Seems a GermanWings Airbus 320 travelling from Barcelona to Dusseldorf has gone down near Digne in the French Alps.

142 passengers and 6 flight and cabin crew on board.

Here's where it went down.

http://www.flightradar24.com/data/ai...-aipx/#5d42675

Oh no.

Thinking of all those on board, I know it is unlikely but I hope there are survivors.

According to CNN, Hollande has already stated no survivors.

Yikes, this is terrible..my thoughts to their nearest ones.

feck, anyone on the ground hurt? sky news have initially said it came down in the town??

That feels very close to home, both geographically and the fact that I've flown Germanwings several times in the last few years.

RIP to all on board.

Even closer to home when you realise that particular aircraft flew out of Zürich twice last week.

That's some pretty awful terrain for any rescue/recovery mission.

You are probably right that none of the people on board will survive but miracles do happen. Let's not predict too early.

French authorities announced 42 spanish in the plain, really sad. As well for the rest of the passengers. I read that the plane was built on 1990 one of the oldest planes in this lowcost company. My point is, a plane from the 90s with 25years is not enough old to keep flying? Would this happen in a new aircraft??
All my thoughts for the families RIP

all commercial airliners have a GPWS ground proximity warning system data base, this is updated often and we have to reload into the GPWS computer.

on the 320 series the autopilot can be engaged 5 seconds after weight off wheels and this is quite normal.

A few months ago EASA issued an emergency airworthiness directive to all airbus operators. An incident occurred where an AOA vane became stuck and the aircraft started a decent as per the alpha floor protection flight rules. The crew managed to recover the AC after some minutes. This is one of the more plausible theories.

If there is panic in the cockpit it is not too surprising communication was not made.

Until an initial report comes out it is all theories.

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Nothing alleged about it.. plus the crew didn't have a clue and the pilot ignored weather warnings.

Most common cause of crashes is 'controlled flight into terrain' aka pilot error

German wings uses AMOS as a maintenance and task planning tool. The authorities have full access to this and it is 'locked' if there is an incident.

I can't begin to imagine the grief of those parents. I would find the pain unendurable. I just hope that they can find some solace in each other.

Very tragic, so sad. Can't imagine what the loved ones of the deceased going through. Felt close to home to me as my husband took two lufthansa flights yesterday, one before it happened and one after and the one after was long haul I was checking my app all day and felt such utter relief when I saw that his plane had landed safely. I'd sent a text that morning wishing him a safe journey etc, probably at around the same time as all the loved ones who texted the people on board that plane, a very sobering feeling of being one of the lucky ones

In view of News about the second Pilot not able to return to the Cockpit as the door was closed and nobody opened, the Crash of EgyptAir just off New York in spring 2000 comes to mind, which hints towards terrorism. Of course all unconfirmed rumours and so on, but seriously irritating


http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/25/eu...ain/index.html


http://www.theguardian.com/world/200...duncancampbell

Yes, I heard it was reported by NYT as coming from a senior military person who heard the tapes, but so far it is unconfirmed.

I hope it is confirmed because then preventative measures can be enforced; like cameras in the cockpit. It is standard practice that a flight attendant be present when a pilot has to leave, so where was the flight attendant?

The French authorities are in charge, Airbus is a French-based company. Previously the French were found guilty of switching out the flight data recorder after the Paris Air Show crash. Previous to the NYT report on this crash, the French authorities said that they could not yet make out what was on the voice recorder.

Also, the Black box has been found, but the memory card is missing. I heard that there should be another box, but that is missing.

This information poses far more questions now as to whether something happened to the remaining pilot in control, or whether it was deliberate. The description that the other pilot was knocking on the door, which then got louder until he was trying to smash the door down, sound exceptionally eerie.

Read into that one...terrorism it was not (unless you believe the co-pilot was "got" by a terrorist group), even if the official reports were subject to extreme political interference and prevented from reaching the conclusion all the investigators clearly believed in.

Standard practice? ?? Since when and which airline.. certainly in none that I have worked for. The crash with the "swapped" recorders was at habsheim mulhouse not Paris and was doe to.pilot error, a big head look.at me I'm brilliant type from all accounts... like the guy on AF477.

There are only 2 recorders.. cockpit voice and the DFDR for all instrumentation, signals etc. The CVR has been found while the search for the DFDR continues.

100000% forget any form of video or permanent voice recording in the cockpit.. it will never happen as pilots will reject any suggestion of it. Even the CVR has a manual erase button so they can delete the conversation if they want.

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