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Germanwings Co-Pilot Accelerated During Descent, Data From 2nd Recorder Shows Germanwings Co-Pilot Accelerated During Descent, Data From 2nd Recorder Shows
(about 2 hours later)
PARIS — Data from the second so-called black box of the German airliner that crashed in the French Alps last week indicates that the co-pilot deliberately programmed the autopilot to send the plane into its fatal descent and repeatedly accelerated, France’s air accidents investigation body said on Friday. PARIS — The co-pilot of the German airliner that crashed into the French Alps last week accelerated as he deliberately guided the aircraft toward the ground, France’s air accidents investigation body said on Friday, based on data from the plane’s second so-called black box.
Based on an initial reading of the plane’s flight data recorder, which was recovered from the crash site on Thursday, the Bureau of Investigations and Analyses, known by its French abbreviation B.E.A., said the data showed that the 27-year-old co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, used the autopilot to direct the plane to descend to an altitude of 100 feet. Based on an initial reading of the plane’s flight data recorder, which was recovered from the crash site on Thursday, the Bureau of Investigations and Analyses, known by its French abbreviation B.E.A., said the data showed that the 27-year-old co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, had used the autopilot to direct the plane to descend to an altitude of 100 feet.
Then, “several times during the course of the descent, the pilot adjusted the automatic pilot so as to increase the speed of the plane as it descended,” the B.E.A. said in a brief statement.Then, “several times during the course of the descent, the pilot adjusted the automatic pilot so as to increase the speed of the plane as it descended,” the B.E.A. said in a brief statement.
The latest disclosure from the investigation adds to the mounting evidence in the days since the crash that Mr. Lubitz, who German prosecutors said had a history of depression, crashed the plane intentionally after locking the captain out of the cockpit, killing himself and 149 others aboard the Germanwings flight to Düsseldorf, Germany, from Barcelona, Spain, on March 24.The latest disclosure from the investigation adds to the mounting evidence in the days since the crash that Mr. Lubitz, who German prosecutors said had a history of depression, crashed the plane intentionally after locking the captain out of the cockpit, killing himself and 149 others aboard the Germanwings flight to Düsseldorf, Germany, from Barcelona, Spain, on March 24.
Prosecutors in Germany revealed on Thursday that an iPad seized from Mr. Lubitz’s apartment in Düsseldorf showed that he had searched the Internet in the days immediately before the crash for information about how to commit suicide as well as the security measures for cockpit doors.Prosecutors in Germany revealed on Thursday that an iPad seized from Mr. Lubitz’s apartment in Düsseldorf showed that he had searched the Internet in the days immediately before the crash for information about how to commit suicide as well as the security measures for cockpit doors.
Separately, French officials said on Thursday that cockpit audio recordings retrieved last week revealed that a speed warning signal sounded and was deactivated twice, indicating that Mr. Lubitz was most likely conscious during the plane’s descent. Previously, investigators had confirmed that he could be heard breathing on the recordings.
Aviation analysts said the accumulation of evidence that has so far emerged from both the German and the French investigations into the crash appeared to point strongly toward an act of pilot suicide rather than any sort of technical failure of the plane.
“Everything points in that direction, and at the moment, there is nothing that points in another direction,” said David Learmount, an editor and specialist in air safety at Flightglobal, an aviation journal based in London.
“There is no question there is enough to prosecute,” Mr. Learmount said. “But the question is, is it inevitable that you have to prosecute someone?”
He continued, “People who are dead are not brought to trial in a court.”
France is one of a handful of countries that routinely seek criminal indictments in transportation accidents, regardless of whether there is clear evidence of criminal intent or negligence. Those criminal investigations, conducted by government prosecutors, are independent of the technical investigations done by the B.E.A., whose role is limited to determining the cause of a crash but not to apportion responsibility for it.
It was not immediately clear whether Brice Robin, the French prosecutor in charge of the criminal investigation, would seek to build a criminal case in France. In the past, French prosecutors have pursued individuals, as well as airlines, over fatal crashes.
Such cases do not always result in convictions, however. In 2012, a French appeals court overturned an involuntary manslaughter conviction against Continental Airlines for its role in the 2000 crash of an Air France Concorde jet outside Paris. A French court in 2006 also acquitted five former aviation officials and a former Airbus executive of all charges linked to the 1992 crash of a passenger jet in the mountains near the German border, which killed 87 people.