The copilot was intending to destroy the plane - Alps crash prosecutor

The copilot (Andreas Lubitz) of the plane that crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday deliberately began the descent of the Germanwings Airbus A320, and stopped the pilot from entering the cockpit until the aircraft smashed into a mountainside, killing the 150 people aboard. That is the explanation given for the causes of the incident by the prosecutor in Marseille in charge of investigating the case, Brice Robin.

From the black box recordings, which are being analyzed by the authorities in France, investigators have deduced that he “was intending to destroy the plane,” explained Robin at a press conference held midday on Thursday. According to the recordings, he said, the copilot took control of the plane during the last 10 minutes of the recording. The noise of a chair being retracted and a door closing .The screams of the passengers could only be heard at the last moment.One of the last sounds heard on the recordings was an alarm sounding in the cockpit, designed to alert the pilots of low altitude. 

The prosecutor also explained that the copilot was alive until the plane, which was flying from Barcelona to Düsseldorf, smashed into the ground. "His breathing sounds were normal,” he explained.

Robin explained that the last minutes of the recorded conversations between the captain and the copilot were characterized by “laconic, brief” responses from the latter. During that conversation the captain began to talk about the landing of the flight.

This version coincides with reports published earlier by The New York Times, which was told by sources close to the investigation that the pilot was outside the cockpit at the time of the crash and was not able to get back in, despite banging on the door. The German public prosecutor had also confirmed that one of the pilots was outside the cockpit at the time of the incident. 

The investigation into the Germanwings flight has already established that the copilot was able to lock the door to the cockpit and ignore the repeated calls from the pilot to let him in. 

Vocabulary:

Deliberately: Purposely
Cockpit: Cab
Aircraft: Plane
Laconic: Curt
Brief: Short
Latter: Last

Ana Losa, Lia Moreno and Chaymae

http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/03/26/inenglish/1427371844_079960.html