The co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 appears to have deliberately crashed the plane carrying 150 people into the French Alps after the pilot had left the cockpit, Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said at a news conference today.
"The interpretation ... that we can give at this time ... is that the co-pilot through voluntary abstention refused to open the door of the cockpit to the commander and activated the button that activates the loss of altitude," Robin said, providing often-chilling details into the final moments before the airline crashed.
But, he said: "There's nothing showing that this is a terrorist act." And he refused to characterize the actions as suicide.
The information was gleaned from the cockpit voice recorder, which was recovered Wednesday from the crash site.
Robin described the conversation between the pilots at the initial part of the flight, after takeoff from Barcelona, Spain, as "lively, pleasant, courteous," but he said that later, when the pilot was preparing the aircraft for landing in Duesseldorf, Germany, the co-pilot's answers seemed "short and curt."
Robin identified the co-pilot as Andreas Lubitz, 28, a German national. The Wall Street Journal reported Lubitz, 28, lived in Montabaur, Germany. He had 630 hours of flying time and had joined Germanwings in September 2013, directly after training.
The vastly experienced pilot, whose name has not yet been released, had left the cockpit apparently to "satisfy natural needs" and handed the controls to the co-pilot, Robin said. Knocks, "very violent knocks," on the cockpit door can be heard as the pilot tried to regain access, Robin said. The co-pilot can be heard breathing until final impact, he said.
The Marseille prosecutor said the co-pilot did not respond to multiple attempts to get in touch by air traffic controllers in Marseille, and he did not issue a May Day distress signal.
"He didn't say anything," Robin said. "Not a single word."
He said that screams from passengers can be heard moments before the final impact, but he noted: "Death was sudden and immediate" when the plane hit the mountain.
Updated at 8:22 a.m.
The recovery of the bodies of the passengers will likely continue until the end of next week, said Brice Robin, the Marseille prosecutor.
Updated at 8:14 a.m.
"There's nothing showing that this is a terrorist act," said Brice Robin, the Marseille prosecutor.
And, he said, he would not use the term "suicide" to describe the co-pilot's apparent actions.
Updated at 8:09 a.m.
Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin identified the co-pilot as Andreas Lubitz. He did not offer more details about Lubitz, except to say he was "obviously capable of piloting the plane by himself."
But The Wall Street Journal said Lubitz, 28, was from Montabaur, Germany.
Screams can be heard before the final impact, Robin said, adding the passengers did not realize what was happening until the final moments.
But he noted: "Death was sudden and immediate" when the plane hit the mountain.
Updated at 7:50 a.m. ET
The actions of the co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 have been "analyzed as willingness to destroy the aircraft," Brice Robin, the Marseille prosecutor, said at a news conference today.
"The interpretation ... that we can give at this time ... is that the co-pilot through voluntary abstention refused to open the door of the cockpit to the commander and activated the button that activates the loss of altitude," Robin said.
The co-pilot was breathing normally through the entire process. The pilot was locked out of the cockpit, Robin said. His comments were in French and translated into English on France 24.
Both pilots are German nationals, he said. The co-pilot was not on any terrorist list, Robin said.
CULLED FROM NPR NEWS ONLINE
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