Germanwings Flight Recorder Transcripts Reveal Chilling Course of Events

Conversation transcripts can make significant contributions to investigations. They can help piece together the facts to help develop previously untold accounts of what really transcribed. The recent Germanwings plane crash provides a tragic example.

While plane crashes are horrific and unacceptable in this age of technological wizardry, the Germanwings plane crash in France has induced anger at the way authorities check the mental and physical stability of pilots in whose hands the lives of innocent passengers are placed.

Shocking Transcripts of Black Box Recordings

Transcripts of pilot conversations and actions recorded in the black box bring to light the shocking suggestion that the co-pilot deliberately crashed the plane. The angry questions are being raised – was a mentally disturbed co-pilot entrusted with the precious lives of passengers? If so, what is the aviation industry coming to? Brice Robin, a prosecutor from Marseilles, France, is leading the charge that the 28-year-old co-pilot of the Germanwings Flight 9525 Airbus 320 sent it on a 435 mile-an-hour crash course intentionally with the seeming idea of destroying it.

The reason behind the allegation is the following course of events captured by the flight recorder:

>> The co-pilot refused to let the pilot back into the cabin after he had gone out for a while.

>> Before that the pilot had given instructions to his co-pilot to make plans to land at Dusseldorf.

>> There was no indication to suggest that the co-pilot was unconscious, since the sound of breathing was heard in the cockpit while the pilot was apparently banging at the armored door and using the intercom to demand entry.

>> The breathing is heard right till the final, deadly impact.

>> There were also repeated calls from the Marseille control tower and from other flights alerted by the tower.

>> None of these calls were answered.

>> Moreover, the flight system to begin descent was activated earlier than required while the pilot had left the cockpit. This, as experts say, is an action that has to be done voluntarily.

Hiding Mental Illness

The question now arises as to how effective mental screening of pilots is, and whether such an examination ever takes place. It is conducted by airlines in the United States and Canada, but is done only when hiring a new employee and not always after that. Germanwings parent company Lufthansa says the Germanwings co-pilot had passed the test. But according to prosecutors, Lubitz was under treatment for tendencies of suicide. It was a psychotherapy treatment that lasted right up to some time before the crash. So it doesn’t take rocket science to figure that, in the light of the tragic Germanwings plane crash, this kind of screening is simply not enough. Some sources even report that Lubitz had received a doctor’s note which said he wasn’t fit to work on the day of the crash. He allegedly tore the note, hiding it from his employers.

Speculation also abounds as to whether the co-pilot planned a suicide. Though it may sound ridiculous to pilot a plane for that when there are many other ways to end one’s life, the Aviation Flight Network reveals that there have been nine instances since 1976 of plane crashes being attributed to pilot suicide. Though the risk is pretty low, there do remain questions as to what the authorities have done to counter this risk.

The Background of Andreas Lubitz

And what about the co-pilot himself, Andreas Lubitz? Was he a terrorist? Lufthansa has ruled that out. Lubitz did not return anything suspicious in background checks which Lufthansa says it regularly conducts. He had joined Germanwings in September 2013 and had a flying experience exceeding 630 hours. He was an active runner and glider too, and his glider friend said that the young man from Montabaur, Germany was quiet but friendly.

The situation gets murkier. Those transcripts of voice recordings proved to be crucial in eliminating the possibility of the pilots having lost control. Ultimately it seems that stringent German healthcare privacy laws are to be blamed for even the employer being unaware about the seriousness of Lubitz’s psychological condition. However, aviation lawyers have made it clear that parent company Lufthansa cannot be free from negligence that led the 150 passengers onboard the Germanwings Flight 9525 Airbus 320 to lose their lives.