German Tabloid 'Bild' Claims to Have Transcript of Germanwings Voice Recorder (Flight Data Recorder 'Remains Missing'); French Air Accident Investigation Agency Calls Their Report 'Voyeurism'

"What bothers me here is that this was leaked or presented to the press and public before the investigation is even remotely complete. Granted, this appears to be common practice in the age of instant information demand. How convenient it is to always blame two dead pilots, or in this case, one dead pilot. Can't we wait for the official report to be released from the investigative authorities before the world lynches this poor guy!? Think of what his family must be going through now. In addition, based on what I know of Lufthansa's selection criteria for pilots, which can easily be said to be one of the toughest in the world, I'm just not buying this. Not until all the facts are out." - Reluctant Bus Driver, PPRuNe.org

What happened to ICAO Annex 13? Without data from the Flight Data Recorder (FDR), how do they know the First Officer started the descent? Many critical questions to be asked. Speculation is not good for the official investigation. The First Officer has been accused, charged, tried and convicted, and we don't yet have the FDR to be sure of the sequence of events or exactly what happened and why! Surely there is a LOT more to this than what the French Prosecutor has decided based on what he "heard."

The French Prosecutor is not following ICAO Annex 13 and, as a result, the IFALPA issued a press release on March 26 (excerpt follows): The International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA) deplores and condemns yesterday's leaking of certain elements of the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) of the Germanwings flight 4U9525. Not only do these leaks contravene the internationally agreed principles of accident investigation confidentiality set out in ICAO Annex 13, they are also a breach of trust to all those involved in the investigation and to the families of the victims. Furthermore, leaks of this nature greatly harm flight safety since they invite ill-informed speculation from the media and the general public and discourage cooperation with investigators in future accidents. Leaking premature, unanalyzed, and partial CVR recordings, which lack the context of the entire body of factual investigative data, severely interferes with the investigative process, and can only lead to early conclusions on what exactly occurred during the time leading up to the accident. Any other use of CVR data is not only invalid, but is an unacceptable invasion of privacy best described as a search for sensationalism and voyeurism of the worst kind.

German newspaper releases timeline of Germanwings flight before crash

March 29, 2015

CNN - The sounds recorded on one of the "black boxes" recovered from downed Germanwings Flight 9525 firms up investigators' theory that the co-pilot locked the captain out of the cockpit and then crashed the plane.

"For God's sake, open the door!" Capt. Patrick Sondenheimer screamed as he banged on the cockpit door, pleading with the co-pilot.

Thirteen minutes later, the plane slammed into the French Alps.

The audio from the plane's cockpit voice recorder has not been released, but the German newspaper Bild published Sunday what it claims is a summary of the transcript from the recording.

CNN translated Bild's report -- which the newspaper says is based on the 1.5 hours of audio that was on the cockpit voice recorder -- but cannot independently verify the information.

France's accident investigation agency, BEA, told CNN that the agency is "dismayed" by the voice recording leak to Bild.

Martine Del Bono, a spokeswoman for the agency, said the leak could not have come from a BEA agent. She said the agency considers the report mere "voyeurism."

According to Bild's report, Sondenheimer told co-pilot Andreas Lubitz that he didn't manage to go to the bathroom before takeoff. Lubitz tells him he can go anytime.

Lubitz is believed to have locked the pilot of Flight 9525 out of the cockpit before putting the plane on a rapid descent into the mountains, French authorities have said.

The flight took off 20 minutes late. After reaching cruising altitude, Sondenheimer asked Lubitz to prepare the landing.

Once that's finished, Lubitz again tells the captain he "can go anytime."

There is the sound of a seat being pushed backward after which the captain says, 

"You can take over."

At 10:29 a.m., air traffic radar detects that the plane is starting to descend.

Three minutes later, air traffic controllers try to contact the plane and receive no answer -- shortly after which an alarm goes off in the cockpit, warning of the "sink rate," Bild reported.

Next comes the banging.

Sondenheimer begs Lubitz to let him in. Passengers then begin to scream, according to the transcript obtained by Bild.

Another three minutes pass. A loud metallic bang is heard at 7,000 meters (almost 23,000 feet).

A minute and half later and 2,000 meters (about 6,500 feet) lower to the ground, an alarm says "Terrain -- pull up!"

"Open the damn door!" the pilot says.

It's 10:38, and the plane is at 4,000 meters (about 13,000 feet). Lubitz's breathing can still be heard on the voice recorder, according to Bild's report.

Two minutes later, investigators think they hear the plane's right wing scrape a mountaintop.

Screams can be heard one final time.

'Unbelievable' leak [by unidentified military official]

Cockpit recordings are some of the most sensitive and closely held parts of aviation crash investigations. They're never officially released, according to CNN aviation reporter Richard Quest.

Quest called it "unbelievable" that the black box audio would be leaked in this manner.

Communications between air traffic control and a plane's cockpit can be downloaded privately, but that's less common in Europe than it is in the United States.

An edited and redacted version of the transcript is usually published in part of a final report on an incident.

Although search teams have recovered the cockpit voice recorder, the flight data recorder remains missing. That device could reveal crucial details about what happened during the final moments of the flight.

What authorities know

Jean Pierre Michel, lead investigator for the French inquiry, said on Saturday that investigators are not ruling out any scenario with respect to the crash out at this point.

But French authorities have said that Lubitz appeared to have crashed Germanwings Flight 9525 deliberately into the Alps on Tuesday as it flew from Barcelona, Spain, toward Dusseldorf, Germany, with 150 people on board.

Much attention has focused on Lubitz's state of mind since then, with suggestions that he may have had mental health issues.

Lubitz, 27, passed his annual pilot recertification medical examination in summer 2014, a German aviation source told CNN.

An official with Lufthansa, which owns Germanwings, said that the exam only tests physical health, not psychological health.

The official also said that the company was never given any indication Lubitz was depressed, and that if he went to a doctor on his own, he would have been required to self-report if deemed unfit to fly.

A Dusseldorf clinic said he'd gone there twice, most recently on March 10, "concerning a diagnosis." But the University Clinic said it had not treated Lubitz for depression.

The speculation about Lubitz' mental state is based on a letter found in a waste bin in his Dusseldorf apartment.

The note, which was "slashed," said Lubitz was not able to do his job, city prosecutor Christoph Kumpa said Friday.

The fact that investigators found "ripped, recent medical leave notes, including for the day of the offense, leads to the preliminary conclusion that the deceased kept his illness secret from his employer and his professional environment," prosecutors said.

Germanwings corroborated that assertion, saying it had never received a sick note from Lubitz.

Anxiety, burnout and depression

A handful of publications, citing unnamed sources, have reported that Lubitz suffered from various psychological maladies.

CNN has not been able to confirm these reports.

Lubitz suffered from "generalized anxiety disorder," and from severe depression in the past, Le Parisien newspaper reported Sunday, citing sources close to the investigation. In 2010, Lubitz received injections of antipsychotic medication, the paper said.

He was also prescribed a medication that influences neurotransmitters, but it's unclear when that happened, according to Le Parisien.

The newspaper said investigators found a handful of pills in his apartment in addition to two sick notes, which forbade him from working from March 16 to March 29.

The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, reported Friday that Lubitz suffered from mental illness and kept his diagnosis concealed from his employer.

A subsequent report from the Times on Saturday, citing two officials with knowledge of the investigation, said Lubitz sought treatment before the crash for vision problems that might have put his career at risk. However, an official with Lufthansa, said that if Lubitz had vision problems, they would have been discovered during his pilot recertification medical examination.

Authorities have not ruled out the vision problems could have been psychosomatic, according to the Times.

Citing an unidentified senior investigator, German newspaper Die Welt said that Lubitz suffered from a severe "psychosomatic illness" and that German police seized prescription drugs that treat the condition. Lubitz suffered from a "severe subjective burnout syndrome" and from severe depression, the source told the newspaper.

News reports also stated that antidepressants were found during the search of his apartment.

Investigators are expected to question his relatives, friends and co-workers as they try to pin down what could have prompted the co-pilot to steer a jetliner full of people into a mountainside.

Lubitz had a girlfriend, a teacher at a school in Dusseldorf not far from his apartment, according to German media.

'This is a man whose life is totally broken'

Dozens of people attended a remembrance ceremony Saturday for the victims of the crash at a church in a nearby town, Digne-les-Bains, France. Most of the people on the plane were from Germany and Spain.

Relatives of the victims and local residents also gathered Saturday afternoon by a simple stone memorial set up near the crash site, in the village of Le Vernet. Flowers have been laid there, in the shadow of the snow-covered peaks of the French Alps.

The mayor of one local community said he had seen Lubitz's father on Thursday evening, describing him as "a man in deep distress."

"We get the impression that that man is bearing the whole weight of the disaster on his shoulders," Bernard Bartolini, the mayor of Prads-Haute-Bleone, said Saturday.

"I can tell that this is a man whose life is totally broken," Bartolini said. "He had so much emotion in him."

Germanwings Co-Pilot Andreas Lubitz's Former Girlfriend Says He Wanted To Make People 'Remember' Him: Report

Please bear in mind that the "exclusive interview" with Lubitz' alleged ex-girlfriend, who supposedly dated him very casually last year over a five-month period, and who spoke under the assumed name of Maria W., was conducted by German tabloid "Bild," a sensationalist publication, comparable with Daily Mail and such, or even worse. It's also well known that they pay good amounts of money for "exclusive interviews." Lubitz had a long-term girlfriend/fiance, a teacher at a school in Dusseldorf not far from his apartment, who identifies herself using her full name, Kathrin Goldbach. They had not recently broken up and she is not pregnant, as has been widely reported by the tabloids and bloggers.

March 28, 2015

IBT - Andreas Lubitz, the Germanwings co-pilot that authorities believe deliberately crashed a commercial airliner this week, killing himself and 149 others, told a former girlfriend that he wanted to do something spectacular that would “change the system” and make everyone remember him, according to an interview the woman gave to German media.
 
A report from German newspaper Bild, citied by the Guardian, said that Lubitz's 26-year old ex-girlfriend, whom the paper identified only as Maria W, a flight attendant whom he had dated for five months, said he told her last year: “One day I will do something that will change the whole system, and then all will know my name and remember it.” She added: “I never knew what he meant, but now it makes sense.” Maria also told the paper that Lubitz suffered from nightmares: “At night, he woke up and screamed: ‘We’re going down!’, because he had nightmares. He knew how to hide from other people what was really going on inside.”

German prosecutor Ralf Herrenbrueck said Friday that Lubitz had hidden an “existing illness," from the airline, and that police had found torn-up sick notes from a doctor that excused him from work on the day the crash took place. A Germanwings representative later stipulated that the airline had not been presented with any medical note for Lubitz covering the day of the crash. Authorities have not disclosed the nature of the illness that Lubitz is alleged to have concealed.

German media reports alleged that Lubtiz' flight training was interrupted for six months in 2009 because he was suffering from "psychological problems." Some psychological conditions, including depression, do not exclude people from working as pilots. In 2010, the FAA lifted its blanket ban on pilots taking antidepressants, with a view toward trying to reduce any stigma surrounding mental health issues, and to ensure that pilots who needed help got it, rather than hid any condition.

Other motives raised as a possible explanation of Lubitz's actions include the fact that he had recently split from his girlfriend. He attempted to win her back by purchasing her an expensive car, which she did not accept, the Telegraph reported.

German newspaper Welt am Sonntag said police found evidence at his flat which suggested he was suffering from 'severe burnout syndrome' - a serious psychosomatic illness.A source in the police investigation team told the newspaper that Lubitz was treated by several neurologists and psychiatrists, before adding: 'This is clear from personal notes stored and collected by the pilot.'

Tabloid Reports on Andreas Lubitz

The Mirror reported: Former colleagues told how Lubitz was mercilessly taunted over his cabin crew past. He was nicknamed “Tomato Andy” because they believed he didn’t know if he was a “fruit or veg” – a reference to his sexuality. One ex-workmate said it was slang term for a “straight who was really gay”. Another added: “Everyone thought it strange that he kept on going back home to his mum and dad at weekends. "He had a nice car, a good job, and good prospects, but he seemed to spend all his time by himself.” Lubitz bought two top-of-the-range Audi cars earlier this month. One was said to be a present for himself and the other for his girlfriend. Habibalah Hassani, 53, who runs a pizza restaurant near the killer pilot’s Dusseldorf home, said he had often seen him with his lover. But neighbours in Montabaur claimed she had not been seen there recently.

The Daily Mail reported on a story by the German tabloid Bild, which interviewed Maria W, a flight attendant who dated Lubris for five months. 'We spoke a lot about work and then he became another person. He became agitated about the circumstances in which he had to work, too little money, anxiety about his contract and too much pressure,' she said. 'During conversations he'd suddenly throw a tantrum and scream at me. I was afraid. He even once locked me in the bathroom for a long time." Maria said previous conversations with him suddenly 'made sense' when she heard about the crash. She said: ‘When I heard about the crash, there was just a tape playing in my head of what he said: “One day I will do something that will change the system and everyone will then know my name and remember me”. ‘I did not know what he meant by that at the time, but now it’s clear.’ She added: 'The torn up sick notes make sense now to me and were a clear sign that he did not want to admit that his big dream of flying as a captain was over.'

The Daily Mail also reported: "Police will want to interview the air stewardess in detail about the pilot’s state of mind, as well as his most recent girlfriend who he is said to have lived with in a smart flat on the outskirts of Dusseldorf. One report claimed they had been together on and off for seven years and were engaged and planned to marry next year. Lubitz had reportedly ordered two new Audis for them just before the tragedy in an apparent desperate last attempt to win her back. But she appeared to have rejected his offer, as only one car was ever delivered. It is not known why they split but it has been claimed their relationship broke down because he was secretly gay and was suffering torment over hiding his homosexuality. 

The Daily Mail also reported: Described as a man whose life-long obsession had been to become a pilot, it has been suggested he may have feared his flying license might not be renewed on medical grounds. One friend said he 'would have died' if he had not passed his flying exams. It also emerged that Lubitz was familiar with the area of the French Alps where he brought down the Airbus A320, having previously completed a gliding course there. He frequented a gliding club just 30 miles from the crash site with his parents as a child before later flying over the province himself as a teenager. Members of his former flying club said he was ‘passionate and obsessed’ with the Alps and would have been well-acquainted with the area of the crash.

The Daily Mail also reported: A passenger on the outbound flight from Dusseldorf to Barcelona, which is believed to have had Lubitz on board, also questioned today why he didn't down that flight instead. Michael, 45, said he saw the pilot leave the cockpit during the 6.45am flight for a toilet break. He told Bild: 'I sat in the fifth row. I could see the front of the plane. The toilet behind the cockpit was apparently out of order, I could see the red light flashing throughout the flight. 'A man over 40, probably the pilot, in a grey V neck sweater came through the curtain. He went through the plane probably to the rear toilet. 'After an estimated three to five minutes he came back and again opened the cockpit door.' He said he didn't see the co-pilot during the flight but described the journey as 'unobtrusive and 'normal'.

The Daily Mail also reported: A pilot who once flew with Lubitz last night told how he left him alone in a cockpit to use the toilet. ‘I remember him well,’ said Frank Woiton, 48, ‘and I left my seat from time to time in the air to use the toilet. ‘When I flew with him he told me of his training and how happy he was. ‘He said that he wanted to fly long-haul routes and become a captain. ‘He had mastered the plane very well, he had everything under control. That’s why I left him alone in the cockpit, to go to the toilet.’

The Daily Mail also reported: His relationship with blonde maths teacher, named by German media as Kathrin Goldbach, was said to be in trouble, with local reports suggesting she may have been pregnant. Maths teacher Kathrin Goldbach – who had planned to marry Lubitz next year – reportedly told pupils that she was ‘going to be a mum.’ Miss Goldbach, 26, told the pupils at the Gesamtschule in Krefeld, near Dusseldorf, she was pregnant, German newspaper Bild reported. The pair met as teenagers while working together at a Burger King in his home town of Montabaur. They moved together to Dusseldorf and shared a flat after he qualified as a pilot around four years ago. They intended to marry but his constant demands and desire to be ‘in control’ meant that by the time of the crash she was looking to end their relationship. Reports emerged that police searching his flat had found a ‘small mountain of pills’ and he had apparently been refusing to take his antidepressant medication. An excerpt from his school yearbook said he would ‘become a professional pilot so as to sell his cocktails around the world’. Yesterday a British air safety expert said Lubitz was able to hide his medical problems because of a ‘gaping hole’ in the system for monitoring pilot health. Under confidentiality laws rules, which also operate in the UK, patients do not have to tell GPs where they work and doctors are not able to tell employers about any health issues because of patient confidentiality. The onus of reporting any health issues rests solely on employees. Tony Newton, a British pilot and Civil Aviation Authority examiner, said: ‘It’s a gaping hole. It would happen in the UK as well.’

Last minutes of ill-fated Germanwings flight

The French prosecutor said: "I think the victims were only aware at the very last moment. The screams are heard only in the last instants before the impact." However, according to Bild's account of the voice recorder, there were "loud metallic blows" against the cockpit door and the pilot was screaming "open the damn door" five minutes before the plane crashed: 

"At 10.35, Bild said 'loud metallic blows' against the cockpit door can be heard, with another alarm sounding about 90 seconds later. At around 5,000 metres altitude, the pilot is heard screaming 'open the damn door'. Around 10.40, the plane hits a mountain and passengers' screams are heard -- the last sounds on the recording, according to Bild. 

According to unofficial data from a flight-tracking service, flightradar24, the aircraft took about 20 minutes to climb a cruise height of 38,000 feet, where it leveled out for just 3 to 4 minutes, and then entered a steady descent profile without altering its ground speed to any significant extent from the 420-450kt (780-830km/h) adopted in the cruise. It was not a dramatic descent, but was very steady all the way to impact. It also appears to have crashed quite close to its flight-planned track, so there was no sudden veer off course.

Radar logs of the Barcelona to Dusselfdorf flight show that at 10.29am, it was at its cruising height of  28.524 feet over the Mediterranean. At 10.30am it had dropped to 26,453 feet. One minute later, it was at 24,380 feet. For the next 17 minutes, it shed around 1,000 feet of height a minute – a gradual glide downwards rather than a dive. The plane vanished from radar contact soon after 10.48am and is believed to have crashed a few minutes later. Ms Royal confirmed this morning that, soon after 10.30am, when the pilots had stopped responding by radio, the French military scrambled a Mirage jet fighter to investigate. This aircraft was seen by eye-witnesses following the doomed airliner as it skimmed the Alpine ridges before crashing into a sheer mountain-side. The pilot of the Mirage could, therefore, also possess crucial information on the Germanwings aircraft's behaviour. [Source]



March 31, 2015

AFP - The Germanwings flight started like any other, the conversation in the cockpit normal, with co-pilot Andreas Lubitz offering no indication of the horror he would allegedly inflict.

This is how Flight 4U 9525, which investigators believe Lubitz deliberately steered into a French mountainside, unfolded according to French prosecutors and Germany's Bild newspaper.

Both accounts are based on information from the cockpit voice recorder captured by one of the black boxes discovered among debris of the Airbus A320 that crashed in the Alps Tuesday.

- Captain Patrick S. apologises to passengers for a 26-minute delay in take-off and says they will try to catch up the time during the flight from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, Sunday's Bild said.

- The plane took off at around 10am local time and for the first 20 minutes the pilots "spoke in a normal fashion, courteous, like normal pilots. There was nothing abnormal," French prosecutor Brice Robin told reporters on Thursday.

- According to excerpts published by Bild on Sunday, during the conversation the captain said he didn't have time to go to the toilet before leaving Barcelona and Lubitz offered to take over at any time.

- At 10.27 am local time (0827 GMT), the plane reaches its cruising altitude of 11,600 metres (38,000 feet) and the captain asks Lubitz to begin preparations for landing, according to Bild.

- The responses from Lubitz remained normal, but "very short... not a real dialogue," Robin said.

- According to Bild, the co-pilot is heard saying, among other things, "hopefully" and "let's see". After checks for the landing, he is heard telling the pilot he can go now. Two minutes pass and the pilot then says to Lubitz "you can take over".

- Bild and Robin said the sound of a seat being moved back is heard and a door closing. "We can assume he left to answer nature's call," Robin told reporters.

- At 10.29, the plane begins to descend, Bild noted.

- The French prosecutor believes that, once left alone, Lubitz turned a button on the flight monitoring system that began the plane's descent.

"This action can only be deliberate," Robin said. "It would be impossible to turn the button by mistake. If you passed out and leaned over on it, it would only go a quarter-way and do nothing."

- The Airbus A320 jet descended rapidly for eight minutes, according to the low-cost carrier Germanwings.

- At 10.32, air traffic controllers try to make contact with the plane but receive no reply and an automatic alarm is heard going off at almost the same time, according to Bild.

- The newspaper said that shortly afterwards there was a loud bang, like someone trying to open the door and re-enter the cockpit. The captain can be heard shouting "For God's sake, open the door", as passengers' screams begin to be heard in the background.

- Robin had indicated last week that the black box recorded increasingly frantic attempts by the pilot to break down the heavily reinforced door as per international standards, to which Lubitz made no response.

- At 10.35, Bild said "loud metallic blows" against the cockpit door can be heard, with another alarm sounding about 90 seconds later. At around 5,000 metres altitude, the pilot is heard screaming "open the damn door".

- At 10.38, Bild's account indicates the sound of Lubitz's breathing but him saying nothing. "He does not say a single word. Total silence," Robin said of the co-pilot during the descent.

- Around 10.40, the plane hits a mountain and passengers' screams are heard -- the last sounds on the recording, according to Bild.

- The plane dropped gradually from around 10-12,000 metres to 2,000 slowly enough, Robin said, that passengers would have been unaware anything was wrong.

"I think the victims were only aware at the very last moment. The screams are heard only in the last instants before the impact," said Robin.