Last words of pilot who deliberately crashed plane with 150 onboard as documentary airs tonight
Here are final words uttered by a pilot who deliberately crashed his flight into the Alps, ahead of a new documentary airing about the disaster.
On 24 March 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525 departed from Barcelona, Spain in what was supposed to be a routine flight to the German city of Düsseldorf.
But less than an hour after take-off, Flight 9525 had crashed into French Alps at a speed of 430 mph and killed all 150 passengers and crew members onboard.
Investigations into the incident concluded that it had been a deliberate crash caused by co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, prompting an overhaul of rules regarding pilots being in the cockpit alone.
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The flight had departed from Barcelona just after 10am local time, with its last contact with air traffic control coming half an hour afterwards. It's around this time when Captain Patrick Sondenheimer exited the cockpit to use the lavatory, prompting Lubitz to lock the door.
He then changed the selected altitude from 38,000 feet to 100 feet before beginning a rapid descent into the mountains.
After the crash, investigators were later able to piece together the flight's final moments from the aircraft's black box recorder, which revealed the last words from Lubitz and Captain Sondenheimer.
Germanwings Flight 9525 full transcript
According to the black box transcript, Lubitz can be heard informing Sondenheimer that he was ready to take over the controls at 'any time'. Shortly after take-off, he can be heard telling his captain: "You can go now."
Before Sondenheimer exits the cockpit to use the lavatory, around 28 minutes in, he informs Lubitz that he is in control of radio communications before leaving. The door can then be heard closing.
It's at this point that Lubitz changes Flight 9525's altitude and ignores attempts at communication from air traffic control as the plane descends.
Lubitz remains silent for the rest of the flight while Sondenheimer can be heard banging on the door.
Lubitz had also overridden emergency access codes, which allow flight crew access to the cockpit, meaning that he was locked in alone.
As the captain grows increasingly desperate, he can be heard shouting 'open the damn door' alongside attempts to break the door down.
In the final moments of the recording, passengers can be heard screaming just before Flight 9525 slams into the mountainside.
After the crash it was revealed that Lubitz, who was suffering from severe depression and suicidal tendencies, had been declared unfit to fly by his doctor. However he'd hidden this information from his employer.
A former girlfriend of Lubitz would also recall a chilling statement made by the pilot after the crash, telling a German newspaper: "One day I will do something that will change the whole system, and then all will know my name and remember it."
She added: "I never knew what he meant, but now it makes sense."
Lubitz's family would however reject the final report into the cause of the crash and claimed instead that he'd fallen unconscious prior to Flight 9525's crash.
Germanwings: What Happened on Flight 9525? will air at 9pm tonight (7 May) on Sky Documentaries. The programme is also available to stream on SkyGo.
Topics: Documentaries, World News, TV and Film
Brenna Cooper