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Cape Town - In the most recent reports regarding the mysterious crash of a Germanwings Airbus A320, experts have revealed that the co-pilot deliberately initiated the descent of the aircraft, sending it crashing into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board.
The plane was en route from Barcelona, Spain to Dusseldorf, Germany on Tuesday when it went into a long descent before crashing into the mountains.
Recorded data from the black box which was retrieved in the search and rescue operation revealed that one of the pilots had gotten up from his seat, opened the door and closed it again. Shortly after, you hear light knocking as he tries to re-enter, quickly escalating into a full blown attempt to break down the door.
Prosecutor Brice Robin told reporters that the co-pilot left behind in the cockpit, named as 28-year-old Andreas Lubitz, appeared to "show a desire to want to destroy" the plane.
"The co-pilot was alone at the controls," said Robin, presenting information gathered from the "black box" recorder that records sounds and conversations from the cockpit.
"He... refused to open the door of the cockpit to the pilot and deliberately began the descent of the plane."
(AP Photo/Fabrice Balsamo, Gendarmerie Nationale)
A horrific thought indeed, but one that is not altogether new to aviation. According to a post on Aviation Safety Network there have been at least eight instances of plane crashes related to pilot suicide in the past few decades, with the most recent being an LAM flight that went down in Namibia at the end of 2013.
Here is a list of the incidents:
29 November 2013 – 33 fatalities, LAM
LAM Flight 470 entered a rapid descent while en route between Maputo and Luanda and crashed in Namibia. Investigations revealed that the crash had been caused by intentional actions by the pilot, which included making control inputs that directed the aircraft to the ground.
31 October 1999 – 217 fatalities, Egypt Air
Only half-an-hour after taking off from JFK Airport in New York Egypt Air flight 990 entered rapid descent, crashing into the Atlantic Ocean some 100km from Nantucket Island Massachusetts, killing everyone on board. The descent happened moments after the captain left the flight deck, with investigations suggesting that the relief pilot had intentionally sent it into the ocean. There was, however, no conclusive evidence and the claim was heavily disputed by Egyptian authorities.
11 October 1999 – 1 fatality, Air Botswana
An Air Botswana pilot who had been grounded for medical reasons took off in an ATR-42 and proceeded to make various demands over the radio before crashing into two similar aircraft at Gaborone Airport.
19 December 1997 – 104 fatalities, Silk Air
During a flight from Jakarta, Indonesia to Singapore, Silk Air flight 185 crashed in Indonesia after entering a rapid descent. It has been suggested by amongst others the US NTSB that the captain may have committed suicide by switching off both flight recorders and intentionally putting the Boeing 737 in a dive, possibly when the first officer had left the flight deck. He had apparently been experiencing various work-related difficulties in the 6 months prior to the incident.
21 August 1994 – 44 fatalities, Royal Air Maroc
A Royal Air Maroc pilot was accused of switching off autopilot and intentionally steering an ATR-42 into the Atlas Mountains shortly after takeoff from Agadir, Morocco in 1994.
13 July 1994 – 1 fatality
A Russian Air Force engineer stole the aircraft at the Kubinka AFB to commit suicide. The aircraft crashed when there was no more fuel left.
22 August 1979 – 4 fatalities
A young military mechanic who had just been fired entered a hangar at Bogotá Airport, Colombia and stole a military HS-748 transport plane. He took off and crashed the plane in a residential area.
26 September 1976 – 12 fatalities
Shortly after getting divorced, a Russian pilot stole an Antonov 2 airplane and directed it into the block of flats in Novosibirsk where his ex-wife lived.
