Month: March 2015

In the wake of the mass murder/suicide Andreas Lubitz committed when he crashed Germanwings flight 9525 into the Alps last week, we’ve tried to find the reason. The airplane and his training as a pilot have been ruled out. Inquiries into Lubitz’ character and motivation are ongoing. We know he was not a Muslim terrorist, … Continue Reading

Andreas Lubitz’ ex-girlfriend provided some retrospective warnings about his mental state. She probably dismissed his statements that he would do things “that would change the system,” and  that “everyone will then know my name and remember me,” as delusional. This isn’t hard to connect to his actions to crash the Airbus. Still, we should wait … Continue Reading

A French prosecutor has accused the First Officer, Andreas Lubitz, of deliberately crashing Germanwings 9525 into the Alps. After the aircraft reached cruise altitude, the Captain left the cockpit. Germanwings apparently does not require two people to be in the cockpit during the absence of one pilot, so the First Officer was able to use … Continue Reading

Wall Street Journal: the pilots didn’t speak to air traffic control much during the descent – if it was an emergency descent for depressurization, they were probably talking to each other, making sure they were managing the descent. Good video there too. @AviationSafety tweets the vertical profile. It’s consistent with a controlled, albeit steep descent … Continue Reading

CNN opens the speculation cavalcade with this video on Germanwings flight 9525. Curiously, the airplane descended with a constant speed and angle (assuming the graphic depicting vertical profile is accurate). Commentator Chad Myers, a meteorologist, is right to conclude that it was not an uncontrolled descent. This brings to mind the possibility of controlled flight … Continue Reading