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On March 24, 2015, a Germanwings Airbus A320 took off from Barcelona-El Prat airport bound for Dusseldorf in Germany with 144 passengers and 6 crew members but ended up crashing 41 minutes after takeoff in the French Alps, taking the lives of all people on board.The chronology of the accident
The crew had taken off from Dusseldorf at 6:01 am, bound for Barcelona, where they landed at 7:57 am. The landing was carried out followed by the boarding of the 144 passengers who were on the return flight to Dusseldorf. With boarding complete, the aircraft taxied to runway 07R at Barcelona-El Prat airport, where at 9:00 am, it took off and bound for Germany under the controls of co-pilot Andreas Lubitz. After takeoff at 9:02 am, the autopilot and "Autothrust" were engaged. During the climb, a flight attendant entered the cockpit, where the three crew members talked about the stopover in Barcelona. At 9:15 am, the flight attendant left the cockpit. At 9:27 am, the aircraft stopped climbing and maintained a flight level of 38,000 ft.
The last communication between the aircraft and ATC was at 9:30 am, with the captain reading back ATC's permission for them to fly toward the IRMAR waypoint: "Direct IRMAR Merci Germanwings one eight Golf." After the communication, the captain informed the co-pilot that he would be leaving the cockpit and asked him to take over radio communications during his absence, to which the co-pilot agreed. Shortly after this, a seat could be heard moving, and 15 seconds later, the captain left the cockpit. The co-pilot alone in the cockpit changed the aircraft's altitude from 38,000ft to just 100ft and deactivated the aircraft's Autothrust, and at the same time, the A320 began to lose altitude, and the power of both engines began to decrease. At 9:33 am, Andreas Lubitz increased the aircraft's speed from 273kt to 308kt; the descent speed varied between 1,700ft/min and 5,000ft/min with an average of 3,500ft/min. At 9:33 am, when the aircraft was at 30,000ft, the air traffic controller asked the crew at what flight level they were authorized to fly, but without any response.
At 9:34, the captain requested access to the aircraft's cockpit, at which point the aircraft was already at 25,100ft, with no response from inside the cockpit.The request for access to the cockpit was made on 4 other occasions, and someone could also be heard knocking on the door and asking the co-pilot to open the door on 6 different occasions. At 9:39, the captain, who was still trying to enter the cockpit of the aircraft, began banging violently on the door, but with no response. At 9:40, small, gentle movements were recorded coming from the co-pilot's sidestick, indicating that Andreas Lubitz was at the aircraft's controls until the flight's final moments. The collision risk warning was activated at 9:40, and at 9:41, the black box recording ended at the moment of the collision with the ground in the French Alps.
Report final conclusions
The final accident report dated March 2016 concluded that: "The collision with the ground was deliberately planned by the co-pilot who decided to commit suicide while alone in the cockpit." Fear of losing his license and the design of the doors to prevent unauthorized entry into the cockpit were other factors that led to the tragic accident that took the lives of 150 people.
The tragic incident of Germanwings Flight 9525 revealed the terrible choice of a desperate individual who, while in control of the aircraft, decided to take his own life, resulting in the loss of all lives on board. This harrowing event highlights the complexity of the pilot's role, which goes far beyond the skill of flying an aircraft, involving the emotional burden and responsibility for the lives entrusted to them.