Will update …
My very first impression/fear was a hijacking … the intentional destruction of passenger airliner is mind-boggling, just too horrific!! RIP
LATEST HEADLINE: French prosecutor confirms the NY Times article of yesterday!
○ Alone at controls, co-pilot sought to ‘destroy’ the plane
A320 de Germanwings : le copilote a délibérément voulu crasher l’avion, selon le procureur
Germanwings co-pilot ‘intentionally’ sent plane into descent, prosecutor says | France24 |
The co-pilot of Germanwings flight 4U9525 “intentionally” sent the plane into a descent and was in sole control of the aircraft in the minutes before it crashed in the French Alps killing all 150 people on board, French prosecutors say.
Marseille Prosecutor Brice Robin, in charge of the investigation, confirmed reports that the captain left the cabin minutes before the crash and was unable to get back in.
He said pounding could be heard on the door during the final minutes of the flight as alarms sounded to signal that the aircraft was nearing land.
Robin said information pulled from the black box cockpit recorder suggested that the co-pilot, identified as German citizen Andreas Lubitz, refused to open the cabin’s door and “intentionally” sent the plane into its doomed descent.
Screen capture of Facebook photo, deleted a few days ago - link
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Breaking NewsDutch NRC newspaper – all 150 crew and passengers feared dead in French AlpsFull flight information and flight history for Germanwings aircraft D-AIPX
Playback of flight #4U9525 with speed and altitude graph is available on FlightRadar24
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Tracking flight 4U9525 Barcelona - Dusseldorf
A Germanwings Airbus A320-200, registration D-AIPX performing flight 4U-9525 from Barcelona,SP (Spain) to Dusseldorf (Germany) with 142 passengers and 6 crew, was enroute at FL380 about 30nm southeast of Marseille (France) when the aircraft initiated a rapid descent. Radar contact with the aircraft was lost at about 6800 feet at approx. 10:45L (09:45Z) about 12nm southwest of Barcelonnette (France), 75nm northwest of Marseille.
French Police reported two helicopter spotted the remains of the aircraft on the ground between Prads-Haute-Bleone and Barcelonnette (France), about half way between the two cities there is a mountain ridge rising up to 8600 feet.
France’s DGAC reported the crew transmitted an emergency call just prior to the aircraft disappearing from radar near Bassinet.
LIVE REPORT Le Dauphine local:
○ Un A320 s’écrase dans la zone de Barcelonnette : il n’y aurait “aucun survivant” selon François Hollande
○ Airbus A320 passenger plane crashes in southern France | France24 |
○ Airbus A320 was travelling from Barcelona to Dusseldorf with 150 passengers and crew on board | Ynet News |