Germanwings Flight 9525 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Germanwings_Flight_9525&printable=yes Coordinates: 44°16 ′50 ″N 6°26 ′20 ″E Germanwings Flight 9525 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Germanwings Flight 9525 ( 4U9525 /GWI18G [5][a]) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Barcelona–El Prat Airport in Spain to Düsseldorf Airport in Germany, operated by Germanwings, a low-cost airline owned by Lufthansa. Germanwings Flight 9525 On 24 March 2015, the aircraft, an Airbus A320-200, crashed 100 kilometres (62 mi) northwest of Nice, in the French Alps, after a constant descent that began one minute after the last routine contact with air traffic control and shortly after the aircraft had reached its assigned cruise altitude. All 144 passengers and six crew members were killed. French and German prosecutors believe that the crash was intentionally caused by the co-pilot, 27-year-old Andreas Lubitz. Although he had been declared "unfit to work" and was hiding an illness from his employers, Lubitz reported for duty nonetheless, locking the captain out of the cockpit before initiating a descent that caused the plane to impact a mountain. In response to the incident and the circumstances of Lubitz's involvement, aviation authorities in Canada, New Zealand, Germany and Australia implemented new regulations that require two authorized personnel to be present in the cockpit at all times. [6][7][8][9] Three days after the D-AIPX, the aircraft involved in the incident, [10] incident the European Aviation Safety Agency issued a temporary recommendation for airlines to ensure that at least two crew members, including at least one pilot, are in the cockpit at all times of the flight. Several airlines announced they had already adopted similar policies pictured in May 2014 voluntarily. [6][11][12][13] Incident summary Date 24 March 2015 Summary Suspected deliberate flight into Contents terrain; under investigation Site Prads-Haute-Bléone, Alpes- 1 Flight de-Haute-Provence, France 1.1 Crash site 44°16 ′50 ″N 6°26 ′20 ″E[1] 2 Aircraft Passengers 144 [2] 3 Crew and passengers Crew 6[2][3] 3.1 Crew Fatalities 150 (all) [4] 3.2 Passengers Survivors 0 4 Investigation Aircraft type Airbus A320-200 Operator Germanwings 4.1 Cause of crash Registration D-AIPX 5 Response Flight origin Barcelona–El Prat Airport, 5.1 Political Barcelona, Spain 5.2 Commercial Destination Düsseldorf Airport, Düsseldorf, 5.3 Regulatory Germany 5.4 Legal 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links Flight Flight 9525 took off from Runway 07R at Barcelona–El Prat Airport at 10:01 a.m. CET (09:01 UTC) and was due to arrive at Düsseldorf Airport by 11:39 CET. [2][14] The flight's scheduled departure time was 9:35 CET. [15] The air traffic controller declared the aircraft in distress after the aircraft's descent and loss of radio contact. [16][17] According to the French national civil aviation inquiries bureau, the Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile (BEA; English: Bureau of Investigations and Analyses for the Security of Civil Aviation), [18] pilots confirmed instructions from French air traffic control at 10:30 CET. At 10:31 CET, after crossing the French coast near Toulon, the aircraft left its assigned cruising altitude of 38,000 feet (12,000 m) and without approval began a rapid descent. The descent time from 38,000 feet was about 10 minutes; radar observed an average descent rate of approximately 3,400 feet per minute or 58 feet per second (18 m/s). [19] Attempts by French air traffic control to contact the flight on the assigned radio frequency were not answered. A French military Mirage jet was scrambled from the Orange-Caritat Air Base to intercept the aircraft. [20][21] According to the BEA, radar contact was lost at 10:40 CET; at the time, the aircraft was flying at an altitude of 6,175 feet (1,882 m). [22] The aircraft crashed within the territory of the remote commune of Prads-Haute-Bléone, 100 kilometres (62 mi) northwest of Nice.[23][24][25][26] The crash is the deadliest air disaster in France since the crash of Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308 in 1981, in which 180 people died, and the third-deadliest in France behind Flight 1308 and Turkish Airlines Flight 981.[27] This was the first major crash of a civil airliner in France since the crash of Air France Flight 4590 on takeoff from Charles de Gaulle Airport in 2000.[28] The crash is also the first loss of a Lufthansa-owned airliner during the cruising phase of flight. [29] Altitude chart (metres) Flight path Crash site The crash site is within the Massif des Trois-Évêchés, three kilometres (1.9 mi) east of the settlement of Le Vernet and beyond the road to the Col de Mariaud, in an area known as the Ravin du Rosé. [30] The site is on the southern side of the Tête du Travers, [30][31] a minor peak at the lower western slopes of the Tête de l'Estrop. The site is approximately ten kilometres (6 mi) west of Mount Cimet, where Air France Flight 178 crashed in 1953. [32][33] Gendarmerie nationale and Sécurité Civile sent helicopters to locate the wreckage. [34][35] The aircraft had disintegrated, the largest piece of wreckage being "the size of a car." [36] A helicopter landed near the site of the crash and confirmed that there were no survivors. [37] The search and rescue team reported that the debris field is two square kilometres (500 acres) in size. [25] The DGAC set up temporary flight restrictions in the area surrounding the crash site. Rescue efforts were suspended overnight by the French authorities to ensure the safety of the rescuers. [38] Aircraft The aircraft was a 24-year-old Airbus A320-211,[b] serial number 147, registered as D-AIPX. It first flew on 29 November 1990. [39] It was delivered to Lufthansa on 5 February 1991, [40][41] before being leased to Germanwings from 1 June 2003 until mid-2004. [42] It was then returned to The flight crashed in the Massif des Lufthansa on 22 July 2004 and remained with Lufthansa until 2014, during which time it was named Mannheim .[41][42] It was finally transferred to Germanwings on 31 January 2014. [41][42] Trois-Évêchés. 1 of 5 3/31/2015 2:52 PM Germanwings Flight 9525 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Germanwings_Flight_9525&printable=yes The aircraft had accumulated about 58,300 flight hours on 46,700 flights. [43 ] The original Design Service Goal (DSG) of the aircraft was 60,000 hours or 48,000 flights. In 2012, an optional Extended Service Goal (ESG1) was approved, extending the service life to 120,000 hours or 60,000 flights, provided that a required package of service and inspections was performed before the DSG was reached. [44] Crew and passengers People on board by nationality [45] Nationality No. Ref. Germany [c] 70 [47] Spain 51 [48] Argentina 3 [49] Kazakhstan 3 [50] United Kingdom [d] 3 [53] United States 3 [54] Australia 2 [55] Colombia 2 [56] Iran 2 [57] Japan 2 [58] Mexico [e] 2 [60] Morocco 2 [61] Venezuela 2 [62] Belgium 1 [63] Chile 1 [64] Denmark 1 [65] Israel 1 [66] Netherlands 1 [67] Turkey 1 [68] Total number of 150 fatalities Number of fatalities with multiple 4 citizenships There were 144 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew on board, from at least 18 countries, mostly Germany and Spain. [45] The early count was confused by multiple citizenship.[69] Crew The pilot in command, Patrick Sondenheimer, [70] had 10 years of flying experience (6000 flight hours) [23] flying A320s with Germanwings, Lufthansa and Condor.[71][72] The co-pilot was the 27-year-old First Officer Andreas Lubitz.[73][74] Lubitz had taken time out from his pilot training in 2009; [75] an acquaintance of his said this was because he had suffered from burnout and depression. [76] He had 630 flight hours of experience. [77] Lubitz was treated for depression in the past. Lubitz was suffering from an unspecified illness and a sick note for the day of the crash was found torn up in his flat. He had not revealed his illness to the airline or authorities. [78][79][80][81] On 28 March, two officials with knowledge of the investigation said that he had sought treatment for an eyesight problem. During the search of his apartment the police found antidepressants. [82] On 30 March, investigators in Dusseldorf revealed that Lubitz had been treated for suicidal tendencies several years before becoming a pilot. [83] Passengers Among the passengers were 16 schoolchildren and two teachers from the Joseph-König-Gymnasium of Haltern am See, North Rhine-Westphalia. They were on their way home from a student exchange with the Giola Institute in Llinars del Vallès, Barcelona. [84] Haltern's mayor, Bodo Klimpel, has described it as "the darkest day in the history of [the] town." [85] Bass-baritone Oleg Bryjak and contralto Maria Radner, singers with Deutsche Oper am Rhein, were also on the flight. [86][87] Investigation The Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile (BEA) opened an investigation into the crash, joined by its German counterpart, the Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU), and assisted by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). [88][89] On 24 March, the BEA sent seven investigators to the crash site, accompanied by representatives from Airbus and CFM International.