19 September 2023 , 08:00
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In the space of just a few fateful minutes, the lives of 149 passengers on a flight to Germany were snuffed out because of one man - the pilot of their plane - who plummeted them to their deaths.
On March 24, 2015, co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately flew German airliner Germanwings flight 9525 into the French Alps, instantly killing himself and the other 149 people onboard. It was a tragedy that made headlines around the world with everyone wanting to know what had happened in the cockpit in those final moments.
The desperate last words of the co-captain, who tried to avert disaster, have been revealed through Black Box recordings - as well as Lubitz’s final haunting words before turning the plane on its deadly course. In the recordings, Lubitz can be heard telling Captain Patrick Sondenheimer that he was ready to take over “any time”. Shortly after take off, Lubitz tells Sondenheimer "You can go now.” When Sondenheimer left the cockpit 28 minutes into the flight, he told Lubitz that he was in charge of radio communications.
Killer German pilot Andreas Lubitz (socialchannel.it)Seconds after hearing the cockpit door opening and closing on the recording, the selected altitude was changed from 38,000ft to 100ft and the plane began to descend rapidly. Air traffic control attempted to contact the pilot but received no answer, whilst Sondenheimer desperately banged on the door. Sondenheimer can be heard desperately yelling "Open the damn door" with no reply from Lubitz, before managing to smash his way in with a metal object.
The plane plummeted through the sky in just 10 minutes and Lubitz did not say a single word. His breathing also remained eerily normal. This was all while crew members and air traffic control frantically tried to get him to respond. Although usually emergency codes would be provided to allow the flight crew access to the controls, Lubitz is believed to have overridden them. Just before the plane collides with the mountain side, passengers can be heard screaming on the recording.
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The aircraft hit the rocks at a speed of 430 miles per hour, instantly killing everyone on board. Passengers included students, babies, two opera singers, football reporters and a Pentagon contractor. One British woman, Marina Bandres Lopez-Belio died in the collision, along with her seven month old son, Julian. Two British men, 28-year-old Paul Andrew Bramley and 50-year-old Martyn Matthews also died. According to the German newspaper Bild, a former girlfriend of Lubitz said he had told her: "One day I will do something that will change the whole system, and then all will know my name and remember it."