World

Two days after the crash of the Airbus A320 for Germanwings airline, the Attorney General of Marseille, Brice Robin, held a press conference, Thursday, March 26, during which he revealed the contents of the box . black airplane that was recovered

According to preliminary findings of the investigation, the first officer – not the driver as we indicated at first by mistake – powered orders to lower the unit: an action which, according to Robin, “can only be voluntary” . Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings, said she had not, for now, “not the slightest clue” on his motives.

  • The only co-pilot in the cockpit

The first twenty minutes of the recording reveal nothing special. Have only been captured casual conversations between the pilot and co-pilot.

After a while, “means the captain ask the first officer to take command” of the device, for probably “satisfy his natural needs” , says Brice Robin. Follow the sound of a seat back and the one with a door that closes. The co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, 28 years old, finds himself alone in the cockpit.

Hired in September 2013 by Germanwings, it is the least experienced of the two (there were 630 hours of flight against more than 6,000 hours to his colleague).

Read: What is known Andreas Lubitz, co-pilot of the A320 Germanwings

So it was him who was in command of plane when it crashed into the massive Estrop between Digne-les-Bains and Barcelonnette. At this time, the captain was out of the cockpit – not the co-pilot as we wrote in the first instance on the basis of a senior source

See our synthesis: Crash of Germanwings: the captain was stuck outside the cockpit before the crash

According to the prosecutor, it is at this point when the first officer is alone in the cockpit, “he manipulates buttons” flight monitoring system “to activate the device’s descent” , the prosecutor continued, adding that “the action maybe voluntary “.

Several calls the commander from outside the cab, were recorded by the CVR. The man is identified, in particular through the surveillance camera on the side of the door. The co-pilot, then in control of the aircraft, not responding.

  • breath sounds until impact

Marseille airport control tower repeated calls to the device, including asking it to issue a distress code. The tower also asked other aircraft to do a radio relay to contact the Airbus. No answer.

“We hear the sound of human breathing inside the cab until the final impact” , says the prosecutor, which indicates that the co-pilot was alive throughout the descent of the aircraft. The prosecutor added:

“No message of distress or urgency has been received by air traffic controllers and no response was given to all calls of the various air traffic controllers. The most plausible interpretation for us is that the first officer, by a voluntary abstention, refused to open the door of the cockpit and the captain sounded the release button altitude loss. “

Read: The five stages of psychological monitoring of Air France pilots

Meanwhile, the A320 has increased from 12 000 meters of altitude of 2000 meters, the height of the mountain against which he eventually spoil. Then trigger alarms to indicate to the crew ground proximity. “There, beatings seeking means to break down the door. “

” Just before the final impact, we hear the sound of what is probably a first impact on a bank “, said the prosecutor. The plane then slide along the slope to go hit the mountain at 700 km / h.

  • “A desire to destroy the plane”

This attitude “can be analyzed as an attempt to destroy the plane” . For now, you can not comment on the reasons for the behavior of co-pilot. The prosecutor acknowledged that the assumption of a desire to commit suicide by the co-pilot is “legitimate” .

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