THE Germanwings copilot
“deliberately” initiated the descent of the doomed plane that crashed
into the French Alps and locked the pilot out of the cockpit, the lead
investigator says.
The copilot, named as 28-year-old Andreas Lubitz, appeared to “show a desire to want to destroy” the plane, Marseille Prosecutor Brice Robin said.“The copilot was alone at the controls,” said Mr Robin, presenting information gathered from the “black box” recorder that records sounds and conversations from the cockpit.
“He ... refused to open the door of the cockpit to the pilot and deliberately began the descent of the plane.”
Mr Robin added: “The intention was to destroy the plane. Death was instant.”
The screams of passengers could be heard at the end of the audio.
Lubitz was identified as a German citizen who was not known to have any links to terrorism or extremists, Mr Robin said, adding that German authorities were expected to provide additional information on his background and private life later this week.
The pilot has been identified as German father-of-two, Patrick Sonderheimer.
He said the copilot turned the “flight monitoring system” button to initiate the plane’s descent and spoke “not a single word” during the last 10 minutes before the plane crashed.
The passengers were unaware of their imminent demise “until very last moment” and “died instantly”, the prosecutor said.
He said screams could be heard on the recordings only in the final seconds.
The recording showed that the pilot and copilot talked normally and “courteously” for the first 20 minutes of the flight after it took off from Barcelona.
Mr Robin said the pilot could be heard pushing his chair back before going to use the bathroom.
“Then we hear the pilot ask the copilot to take the controls and a seat being pulled back and a door closing. We can assume he left to answer nature’s call,” Mr Robin said.
“The copilot is left alone at the controls. We hear several calls from the pilot asking for entry into the cockpit. There is no response from the copilot.”
Mr Robin said there were “normal” breathing sounds from Lubitz throughout the rest of the flight that indicated he was conscious.
Lubitz said nothing during the final descent, which lasted about 10 minutes.
“Absolute silence inside the cockpit. Nothing, no word during the last 10 minutes,” Mr Robin said.
French investigators concluded the copilot had refused to open the cabin door and actioned the button for making the descent, as opposed to it being a mechanical autopilot action.
“This was a voluntary choice to destroy this plane … we ask the German authorities to ask more about the German pilot, his family and his environment,” he said.
Germanwings tweeted a response to the shocking revelations: “We are shaken by the upsetting statements of the French authorities.”
