On 6th May, the French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) published a preliminary report on the Germanwings 24th March crash. A 30-page document contains a spine-chilling account, and seems to leave no doubt about the intentions of the co-pilot to destroy the A320.
The analysis of the two black boxes (Flight Data Recorder & Cockpit Voice Recorder) confirm that Andreas Lubitz did indeed "intentionally set the autopilot instructions to carry out a descent of the aircraft until its collision with the ground", and all within thirty seconds after the captain left the cockpit.
One more new fact has now come to light ; we learn that the first officer, Andreas Lubitz, had "practised" two hours earlier, during the Düsseldorf - Barcelona flight, and repeated gestures that would cause the loss of the 150 passengers and crew members on the return flight.
From the analysis of the flight recorders’ data, the BEA said, in effect, that during the Düsseldorf - Barcelona flight, the captain left the cockpit for almost five minutes. A period during which Andreas Lubitz, several times, temporarily selected an altitude of 100 feet before finally following the plane's descent instructions requested by the Bordeaux control centre (south western France), and opening the cockpit door to the Captain.
After "practising" on the outward bound flight, Andreas Lubitz was able to execute his fatal project on the return flight.
