The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Pilot ‘rehearsed’ rapid descent on day of crash
ALPS TRAGEDY: Lubitz set altitude to just 100ft on earlier flight to Barcelona
The co-pilot who deliberately crashed the Germanwings plane in the French Alps rehearsed his actions on an earlier flight in the same aircraft on the day of the disaster, an interim accident report has indicated.
In the fatal crash on March 24, copilot Andreas Lubitz, 27, had selected just 100ft (30m) as the altitude after the captain left the cockpit of the Airbus A320, the report by French air accident bureau BEA said.
“Several altitude selections towards 100ft were recorded during descent on the flight that preceded the accident flight, while the co-pilot was alone in the cockpit,” the BEA added.
Other altitudes, including 49,000ft (14,935m) and 21,000ft (6,400m) were also selected although the plane actually descended very little during the fourand-a-half minutes the captain was away on the Dusseldorf to Barcelona flight, a graph in the interim report showed.
Later on the morning of March 24 Lubitz and his 34-year-old captain had flown the return leg on the Airbus A320 from Barcelona to Dusseldorf.
Cockpit voice recorder evidence has shown Lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit and put the plane into a continual descent. It crashed into a mountain with the loss of all 150 people on board, including three Britons.
There have been various reports about Lubitz’s mental state and his fitness to fly.
On this and other matters related to the fatal crash, the BEA has released its findings.
During his training and recurrent checks, Lubitz’s professional level was judged to be above standard.
In April 2009 his class one medical certificate was not revalidated by the aeromedical centre of Lufthansa, Germanwings’ parent company, due to depression and the taking of medication to treat it.
In July 2009 Lubitz obtained a new certificate valid until April 9 2010 but it came with a notice of special conditions and restrictions.
His pilot’s licence then included a limitation requiring the aeromedical examiner to contact the licence-issuing authority before proceeding with an evaluation relating to any extension or renewal of the medical certificate.
Lubitz’s schedule showed he had not flown between March 13 and March 22 this year. On March 23, the day before the crash, he was on standby.