‘In last seconds, we only hear screams’

Published Mar 27, 2015

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The awful, anguished screams of the passengers as they realised Flight 4U 9525 was just moments from smashing into the Alps are among the last sounds recorded before the jet hit the ground at more than 430mph and broke into thousands of pieces.

On Thursday Marseille public prosecutor Brice Robin gave the first detailed account of what unfolded in the final 40 minutes of Flight 4U9525:

10.01am: Germanwings Flight 4U9525 takes off from Barcelona bound for Dusseldorf with an expected flight time of just under two hours.

First officer Andreas Günter Lubitz and the plane’s captain, pilot Patrick Sonderheimer were “friendly” and “spoke naturally” during a “very normal conversation”, according to the cockpit voice recorder.

Conditions were good and, according to Robin, the captain briefed Lubitz on the expected approach.

10.27am: The captain, a father-of-two with 10 years flying experience, is heard handing command of the flight to Lubitz so he can take a toilet break.

Robin said: “We hear the pilot asking the co-pilot to take over and we hear the sound of a chair being pushed back and a door closing so we assume that the captain went to the toilet or something.

“So the co-pilot is on his own, and it is while he’s on his own that the co-pilot is in charge of the plane and uses the flight management system to start the descent of the plane.”

10.29am: Passengers would have been aware that the plane, after reaching its cruising height of 38 000ft, was gradually dropping because the skies were clear, affording stunning views of the snow-capped southern Alps growing ever closer below.

The plane’s descent was smooth and gradual, there had been no announcement that anything was wrong, the cabin crew had served soft drinks and fellow passengers were walking down the aisle to the toilets and to speak with one another.

In fact, Lubitz appears to have left the autopilot engaged - turning a small dial on the instrument panel to select lower and lower altitudes while leaving the aircraft’s direction unchanged.

One aviation tracking service said the autopilot was switched to descend to 100ft, its lowest possible setting.

Robin said: “You need deliberately to turn it. The action is deliberate. It was a voluntary action.”

At this point, the captain attempts to get back on to the flight deck.

The reinforced door is locked and, according to Robin, “we hear several calls from the pilot to access the cockpit”.

The reinforced door can be double-locked from within.

It had begun with a gentle tap at the door, grown to fierce knocking and then, as Sonderheimer realised what was happening, to an attempt to break down a door that had been reinforced with steel to prevent hijacking.

In their seats, the majority of passengers would have been unaware of the growing panic.

The door is screened first by the galley and then by a curtain.

Robin said: “We hear several shouts from the captain asking to get in, speaking through the intercom system, but there’s no answer from the cockpit.”

He added that “means we are speaking of a deliberate action to refuse to open the door.. for the commander”.

10.32am: Lubitz was silent for the final eight minutes before the jet ploughed into the Alps.

But his breathing could be heard until the moment of impact. In Marseille, air traffic controllers, noticing the plane’s rapid descent, try to contact the aircraft, but receive no response.

Controllers also ask other planes in the area to try to contact Flight 4U9525 - again, there is no response.

At some point the low altitude triggers an alarm inside the plane.

Robin said: “There are alarm systems which indicate to all those on board the proximity of the ground.

“Then we hear noises of someone trying to break into the door.”

10.40am: By now passengers are aware something terrible is going on.

As well as hearing the alarm, the sky was clear and they will have seen the Alps and realised the plane was heading down.

At no point, according to the prosecutor, was a Mayday call made.

In the most chilling part of Thursday’s press conference, Robin told assembled media: “We only hear screams in the last seconds.”

Then came the final impact.

He added: “Death was instant.”

Wednesday: Many of the families of those on board had chosen to travel by car or bus from both Germany and Spain rather than fly to Marseilles from where they visited the mountainside near the Alpine village of Digne-les-Bains.

They would have seen the aerial photographs of the site 6 200ft up where debris and remains have been scattered lover an area of one square mile but little could have prepared them for what they saw from helicopters and the ground.

The families were taken to a zone overlooking the crash site where counsellors, psychologists and translators were on standby.

A chapel adorned with flowers and books for relatives to write tributes was then visited while a hall was made available for those wishing to stay overnight.

Helicopters had begun winching the remains of victims, found scattered across the scree-covered slopes, to nearby Seyne-les-Alpes on Thursday.

In a bizarre twist, Lubitz’s own family had travelled to the scene together with his fellow pilot to meet with families - and to visit the crash site.

Thursday: Those families were coming to terms with the growing horror that their relatives had been, in effect, murdered en-masse.

They are said to have been “deeply shaken” by the revelation that it was not an accident and Lubitz had crashed the plane.

The prosecutor said he had shared the details of the last moments of their loved ones with the relatives shortly before he made public Lubitz’s horrific act.

He said: “The families are in a state of shock and find it hard to believe.”

Esteban Rodriguez, whose friends Rogelio Oficialdegui and Manuel Rives, were among 50 Spaniards who died in Tuesday crash, said he had “a feeling of impotence, of rage”.

Police have visited Lubitz’s home in an attempt to find answers. It has emerged that the fitness fanatic has suffered from depression and “burnout” which had held up his career.

As families gathered at the scene where their loved ones perished, authorities continue their search for answers.

Daily Mail

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