Investigators combed through the apartment of Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot of the ill-fated Germanwings aircraft that crashed in the French Alps, searching for any clues as to why he may have wanted to bring the plane down, if indeed he did. Data from Flight 9525 indicates that someone in the cockpit reprogrammed the Airbus A320’s autopilot to change the altitude of the aircraft from 38,000 feet to 100 feet.
A prosecutor in Marseille, Brice Robin, said that Lubitz, a 28-year-old German, apparently “wanted to destroy the aircraft.” It is not known if Lubitz’ actions were pre-meditated. But, said Robin, he certainly “took advantage” when the pilot left the cockpit by activating the descent which, he said, could only be done deliberately.
The Chief Executive Officer of Lufthansa, the company that own Germanwings, said that he and his colleagues were “speechless that this aircraft has been deliberately crashed by the co-pilot.”
The audio recorder inside the cockpit captured the sound of the captain, who was somehow locked out, banging on the door. Horrifically, screaming is heard during the final moments the plane was aloft. The craft was pulverized the instant it hit the mountains and, Robin said, death was instantaneous for those aboard.
France has asked for help from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. A search for the plane’s “black box” or flight data recorder, continues. Its contents may have clues about what happened. Thus far, none exist as to why Lubitz would deliberately crash the airplane and investigators remain baffled.
Robins said that Lubitz’ religion is not currently known and he was not on any terrorism watch lists. He had 630 hours of logged flight time and had worked for Germanwings for less a year and a half, having trained with the airline in Bremen, Germany. His actual experience “in type” with the Airbus A320 was about 100 hours and was certified to pilot the plane alone.
Peter Ruecker was a fellow member with Lubitz to a flight club in Germany. “Inconceivable,” was what he said about the man he knew.
Not all human remains have been – or expected to be – recovered on the steep and icy mountain slopes. Families of the crash victims will likely not see release of their loved ones remains for several weeks as DNA is processed and identified.
When it crashed Tuesday, the Germanwings flight was en route from Barcelona, Spain, to Dusseldorf, Germany. The 150 passengers and crew were from 18 countries. About half them were from Germany, another 35 from Spain, and three Americans.
