The plane crashed into a mountain. Causes of a plane crash in the Alps: a suicide pilot sent the plane into the rocks. Where did the plane crash
happened on December 20, 1995. Flight 965 was preparing to take off from Miami Airport. His destination was the city of Cali in Colombia. The flight was slightly delayed due to the long check-in of passengers. They received permission to take off half an hour late. But the difficulties did not end there. Due to the high workload of the airport, the plane was delayed for another two hours.
The captain of the plane was 57-year-old Nicholas Tafuri. He was one of the most experienced American Airlines pilots. By that time, he had flown more than 13,000 hours. He also had good experience flying the Boeing 757. Don Williams was co-pilot. It was the beginning of the Christmas holiday season, and passengers were preparing to meet the holiday. Most of them flew home to their relatives.
Passenger: I was flying to Cali with my family. We wanted to get there as soon as possible and see our relatives.
At 2:45 am the plane was flying at an altitude of 11 kilometers. Then, on a signal from the Cali airport, he began to descend. The Boeing 757 was a high-tech aircraft equipped with an on-board computer. Thanks to a special program, the computer can control the flight of the aircraft during the entire flight. But it was the pilots' trust in the computer that turned out to be a disaster for Flight 965. It was a moonless night. Visibility did not exceed 10 kilometers. The plane was about 100 kilometers from Cali. Its city airport is located at the end of a large gorge. Mountains rise above the gorge on both sides. To enter the landing course, the aircraft had to sequentially pass a chain of navigation points. These were radio beacons indicating the route. According to the program, the on-board computer was supposed to receive signals and change the direction of the aircraft. Flight 965 was approaching the radio beacon in the city of Tulua. After Tulua, it was necessary to begin the descent to the radio beacon in the city of Roseau. And only then to land at the Cali airport.
The air traffic controller at the Cali airport was watching the approaching plane. But suddenly a problem arose. Rebels opposed to the government of Colombia blew up an air radar. Controllers have lost the ability to track aircraft. In the absence of radar, the controller was forced to rely on the readings of instruments in the cockpit.
The controller cleared the landing at Cali and told the plane to descend to 5,000 feet. He also asked to be informed when the plane will pass the radio beacon in Tulua. Captain Tafuri thought he was being given a landing at Cali with a beacon drive at Tulua. However, the dispatcher asked only to inform him about the passage of this place. This was the main mistake.
Dispatcher: I thought that the words of the captain "in a straight line" meant that the flight went to Cali without any delays. However, I asked the captain to report the passage of the radio beacon due to the failure of our radar.
It's a pity, but the captain of the plane began to enter the changed data into the computer. As a result, the intermediate beacon in Tulua, which the aircraft was approaching, was removed from the route map in Cali.
Passenger: I remember how the flight attendants suggested that we fasten our seat belts and raise the backs of our seats. It became clear that soon there would be a landing. All passengers were very pleased.
There were 11 minutes left before the estimated time of arrival. The controller asked if the plane was ready to enter runway 1-9. The original plan was to land on the 1-0 runway. But it was even better that way. The plane did not need to circle over the city for a long time. The pilots were happy. They began their descent towards the runway. This made disaster inevitable. The controller requested confirmation of the passage of Tulua and Roseau beacons. The pilots were confused. How could they miss Tulua drive? Further events unfolded very rapidly. The crew needed to enter new information about the position of the aircraft into the computer. The captain asked the controller if they could fly directly to Roseau's drive. He allowed the flight, but once again asked the pilots for the passage of the Tulua drive. Without radar, the controller could not see where the plane was.
The next moment, Captain Tafuri made another fateful decision. On the computer, when selecting Roseau's beacon, he entered the letter "R" into the search bar. The database showed 10 navigation points starting with this letter. The Roseau beacon should have been at the top of the list. But there was a failure, and the captain changed course to a completely different navigation point. At a speed of 520 km / h, falling at 400 meters per minute, the plane began to change direction abruptly. Later the plane crashed in the mountains near Cali.
Dispatcher: It never occurred to me that they deviated from the route. I didn't have radar data.
As a result, the pilots completely lost control of the situation. They relied on data from instruments as the plane drifted farther and farther off course. In less than one minute, the airliner turned towards the mountains. Pilots began to realize that they were flying off course. Two minutes later, the captain realized that they could not return to the old route on their own and decided to move directly to the airport, bypassing the air drives. They did not know that the rocks were already rising between them and Kali.
Suddenly, the emergency warning system about the dangerous proximity of the earth worked. The pilots immediately began climbing.
Passenger: I felt the plane suddenly go up. It felt like we were being tossed about by high waves.
The plane crashed into a mountain
All the efforts of the pilots failed. up your nose, airplane at high speed crashed into a mountain. At the estimated time, board 965 did not reach the runway. He also lost contact. He seemed to have disappeared without a trace. An announcement appeared on the monitors in the waiting rooms that the flight was delayed. However, soon, local residents of the town of Bug reported that they had heard a strong explosion. It became clear that the plane had crashed.
The first ambulances began to arrive at the rocky massif where the plane crashed. 6 hours after the crash, in the area of one of the mountains, the first fragments of the aircraft were discovered. There were no roads at all. It was an area cut off from civilization. It was very difficult to get there. But there were still living people in the crashed plane.
Passenger: I remember waking up the next morning. The sun shone brightly. I couldn't understand how I got here.
At dawn, a Colombian Air Force helicopter began to survey the disaster area. But every minute of delay could cost someone their life. The victims could not get out of the rubble themselves. In addition, it was very cold, and the survivors could simply freeze. Finally, after some time, one of the helicopters managed to find the crash site.
Passenger: When I saw the helicopter, I started waving a blanket, hoping that they would notice us.
After spending 10 hours in the cold mountains, the surviving passengers of Flight 965 were finally rescued.
Passenger: When the helicopter arrived, a rope was dropped from it, and people began to descend on it. I was absolutely happy then.
Rescuers began to search for survivors. The rescue operation lasted 13 hours and was greatly complicated due to strong winds and clouds. Of the 163 passengers on Flight 965, only 4 survived.
In the meantime, specialists took up the wreckage. They needed to figure out how one of the most advanced airliners could go off course and crash.
Expert: The investigation showed that the plane crashed into the eastern part of the mountainside. This happened after the crew decided to make a U-turn.
The main part of the debris was located on a small high plateau. The disaster shocked many. It was a modern aircraft. It belonged to one of the best airlines in the world. Nobody could understand how this could happen. All the investigators' attention was focused on the actions of the flight crew. Fortunately, the "black boxes" were quickly discovered. It was they who could solve the mystery of the death of board 965.
Investigator: The fact is that one mistake made by the pilot cannot yet cause a disaster. There must be a series of errors.
As the plane approached Cali, the dispatcher gave the pilots the exact landing site. The fact that the runway was changed forced the pilots to make hasty decisions. The flight crew had to hastily revise the route plan and reprogram the onboard computer.
Investigator: In any case, when a person is in a hurry, he can accidentally make a fatal mistake. Roseau Drive was marked on the map. Therefore, the captain, as a key, entered the letter "P". This automatically meant changing the route to the appropriate lighthouse. But there was an error in the program. As a result, the plane flew on a completely different course.
On the map, which is located on the pilot's dashboard, the selected course of movement was indicated. According to him, the plane began to go to the left. Unfortunately, the co-pilot did not pay attention to the captain's mistake. He was too busy preparing the plane for landing. As a result, the pilots directed the plane to the place of death. They have lost control of the situation. The plane flew on autopilot, according to the program laid down in it. Only a few minutes later the pilots decided to return to their previous course. However, instead of gaining a safe height, they continued to descend. When there was a signal of the dangerous proximity of the earth, the co-pilot managed to turn off the autopilot. But the landing flaps remained extended. According to the conclusion of experts, with the flaps retracted, the plane would have managed to gain a safe altitude and fly over the mountain.
According to the classification, this accident belongs to the category of controlled accidents. This means that at the time of the crash, the plane was fully operational and controlled by the crew, who actually sent it uphill. Both pilots were high-class pilots, but they faced problems that they simply did not have enough time to solve.
In accordance with the decision of the court, the responsibility for the disaster was assigned to the pilots, who made a number of errors during the landing approach. The accident served as a serious lesson for all pilots. She also reminded that it is important to calculate your every step when the lives of other people are in your hands.
On the night of May 18-19, Airbus 320 Egyptian airline EgyptAir, flying from Paris to Cairo crashed in the Mediterranean. There were 66 people on board, their fate is still unknown. Life studied the statistics of plane crashes of aircraft of this brand and found out that ten crashed over 28 years of operation. A320: five in flight and five on approach.
In flight
June 26, 1988 An A320 crashed at an air show in France at the Mulhouse-Absheim airfield. Air France airlines. The aircraft was supposed to perform a demonstration flight at low altitude, thereby introducing the new A320 model to the general public for the first time. During the flight, the plane was at a critically low altitude and, in front of hundreds of people, fell into the forest at the end of the runway. As a result of the disaster, 3 passengers died, another 50 were seriously injured.
December 28, 2014 Indonesian AirAsia A320 crashed into the Java Sea off the coast of Kalimantan. On board were 7 crew members and 155 passengers, all died. The investigation found that while flying at flight level, the aircraft encountered adverse weather conditions - a thunderstorm and wind shear. The aerodynamic lift resulted in a loss of speed and the aircraft stalled into a flat tailspin.
March 24, 2015 A Germanwings Airbus 320 crashed into a mountain in southern France. The plane crash occurred in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. On board the liner were 144 passengers and six crew members, none of them survived. An investigation based on the black box audio recording showed that the co-pilot deliberately provoked the crash. When the commander got out of the cockpit, he locked himself from the inside and began to descend.
August 5, 2009 At the French airport Orly there was an accident with the Airbus A320 of the Spanish airline Vueling. The plane was preparing to take off and was supposed to fly to Alicante. 169 passengers boarded. The ignition of the engine during takeoff led to a sharp braking of the liner, people began to leave the cabin in a panic. In the resulting stampede, 6 passengers were injured.
Landing
February 14, 1990 Airbus 320 of the Indian airline Indian Airlines crashed while landing at the airport of the Indian city of Madurai. Of the 146 people on board, 91 died and the rest were seriously injured. The cause of the crash was pilot error.
January 20, 1992 shortly before landing at the airport of French Strasbourg, an Airbus 320 of the French airline Enter Air crashed. Of the 96 people on board, 87 died. The cause of the accident was the actions of the crew, which incorrectly set the parameters of the autopilot.
August 23, 2000 A Bahraini Gulf Air A320 crashed into the Persian Gulf off the coast of Bahrain. The plane en route from Cairo to Manama crashed into the sea while landing. All 135 passengers and eight crew members on board were killed.
On the night of May 2-3, 2006 Airbus 320 of "Armavia" airlines, performing a flight on the route "Yerevan - Sochi", crashed into the water while landing over the Black Sea. 105 passengers and 8 crew members were killed. The cause of the disaster was recognized as the erroneous actions of the crew.
July 17, 2007 in Brazil's Sao Paulo, while landing on a wet runway, an Airbus 320 of TAM Airlines crashed on the route Porto Alegre - Sao Paulo. It skidded off the runway, crashed into a fuel depot and caught fire. All 199 people on board were killed.
The plane crashed into the slope of Mount Salak at an altitude of 1860 meters. There were 45 people on board, including eight Russians. The crew and passengers were killed. AiF.ru found out what condition the Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ-100) aircraft are in today, how many of these aircraft are flying today and which airlines are actively purchasing them.
What's happened?
The cause of the catastrophe that occurred four years ago is considered to be an error in flight preparation, that is, ignorance by the crew of the terrain on the flight route, incorrect adjustment of the radars of the escort airport and distraction of the crew by extraneous conversations. On the day of the crash, the airliner had already completed 502 take-off and landing cycles and had flown 843 hours. The plane was correct. Moreover, the TAWS signal - the ground collision warning system - worked on time, but was turned off for some reason by the aircraft commander himself. By the way, 8 minutes before the collision with the mountainside, the captain of the ship twice requested a descent to 1800 meters outside the flight plan. And, having received permission, he began to descend to Mount Salak with a height of 2211 meters in conditions of poor visibility and low clouds.
The Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) commission was investigating the incident. On December 18, 2012, in her final report on the crash, she said that it was due to piloting errors: the crew members did not take into account that they would fly near mountainous terrain, which is why the crew did not react in any way to TAWS warnings about the approach of the earth and , in fact, turned off the warning signal. Moreover, before the actual collision with the mountainside, the crew, including the commander, was negotiating with a potential buyer of the airliner, distracted from piloting.
Mount Salak in Indonesia, where the Sukhoi Superjet 100 crashed. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
How did the Sukhoi Superjet 100 appear in Russia?
Due to the fact that in the late 1990s - early 2000s. civil air transportation took place on obsolete liners, Russian airlines had to purchase foreign aircraft. It was then that the Sukhoi company began to develop a passenger aircraft, creating the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft CJSC in 2000. This aircraft is a development of the modern domestic aviation industry, and major international manufacturers such as Safran, Thales, Liebherr, Goodrich and others have become suppliers of a number of components.
As a result, the first test of the new airliner on the runway took place on May 14, 2008, and on May 19 of the same year, the aircraft made its first flight at an altitude of 1200 meters. By the end of the year, the Sukhoi Superjet 100 made its second flight already at an altitude of 6000 meters. Three years later, in 2011, the first serial Sukhoi SuperJet 100 No. 95007, named after cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, was transferred to the operation of the Armenian airline "Armavia".
Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Wheels from the West
“For pilots, the Sukhoi SuperJet 100 is a golden aircraft, we have never had anything like it. The cockpit and avionics are very comfortable, good gyroscopes, foreign systems are the latest. And the car itself behaves simply amazing, ”says Yuri Sytnik, Honored Pilot of Russia, member of the commission under the President of the Russian Federation for the development of general aviation.
As of mid-April 2016, according to Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, 102 Sukhoi SuperJet-100 aircraft have been produced, 68 of which are operated in Russia and abroad. Thus, since June 2011 Aeroflot has been receiving 30 Sukhoi SuperJet-100 aircraft. And in January 2015, Aeroflot and Sukhoi Civil Aircraft came to an agreement that 20 more SSJ-100 aircraft would be added to these 30 aircraft. To date, Aeroflot has 27 Sukhoi SuperJet-100 aircraft. Another major operator is the Mexican InterJet, which already has 21 aircraft on its wings and 9 more to be delivered. The airlines Yakutia, Gazpromavia, Red Wings, Yamal and others are also among the operators. And the total flight time of the Sukhoi SuperJet-100 has exceeded 180 thousand hours. In addition to active operation in Russia, the aircraft flies to the airports of Belarus, Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany, Denmark, China, Mexico, Norway, Romania, Poland, Sweden, the USA and other countries.
By the way, the manufacturer recalled all 5 SSJ-100 liners in their fleet from the Red Wings airline due to the fact that it did not comply with the terms of the aircraft lease agreement.
Aeroflot SSJ-100. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
“Unfortunately, the Sukhoi SuperJet-100 is still being purchased very little. Airlines are not confident that the after-sales service system will happen quickly. And the plane, which is on the ground waiting for spare parts, generates losses, ”says Alexey Zakharov, independent aviation expert.
Yuriy Sytnik agrees with him: “More than 70% of the aircraft is assembled from imported parts. For example, his engines are French. So they wanted to deliver 12 Sukhoi SuperJet-100 aircraft to Crimea, the French got wind of this and sent a letter stating that as soon as the first SuperJet aircraft landed in Crimea, they would stop supplying spare parts and engines. Why have such a plane if we depend on someone? All warehouses with spare parts for it are abroad!
According to Sytnyk, today there is a discussion about starting to produce our own parts for this aircraft. But when that will happen is still unclear. Yes, and it will take several years.
“Just recently, there was a meeting on this aircraft at the Federal Air Transport Agency, and the French insisted that the contribution of spare parts should still be only in Europe. It is inconvenient and expensive for us, - adds Y. Sytnik, - after all, the plane is really very good, of high quality, and in order for it to be completely under our control, it is necessary that the spare parts be ours!
Assembly of aircraft "Dry Superjet-100". Photo: www.globallookpress.com
* Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ-100) is a new generation aircraft designed and manufactured by CJSC Sukhoi Civil Aircraft with the participation of international companies. The aircraft can carry from 75 to 95 passengers. Currently, most of the aircraft are in the fleet of Aeroflot, Gazpromavia and the Mexican airline Interjet.
March 24 aircraft A320 Germanwings, flying on the route Barcelona - Dusseldorf, crashed in the French Alps. According to the latest data, there were 150 people on board - 144 passengers and 6 crew members. They all died.
How the plane crashed
Liner A320, en route from Barcelona to Düsseldorf flight 4U9525, crashed in the area of the extremely inaccessible mountain range of Trois-Evesche in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence near the town of Digne-les-Bains. According to currently available information, at 10:39 (12:39 Moscow time) the plane disappeared from the radar screens.
Judging by the fact that from the moment the plane descended from the predetermined altitude, the plane was sharply descending, and the pilots did not give a single distress signal, it can be assumed that something happened to them. It is possible that a battery fire has occurred. It is possible that the pilots lost consciousness
Gerard Feltzer
french expert
At that moment, he was at an altitude of about 2.5 thousand meters and was moving at a speed of 1090 km per hour. It was reported that a few minutes later - at 10:47 (12:47 Moscow time) - an SOS signal was received from its board. However, later the French General Directorate of Civil Aviation reported that before the crash, the A320 crew did not send a signal for help.
According to Germanwings, the owner of the airliner, the plane began a sharp descent 8 minutes before impact with the ground. Communication between the A320 and French ground services was interrupted at 10:53 (12:53 Moscow time), when it was at an altitude of about 2 thousand meters. Then, according to the head of the company, Thomas Winkelmann, there was a crash. "We don't have exact data as to why the decline was initiated," a company spokesman said. He noted that there was no evidence to suggest that the aircraft was out of order.
In addition, it became known that Lufthansa's technical specialists conducted a scheduled inspection of the crashed aircraft on March 23 - the day before the disaster.
Who owned the liner
The crashed plane belonged to the low-cost German airline Germanwings - the "daughter" of Lufthansa. The Germanwings fleet consists of 57 aircraft: 43 A319s and 14 A320s, with an average age of 13 years 8 months. The airline is based at Cologne Airport.
Germanwings operates flights to 117 destinations in 31 countries, including from different German cities to Moscow and St. Petersburg. At the end of 2013, the airline carried 16 million passengers (21% of the total number of passengers carried by Lufthansa and its subsidiaries), becoming the third airline in terms of passenger traffic in Germany. Previously, there were no serious incidents with Germanwings aircraft.
Continuation
Who was on board
There were 150 people on board the aircraft - 144 passengers and 6 crew members. According to the latest data, there were citizens of Spain, Germany, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands on board the plane. The Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Bonn said that it had no information about whether the Russians flew on this flight.
According to confirmed information, there were 16 schoolchildren from the city of Haltern am See on board the liner.
Continuation
search operation
In France, an emergency interdepartmental headquarters was created to find out the details of what happened. French Interior Minister Bernard Kaznev urgently flew to the disaster area. More than 200 firefighters and three units of the gendarmerie went there. According to experts, due to the peculiarities of the mountainous terrain, the search operation can be very laborious.
At an altitude of 2700 meters in the region of the mountain peak of Estrope, the Trois-Evesche massif in the Provencal Alps, rescuers discovered the frame of the liner. According to them, the wreckage of the car is scattered over an area of two hectares. This data was confirmed to the TV channel by Christian Castanier, deputy of the National Assembly from the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. He, among others, circled the crash site in a helicopter. "This is a very narrow gorge. The debris spread zone is small - about 300 by 400 meters. The plane, apparently, crashed into a mountain at high speed, as it is clear that the ground is littered not even with debris, but with small fragments," he specified. The size of the largest fragment does not exceed one square meter.
The gendarmes intend to stay there all night, guarding the area where the plane crashed. "They are in a very difficult situation - it starts to snow and the terrain is so rugged that they have to use the same equipment as on the surface of the glacier to move," the gendarmerie said.
Meanwhile, one of the aircraft's "black boxes" was found at the crash site.
Airbus investigation
The aircraft manufacturer Airbus has launched its own investigation into the crash of a passenger plane. A crisis headquarters has been set up at the manufacturer's headquarters in Toulouse to collect all the information about the crashed car.
"We are now collecting all available information about the aircraft, about the period and history of its operation. We are talking about a very common device," Airbus notes, refraining from further comment. According to the latest data, the crashed aircraft has been in operation since November 1990.
Following the news of the crash, Airbaus shares plummeted in price on the Paris Bourse.
Air traffic controllers call off strike
French air traffic controllers have abandoned plans for a massive strike this week following news of the passenger jet crash. This decision was voiced by the main union of air traffic controllers SNCTA. "We are withdrawing our strike request," union spokesman Roger Russo said. According to him, "controllers, especially in the city of Aix-en-Provence, were shocked by the disaster."
At the same time, he stressed that disagreements between employees of dispatch services and employers persist, which does not exclude a return to the idea of a strike in the near future. In particular, Rousseau noted, negotiations with the General Directorate of Civil Aviation of France were extremely unsuccessful.
A shocking version of the causes of the crash of a German plane in the French Alps: the black box data presents a picture that does not fit into the head. Apparently, the co-pilot killed himself and the passengers by deliberately aiming the plane uphill.
The version that the prosecutor of Marseille Brice Robin, whose department is investigating, said today, made me horrified again. The plane crash is a conscious and deliberate act of the co-pilot.
"You can hear the captain asking the co-pilot to take control of the ship. Then the sound of the closing door. Several calls are heard for the captain to be allowed into the cockpit. This happens with the help of an intercom system - via an interphone that has a monitor that shows that who is behind the door. But there was no answer from the co-pilot. The captain knocks on the door, demanding to open the door. The co-pilot does not answer, "says the prosecutor.
The co-pilot's name is Andreas Lubitz. 28 years. By nationality - German. Worked at "Germanwings" since 2013. Flight experience is small - only 630 hours. The prosecutor's office claims that he was tested for possible involvement in terrorist organizations and was not blacklisted by special services. Lufthansa, which owns Germanwings, says Lubitz has passed all physiological and psychological tests.
"The longest break in his flight training was 6 years. But before we hired him, he passed all the tests again. He was ready to fly one hundred percent. No restrictions. No additional recommendations. Absolutely all tests showed him suitability,” says Lufthansa Chairman Carsten Spohr.
Members of the flying club, in which Lubitz was a member, also did not notice anything suspicious. Everyone spoke of him as a pleasant and cheerful person.
"He seemed very happy. Andreas was happy that he got this job. To do this, he trained in the United States. He studied for three years. When he returned to renew his license, we talked for a long time. He talked a lot, and it seemed to us that he is still an open young man," says Lubitz's colleague from the flying club, Peter Rüsker.
Hans, Andreas Lubitz's neighbor, was already tired of answering journalists' questions. He burst into tears and compared this tragedy with the massacre that the Norwegian terrorist Breivik arranged.
"Poor people! All this is very similar to the horror that happened in Oslo, where 70 children died," he said.
The religious beliefs of the pilot, the investigators did not comment, saying that this is not relevant to the case. The version of the attack is not considered.
"There are no grounds in favor of the fact that it was a terrorist attack. Now we will study the environment of this man," the prosecutor of Marseilles said.
Police and the press surrounded the house in the German city of Montabur, where Lubitz lived, and are questioning everyone who knew the pilot. And in Düsseldorf, Lubitz's apartment has already been searched.
An analysis of the audio recording of the "black box" leaves no doubt: as soon as the first pilot left the cockpit for a minute, his colleague closed the door, turned on the instruments to lower the liner and stopped communicating. Recording the last 30 minutes before the crash makes it clear that Lubitz was conscious and well aware that he was flying towards death, taking the lives of 149 more people with him.
"You can hear how the co-pilot presses the buttons of the monitoring system to bring the aircraft down. I repeat, he is the only one who controls the Airbus A-320. The action of choosing the altitude is done consciously," says Brice Robin.
Now that the investigation has published the findings, it has become clear that there is a gross violation of the protocol on the part of the crew members. Experts insist: one person should not have remained in the cockpit. The place of the absent pilot must be taken by one of the stewards. That did not happen.
“If a person harbored the idea of suicide, then he could create some kind of legend for himself, he alone knows how to provoke the captain to leave. Versions can be different - see if the plane is iced out of the window, so as not to frighten passengers; the kitchen smoked, some smells went incomprehensible, and so on,” believes the honored pilot of Russia Viktor Sazhenin.
About the exact protocol of behavior when one of the pilots leaves the cockpit, dozens of instructions have been written and videos have been shot. Tough rules were introduced after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. One of these videos was distributed today by representatives of the Airbus company. From this video instruction it follows that it is still possible to get into the closed cockpit. To do this, you need to know a special code. If no one answers on the intercom, the secret combination of numbers gives the crew a small window, just five seconds, during which the door is open. However…
“There is another possibility: the person who remained in the cockpit can get up and close the door with a mechanical latch, and then nothing will help, no digital code,” says Honored Pilot of Russia Petr Marchenko.
The passengers of the crashed "Airbus" until the last moment did not know about the inevitable denouement - the descent of the liner was too smooth. People started screaming moments before they died.
There are enough cases in the history of aviation when pilots consciously drove the car to death. Since the mid-1970s, there have been at least seven of them, the largest being the October 31, 1999 incident, the crash of an EgyptAir Boeing 767 off the coast of the American island of Nantucket. Flight 990 was en route from Los Angeles to Cairo. The aircraft crashed into the waters of the Atlantic as a result of a sharp loss of altitude. American experts came to the conclusion that the cause of the disaster was the deliberate actions of the co-pilot, who, in the absence of the commander, turned off both engines and, with the words "I rely on God," sent the plane into a dive. There were 217 people on board, all of them died.
The news that the cause of the crash was the suicide of the co-pilot, and not technical malfunctions of the aircraft or depressurization of the cabin, forced the French prosecutor's office to change the nature of the investigation and open a criminal case.
Lufthansa and its Germanwings subsidiary are no doubt facing numerous lawsuits from relatives of the victims. Some of the family passengers arrived today at the site of the crash. Their communication with the press is not planned, the gendarmerie took people under guard. At the site of the tragedy, the search and removal of the remains of the dead continues. According to the French authorities, work on their identification has already begun.
