New Findings: Co-Pilot Increased Speed During Descent

The French investigation board has announced that the co-pilot of the Germanwings flight had increased the speed of the aircraft before its crash. Investigators from the French Bureau of Investigations and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) discovered new information based on the second black box of the downed aircraft. Reuters reported on Friday, April 14, that with the discovery of new information, there seems to be no doubt that Andreas Lubitz, the 27-year-old German co-pilot, deliberately crashed the plane into a mountain, resulting in the deaths of all 150 passengers on board. The French investigation board stated that Mr. Lubitz had set the aircraft's autopilot to descend to only 30 meters and then repeatedly increased the speed of the descending aircraft by changing the autopilot settings. The second black box of the Germanwings aircraft was found on Thursday, April 13, in the French Alps, where the plane crashed, and was transferred to Paris under strict security measures. The second black box contains technical and flight information. The first black box, which records cockpit conversations, had previously been found and showed that the co-pilot had used the pilot's exit to go to the restroom to prevent his return to the cockpit, crashing the plane at a speed of 700 kilometers per hour into the mountain. Nearly half of the passengers on the German flight were German and 50 were Spanish. AFP reported, citing prosecutors in Germany, that Andreas Lubitz had been diagnosed years ago, before becoming a pilot, as someone with suicidal tendencies. Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings, has come under severe pressure after announcing that Mr. Lubitz had told his superiors that he was suffering from depression. Although doctors had recently found no signs that the 27-year-old co-pilot could harm himself or others, he was still undergoing neurological and psychological treatments that had led him to take frequent medical leaves, one of which was on the day of the incident.