History: Germanwings Flight 9525

On the 24th of March 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525? (4U9525) operated by Germanwings with an Airbus A320 registration D-AIPX crashed in the South of France near Prads-Haute-Bléone while en route from Barcelona to Düsseldorf. The flight was carrying 144 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the accident was an Airbus A320-200 registered D-AIPX. The plane had its maiden flight on 29 November 1990 and was delivered to Lufthansa in February 1991. It first appeared in the Germanwings fleet in 2003 being later returned to Lufthansa. In January 2014 upon the relaunch of Germanwings the plane was sold by Lufthansa to Germanwings.

Background

Germanwings Flight 9525 took off from Barcelona El Prat Airport at 8.55 GMT according to Aena the operator of the airport. It was due to arrive in Düsseldorf at 11.55 CET.

Accident

Initial reports were that the plane reported an emergency just before disappearing from the radar screens. However this was later retracted and it was revealed that the DGAC (French civil aviation authority) declared the plane in distress after the sudden loss of altitude and loss of radio contact.

Available radar data suggests that the aircraft had reached FL380 and then 3 minutes later started descending from FL380 through FL110 in about 8 minutes (with an average rate of descent 3375 fpm). Later the aircraft has appeared to have leveled off at FL068 for one minute while on a northeasterly heading of 26 degrees true.

Search and recovery

Immediately after the crash a search and rescue operation was initiated. Two helicopters of the french police have identified the location of the aircraft debris at an altitude of about 2000 m in the mountains near Prads-Haute-Bléone. Initial reports say that there are no survivors so the search will turn into a salvage operation.

The French Ministry of Interior reported that after about 8 hours the first blackbox has been found and sent to the authorities for analysis.

In the evening of 24 March 2015 the salvage operation was interrupted and was resumed in the following morning. At the location of the crash are expected to arrive Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, president Francois Hollande of France and prime minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain.

Passengers and crew

While initially it was believed that most of the passengers are German it was later determined that among other nationalities there were also 45 spanish on board of flight 9525. Germanwings later stated that there were 67 German citizens on board including 16 students from a gymnasium in Haltern am See, North Rhine Westphalia. They were returning from a student exchange with the Giola Institute in Llinars del Valles, Catalonia. They mayor of the city declared that this is the darkest day in the history of the city.

Among notable passengers was Oleg Bryzhak a bass-baritone opera singer and his colleague Maria Radner (contralto) also an opera singer who was travelling together with her husband and infant child.

The crew as composed of 2 pilots and 4 cabin crew. The captain had more then 6000 hours and 10 years of flying experience. He served both with Germanwings and Lufthansa.

Response

France

French President François Hollande publicly issued a statement saying: "The conditions of the accident, which have not yet been clarified, lead us to think there are no survivors." He then called the crash a tragedy and called for solidarity. The Prime Minister of France Manuel Valls said that he had dispatched the Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve to the accident scene and set-up a ministerial crisis cell to co-ordinate the incident. President Hollande also said that he would be speaking with Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel.

Spain

King Felipe VI of Spain, who was at the time of the accident flying to Paris for a state visit to France, announced he will be cancelling the visit and return to Spain. "Following conversations with President Hollande and Mariano Rajoy we have taken the decision to postpone our official visit to France and try and carry it out in the future," he said.

Germany

German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that she will travel the crash site on 25 March 2015 (the day following the accident). The Chancellor said that the incident had plunged Germany, France and Spain into "deep mourning".

Germanwings and Lufthansa reaction

Initially the germanwings.com website was unreachable due to the high amount of traffic. Later a message appeared stating that they cannot yet confirm media reports but are looking into the issue. By early afternoon it become evident that the plane has been lost. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr was the first to acknowledge the crash and declare that this is a sad day for the whole Lufthansa Group. Later Germanwings officials held a press conference in which they confirmed the loss of the aircraft and provided important information like:

• The plane received the last minor maintenance check on 23 March 2015 (one day before the crash)
• The last major check was performed in the summer of 2013
• The crew was an experienced one, with the captain having more then 6000 hours on the type

Investigation

The investigation is being conducted by Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile (BEA), the french authority responsible for the investigating of aviation accidents in France. They have dispatched a team of investigators which are being joined by representatives of the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the engine manufacturer CFM International and a team from the German counterpart of BEA the Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigation (BFU)

Conclusions

Aftermath

Some Germanwings pilots refused to operate aircraft in the evening following the accident citing personal issues after the accident. Germanwings had to cancel some of its flight on the evening of 24 March 2015

Further reading

List of accidents involving an Airbus A320
Aircraft disasters