Investigators Report Germanwings Co-Pilot Practiced Descent on another Flight
Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot who intentionally flew the Airbus A320 jet into the mountains, reportedly practiced controlled descent during a flight to Barcelona just two hours before the fatal crash, French air accident investigators stated Wednesday.
On March 24, Lubitz, who suffered from depression and had suicidal tendencies, locked his co-pilot out of the cockpit and flew the Barcelona-to-Dusseldorf flight right into the French Alps, killing all 150 people who were on board. Shortly after the tragic event, investigators looked into whether or not Lubiitz's actions were premeditated and deliberate and concluded that Lubitz had purposely crashed Flight 9525 while it was on route to Germany.
In the interim 30 page report by the BEA released Wednesday, investigators revealed that on Lubitz's earlier flight into Barcelona, he had changed the "selected altitude" of the same A320 jet several times while the more experienced pilot was out of the cockpit.
The data revealed that Lubitz put the plane on descent mode five times within a 4 1/2 minute time span before returning to cruising mode. He also put the plane's engines on idle, which would allow the plane to descend rapidly. Lubitz was reportedly asked by air traffic controllers to bring the plane down to 21,000 feet from 35,000 feet. The same pilot and crew were on both flights.
"The captain didn't realize [the descent] at all, because the co-pilot's tests during the outgoing flight took place during a normal, preprogrammed descent and it never had an impact on the plane's trajectory," said Remi Jouty, the director of BEA.
"The process of going up and down with the selected altitude is not normal - but I can't tell you what was going on in his head," said Antoine Amal, an aviation expert and pilot said.
Lufthansa, the airline, has not analyzed the new details yet. Germanwings stated that it "welcomed any new information that can help clarify what happened." However, since the investigation is ongoing, it will not comment on the BEA report.
