The last check was done on March 23. That comment makes me automatically think about maintenance errors.

 

Lufthansas Flight crews went on a strike in the last days. Lets just hope the chaos created in these circumstances didnt cause any confusion or hurry in maintainance...

It was reported that the debris field is five miles in diameter. This could be the result of the aircraft breaking up in the air or striking a mountain top and flying over. It could also be terrorist involvement causing the pilots not to be able to communicate.

It was reported that the debris field is five miles in diameter. This could be the result of the aircraft breaking up in the air or striking a mountain top and flying over. It could also be terrorist involvement causing the pilots not to be able to communicate.

Im with you. A controlled descent and a perfectly good airport ignored and no comms. It really does point to terrorists IMO

Speculation only clouds the scenario. It's ostensibly similar to Helios 522 and that flight had no such wild circumstances; assuming no funny business with the black boxes the weather's holding and crews are on site so we'll know soon enough exactly what occurred.  

Speculation only clouds the scenario. It's ostensibly similar to Helios 522 and that flight had no such wild circumstances; assuming no funny business with the black boxes the weather's holding and crews are on site so we'll know soon enough exactly what occurred.

I'm with you on this. Perhaps because the aircraft was so old, there was a problem with the pressurisation, resulting in a slow decompression, subsequently the crew realises that they are being starved of oxygen and so process to descend, unfortunately it may have been too late resulting in the flight crew passing out. Just peculiar ion though as with Helios the 737 kept flying until it ran out of fuel... The A320 had plenty of fuel when it went down.

Where have you read that the debris field is 5 miles?!

The French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, says a black box has been found.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/mar/24/germanwings-airbus-a320-crashes-in-french-alps-live-updates

 

Starting to look as oxygen (lack of) problems.

 

Sad outcome nevertheless. Peace for all.

 

Cheers,

Hello,

 

It is strange that the altitude decreases without  a  significant speed increase

Where have you read that the debris field is 5 miles?!

It was reported on CBNC. I was watching extended coverage. 

It was reported on CBNC. I was watching extended coverage. 

 

CNN is currently showing video of the debris field. Very sad. 

 

 

Im with you. A controlled descent and a perfectly good airport ignored and no comms. It really does point to terrorists IMO

 

If it was a bomb we would likely see much more erratic descent. If it was a hijack of some sort I'm sure the terrorists would have done something else than descending the aircraft into bunch of mountains. 

 

My vote? Decompression that quickly incapacitated pilots who for a reason or another didn't follow proper procedures / didn't have enough time to do so. Perhaps before passing out they managed to set the autopilot to descend to a certain altitude, something that would explain such a controlled descent and leveling off.

My vote? Decompression that quickly incapacitated pilots who for a reason or another didn't follow proper procedures / didn't have enough time to do so. Perhaps before passing out they managed to set the autopilot to descend to a certain altitude, something that would explain such a controlled descent and leveling off.

Incapacitation of the pilots is not required for what probably happened here. Those two were probably too focused on working the pressurisation failure checklists and forgot about where they were....on a driftdown segment. Dialed 10000 into the altitude selector for the emergency descent and hit an obscured mountain at 11000.

May their souls Rest In Peace... A very sad day.

Incapacitation of the pilots is not required for what probably happened here. Those two were probably too focused on working the pressurisation failure checklists and forgot about where they were....on a driftdown segment. Dialed 10000 into the altitude selector for the emergency descent and hit an obscured mountain at 11000.

 

The aircraft descended way below 10 000ft, the last recorded altitude was 6800ft. 

 

I highly doubt two properly trained pilots would completely forget to fly the aircraft for the entire 10 minutes it took from start of descent to impact with terrain. They had plenty of time to notify ATC too, the aircraft was clearly under control of some sort. 

 

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

The aircraft descended way below 10 000ft, the last recorded altitude was 6800ft.

 

I highly doubt two properly trained pilots would completely forget to fly the aircraft for the entire 10 minutes it took from start of descent to impact with terrain. They had plenty of time to notify ATC too, the aircraft was clearly under control of some sort.

 

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

Never said the plane was out of control. Cfit means controlled flight into terrain. The pilots were focused on a problem and allowed the plane to fly into a mountain. Aviate, navigate, communicate. It appears that they had managed to aviate since the plane didn't appear to have stalled or spun in. Navigate is where they seemed to have failed. Over the alps, I would expect them to have driftdown escape procedures defined for that route. If the initial reports that they descended straight ahead along their route are true, then that speaks to me that they were not mindful of their driftdown procedure which would have probably required a turn. Not being mindful of driftdown navigation requirements when over high terrain during a forced descent will usually cause you to hit a mountain.

"Reports of a "moving body" among the wreckage have sparked hopes there may be survivors.

Rescue teams are just setting off for the crash site in Provence"

 

It has gone into the side of a mountain at somewhere between 350 to 380 knots, your really think their are survivors?

 

That aircraft has been pulverized.