Co- pilot researched cockpit security
While investigators look at tablet, authorities find 2nd data recorder
Germanwings co- pilot Andreas Lubitz spent time online researching suicide methods and cockpit door security in the week before crashing Flight 9525, prosecutors said Thursday — the first evidence the fatal descent may have been a premeditated act.
As the browsing history on a tablet computer found at Lubitz’s apartment added a disturbing new piece to the puzzle of the March 24 crash, French investigators said they had recovered the Airbus A320’ s flight data recorder — another step toward completing the picture.
Attention has focused on Lubitz since investigators evaluated the plane’s cockpit voice recorder last week. They believe the 27- year- old locked his captain out of the cockpit during the flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf and deliberately plunged the plane into a French mountainside.
Dusseldorf prosecutors said they had reviewed search terms from March 16 to 23 that were in the browser memory of the computer found in Lubitz’s home in the city.
The co- pilot researched “types and ways of going about a suicide,” prosecutors’ spokesman Ralf Herrenbrueck said in a statement.
“In addition, on at least one day, ( Lubitz) concerned himself for several minutes with search terms about cockpit doors and their security precautions,” he added.
In Marseille, France, prosecutor Brice Robin underlined French investigators’ conviction “he was alive until the moment of impact, we are nearly certain. ... Alive and conscious.” He also said the co- pilot appears to have acted repeatedly to stop an excessive speed alarm from sounding.
He said investigators had found 150 DNA profiles — matching the number of people aboard the plane — but it will take time to match them with DNA samples provided by victims’ families.
Investigators hope the flight data recorder will reveal more information on what happened to the plane and the co- pilot’s actions at the controls.
The recorder was “completely blackened” as though it had been burned, but it was “possibly usable,” Robin said. It captures 25 hours of information on the position and condition of nearly every part of the plane.
Also Thursday, Germany announced the creation of an expert task force to examine what went wrong and consider whether changes are needed regarding cockpit doors, how pilots pass medical evaluations and how companies recognize psychological problems in employees.
France’s air accident investigation agency is already examining cockpit entry and psychological screening procedures.