More carmakers caught in headlights of VW engine-rigging scandal

More carmakers caught in headlights of VW engine-rigging scandal
Volkswagen has admitted it installed illegal software into 11 million 2.0 liter and 3.0 liter diesel engines worldwide (AFP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Volkswagen emissions scandal

Iran's 'catastrophic mistake': Speculation, pressure, then admission

Iran's 'catastrophic mistake': Speculation, pressure, then admission
Analsyts say it is irresponsible to link the crash of a Ukraine International Airline Boeing 737-800 to the 737 MAX accidents (AFP Photo/INA FASSBENDER)

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts
A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 commercial jet.

QZ8501 (AirAsia)

Leaders see horror of French Alps crash as probe gathers pace

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Showing posts with label 4U9525. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 4U9525. Show all posts

Friday, June 12, 2015

Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz feared for eyesight before crash

Andreas Lubitz was afraid of losing his sight, and visited more than 40 doctors in the years leading up to the March crash, French prosecutors said Thursday. The investigation into the accident will now be widened.

Deutsche Welle, 12 June 2015


The investigators said several of the doctors Lubitz visited, as well as seven he had booked appointments with in the month before the accident, felt he was unfit to fly.

But they did not share their concerns with the 28-year-old's employer, Lufthansa, due to Germany's medical secrecy requirements.

In Germany medical practitioners can be sent to prison if they disclose patient information without evidence they intend to commit a serious crime or harm themselves.

Lead investigator Brice Robin said Lubitz had sought advice for potentially career-ending vision problems, and had sent an email to one doctor just two weeks before the accident saying he had doubled his dose of antidepressants in an attempt to help him sleep.

Robin said they could not confirm whether Lubitz's sight problems were real or psychological.

Germanwings and its parent company Lufthansa say the young pilot had passed all medical tests and was considered fit to fly. It has been confirmed that Lubitz had been struggling with depression and suicidal tendencies when Flight 4U9525 crashed.

Investigators met with relatives of the 150 victims of the crash to update them on the inquiry's progress. The victims' remains are currently being returned to families, and funerals will be held in the coming weeks. The remains of all those on board were finally identified last month.

Stephane Gicquel, head of a French accident victims association, welcomed the news that the inquiry was being expanded into a criminal investigation. "We can clearly see the prosecutor's positioning: to open an inquiry that will pose the question of manslaughter and, very clearly, faults or negligence from Lufthansa in detecting the state of Lubitz's health."

Investigators believe Lubitz locked the cockpit door after the pilot left, and put the plane into a controlled descent. During Thursday's meeting relatives were shown three different reconstructions of what happened in the cockpit, with actual audio from the fatal flight. "I think that the families appreciated this frank and direct communication," Gicquel said.

Around half of those who died in the crash were German, as well as victims from countries including Australia, Spain, the United States, Belgium and the United Kingdom.

an/bk (AFP, dpa, AP, Reuters)

Friday, May 29, 2015

US aviation authority to review pilots' mental health screening

The deadly crash of a Germanwings jet has regulators not just in Europe thinking about how to prevent such mishaps. Now the US regulator has said it has plans to study pilots' mental health.

Deutsche Welle, 28 May 2015


The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement posted on its website on Wednesday that it had instructed its Pilot Fitness Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) to make recommendations on how to better screen the safety of pilots flying in American airspace within the next six months.

It said the study, which is to be conducted by FAA officials and representatives of the private aviation industry, was aimed at finding more effective ways of monitoring the mental and emotional health of pilots.

The statement specifically referred to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 over the Indian Ocean last year, as well as Germanwings flight 4U9525, which slammed into a mountain in southern France on March 24, killing all 150 people on board.

While there is still no evidence to suggest what caused MH370 to disappear from the radar, the preliminary results of an investigation into the Germanwings crash has suggested that the flight's co-pilot deliberately crashed the Airbus A-320 after locking the pilot out of the cockpit.

The ARC, which according to the FAA statement, is to include both American and international "aviation industry experts," is to be tasked with examining not only the methods of evaluating pilots' mental health, but also barriers to reporting any suspected issues.

The Reuters news agency quoted a statement issued by Claudia Lange, a spokesperson for German flag-carrier Lufthansa, which owns budget air carrier Germanwings as saying that the airline "highly welcomes efforts that serve to further increase international aviation safety and will fully support these efforts."

pfd/jil (AFP, Reuters)

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

All bodies from Germanwings plane crash identified

The remains of 150 people who were killed in a March plane crash can be sent home to their families, French authorities have said. The victims aboard the Germanwings flight were identified using DNA analysis.

Deutsche Welle, 19 May 2015


Information on the victims has been forwarded to Germanwings parent company Lufthansa, Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said in a statement on Tuesday, allowing the bodies to be repatriated and laid to rest.

"The 150 death certificates have been signed, as well as the permits for burial," Robin said.

French crime experts had previously identified all of the people killed in the crash, by matching the DNA samples found at the crash site to those provided by passengers' relatives.

The identification process, which had lasted six weeks, was cojmpleted on Friday, the prosecutors said.

The experts had previously predicted it could last between two and three months.

Co-pilot 'rehearsed' the crash

The Airbus 320, belonging to German low-cost carrier Germanwings, flew into a mountainside in French Alps on March 24, while on route to Düsseldorf from Barcelona.

Investigators believe that the plane's co-pilot, 27-year old Andreas Lubitz, intentionally crashed Flight 4U 9525, killing himself and 149 other people aboard. Almost half of the victims were German, another 51 were Spanish nationals.

Lubitz had struggled with severe depression and suicidal tendencies in the past, and was written off sick from work a number of times, including on the day of the crash.

In its interim report, French aviation safety authority BEA said that Lubitz "rehearsed" putting the plane to a descent several times on the outbound flight to Barcelona, prior to the crash.

On the way back to Germany, the young co-pilot allegedly locked the captain out of the cockpit and put the aircraft into a nosedive. The flight recorder, retreived several days after the crash, showed the pilot's frantic efforts to open the door, which is heavily re-enforced to prevent hijackings.

After the crash, several countries announced they would require that two people inside the cockpit at all times, which is already a rule in the United States.

A full report on the crash is expected to be published within a year of the incident, as is typical within the industry.

Relatives to fill out a form

Robert Tansill Oliver, father of one of the victims, said he and his wife received notification that DNA was matched with remains of their son. They also received a form they needed to fill out so they can have their son's remains sent to Spain in June.

They were also invited to Paris to identify items possibly belonging to him.

Oliver, a retired American teacher who has lived in Barcelona for decades, said he had no complaints about how long it took to identify his son's body.

"I hope they have done the job correctly," Oliver said. "Better to get it done right than quickly."

dj/msh (Reuters, AP, dpa. AFP)

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, April 22, 2015)

Matthew Ward - April 22, 2015

Matthew Ward
With loving greeting from all souls at this station, this is Matthew. Happenings during the past months have prompted numerous lightworkers to ask and many others to ponder: Why is the free will of people who do terrible things given priority over the free will of people who don’t want to be terrorized or killed?

Beloved family, never has priority been given to anyone, nor could it ever be. Rulers of the universes are bound to honor Creator’s gift of free will to everysoul, and God incorporated that edict in the laws that govern life in this universe. Like everything else in existence, the laws are energy and energy has no reasoning ability, no capacity for prioritizing or decision-making about anything whatsoever. All energy can do is vibrate at one frequency or another in accordance with how it is used, and in our explanation, it is how people who live on Earth use it.

The orderly functioning of the universe requires a continuous balancing act to keep vibrational frequencies from becoming lopsided, so to say; and as microcosms of the universe who in every moment affect the state of it, souls have their own balancing acts. Prior to birth, they—or better said, all of us!—enter into agreements with other souls, and within the agreements are all of the participants’ individual contracts that include whatever they need to balance other lifetimes. That “whatever” is karma.

However, because Creator decreed that free will takes precedence overall, everything in the contracts—that there even is a contract—must be forgotten when souls embody. Actually, this is a good arrangement—otherwise every lifetime would be merely following some schedule instead of freely making decisions and learning from the results. And, guidance in line with contracts is permitted via the soul’s messages to the consciousness, but everyone has the free will to heed that guidance or stray far afield. Either way, souls incur karma and it is neither “good” nor “bad”—it is the means whereby the last lifetime can be balanced in the next one by completing the karma, or karmic lessons, in the soul contract.

Sometimes events end lives before contracts can be completed. Such was the case in two recent occurrences, and we shall share with you what we learned about them from colleagues in Nirvana. Of the 150 persons aboard Germanwings Flight 9525, only three had reached the window of flexibility in their contracts’ longevity clause—that is, those individuals had completed their selection of karmic lessons, missions and other experiences, and they would have transitioned to spirit life in some manner within days or weeks.

Upon arriving in Nirvana, every person was lovingly received and greeted by name, etheric bodies were strengthened, and tender, customized care was given to treat all psychic trauma that occurred at anytime prior to the crash. Throughout the healing period, members of the medical team in the soul transition field were in constant attendance.

As these recent arrivals became ready to join others in your spirit world, each was given choices of residence and diverse activities, and all who had not completed their contracts also were offered three options. Finish karmic lessons in Nirvana, where living and learning is far more joyous than on Earth. Receive full credit for lessons partially learned and, in a new agreement with other souls, embody relatively quickly to wind up the rest of the original contract and add whatever is desired in the new lifetime. The third option is, in an agreement with someone on Earth, arrange for a soul transference, or “walk-in”—the advantage is “saving” years by entering an adult body instead of a newborn’s, but because there are serious challenges, too, rarely is this a soul’s choice.

We want to speak about another aspect of the plane crash. The consensus of your analysts is that the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, planned to commit suicide by deliberately crashing the plane, disregarding the lives of all others on board. That is not so, according to the medical team giving personalized care to treat Andreas’ traumatized psyche, which is recovering slowly due to his depth of despair when he learned what had happened.

What was used as evidence to substantiate the consensus was the young man’s determined efforts to overcome his emotional fragility, including Internet information he felt he could use in positive ways to fortify healthy thought processes especially during flights. Moments after the pilot left the cockpit, Andreas’ consciousness snapped—he has no memory of that instant or what transpired afterwards. If this could be known, although it would not console those who love the people who went down with the plane, it could give some peace of mind and heart to Andreas’ family and friends. We should add that he was not one of the three persons who had completed their contracts.

The second occurrence is the massacre at a Kenyan university by al-Shabaab terrorists, where almost the same number of lives were lost as in the plane crash. However, none of the contracts of persons who died in the university carnage contained a lifespan that would end at that time, and all have the same aforementioned three options. We wish everyone could know the loving reception and personalized care given every person whose life was ended then, but their families and dear friends know only the heartbreak of shocking loss and your world reels from barbaric behavior that is incomprehensible.

Some of the survivors’ contracts include a “traumatic, nonlethal experience” with flexibility as to the type and timing—enduring what took place at the university fulfills that provision. Survivors who didn’t need that experience for balance may put it in safekeeping, in a way, for “credit” in a different lifetime or give it to someone in the agreement group whose struggle with karmic lessons was more difficult than anticipated; in either case, the survivor’s desire would propel an energy streamer in the appropriate direction. If survivors whose wounds have life-changing results outside their contracts, amendments will be made at soul level to provide other experiences that will make their lives as meaningful and fulfilling as they had chosen.

Because the perpetrators of the attack far exceeded their contract provisions that would have balanced previous experiences, they incurred karma that could require several lifetimes before balance is achieved. In Nirvana, just as on Earth, ever-heightening vibrations would energetically bar psychic and cellular patterning with karma of that severity; when those persons die, their lifetime energy automatically will draw them to the spirit world of some low third density civilization and their next incarnation will be in that population.

There is another aspect of pre-birth agreements, which are designed for the spiritual and conscious growth of all participants in the shared lifetime: When one person’s life ends prior to contract completion, it affects all others in the group beyond profound emotions. For adults this can include the spouse, children, parents, siblings, other relatives, friends, colleagues, everyone else with whom the person had close bonds and those with whom bonds would have developed in later years. When a “premature” transition happens to a child, in addition to family there can be classmates, teachers and friends as well as all others who would have become important in that youngster’s life throughout the chosen lifespan. The contracts of every person who had or would have had a significant role in the lifetime that was cut short must be amended to provide all of those individuals with equivalent opportunities to complete their karmic lessons. The original and subsequent matching-up of souls happens in the continuum, where everything is happening simultaneously.

Everyone’s part in an agreement is important; however, individuals’ contracts and their purpose can vary considerably. For instance, one soul can agree to be the “captain,” so to say, to give other participants the opportunity to strengthen their weaknesses in one or more areas that this soul has mastered such as patience, generosity, humility, forgiveness, compassion, self-discipline, honesty, kindness, wise parenting, industriousness. In these cases, the “captain” serves the others not by criticizing their shortcomings, but by exemplifying admirable attitudes and behavior that the others may be inspired to emulate.

Or, a soul can agree to exhibit characteristics that are undesirable, perhaps jealousy, uncontrolled anger, self-centeredness, laziness, arrogance, stinginess, resentfulness or untrustworthiness. If by observing that person’s hurtful, offensive or counterproductive behavior the others in the agreement learn not tobehave in those ways, they can balance other lifetimes wherein one or more of those traits were dominant.

If an individual is to become widely known and respected, the “captain-team” arrangement can be reversed and include a small number of participants whose values, accomplishments, encouragement and assistance are strong incentives for the designated individual to adhere to high standards, persevere despite opposition and setbacks, and continue striving until noteworthy achievements are attained. This can be the case even if the individual credits a specific person as the source of inspiration for his or her success.

Usually souls choose to live in impoverished circumstances to balance a lifetime of riches and ease, with little or no interest in helping people in dire need.

When a soul embodies in a region ravaged by war and poverty and is orphaned as a youngster who must make his own way from then on, it can be to experience the fear and severe hardships that had befallen children due to this soul’s actions in a different lifetime.

A soul may choose a brief life in a loving family in a peaceful environment to rest after a long, tiring life of toil and to serve other purposes, too. The loss of a child offers family members the opportunity to channel grief into meaningful endeavors; it also can strengthen family bonds or tear them apart, whichever the others may need for balance.

As our examples show, agreements can contain many participants or only a few, and none of them knows what had been agreed upon. If your conscience is comfortable with your decisions that affect the lives of others, that is an indication that you are acting in accordance with your contract role, but there is no way to know if the primary people in your life are following or seriously departing from theirs—that is why spiritual guidance is, do not judge others. Never does this mean condoning actions you deem unjust or reprehensible, but rather that you refrain from judging the persons.

If light really is increasing on the planet, why is there still so much violence and brutality? In previous messages we have said that one effect of increasing light intensity is the magnification of human characteristics and behavior—“good” becomes better, “bad” becomes worse. The majority of people in your world are responding positively by being kinder, more thoughtful, generous, cooperative, helpful and open-minded. That doesn’t make headline news, so you don’t hear about them.

However, even though mainstream media’s main focus still is on individuals and organized groups whose actions are violent and brutal, coverage is including positive developments as well. You are hearing about innovations in renewable energy sources and breakthroughs in medical research; citizens revitalizing their villages, towns or cities; expanding efforts in environmental preservation and restoration; and, occasionally, multimillionaires who are sharing their wealth abundantly.

Indeed a great deal more must be done and shall be, but please honor yourselves as we do and celebrate with us your sterling progress to date. You who know you are lightworkers and the many millions who also are but may not even know that word are the vanguard of your society, the ones who are steadily moving your world in positive directions.

Let us give you an example of the positive and negative aspects of light’s magnification. After years of punitive measures against Iran for its nuclear development program, a series of talks between leaders of that country and others recently produced a framework for a diplomatic solution, with both sides making concessions to reach that initial stage of cooperation. Most in your world welcomed this as a positive albeit tenuous first step, yet it was soundly denounced by the increased negativity of individuals within Illuminati ranks or under their influence who want this issue handled with military might. Only the peak of the Illuminati still are holding onto the delusion that further destabilizing the Mideast will let them gain control of that region and continue their march toward global domination.

Readers have asked if the following assertions are true: An asteroid is going to destroy Earth in September. A militarized police force will round up dissidents in the United States and incarcerate them in FEMA-operated camps. Foreign troops have been brought in to kill Americans because US military won’t shoot their own citizens. Many millions will drown as seas rise and inundate coastlines far inland. The cabal is controlling peoples’ minds through inoculations containing programmed microchips. The Illuminati will cause global chaos by creating a hologram of invading ETs that they will claim are forces of the anti-Christ. This or that “red flag” terrorist act will be the excuse for imposing martial law. A dark civilization pretending to be benevolent is surrounding planet Earth. WWIII will be started by the intentional or accidental launch of a nuclear missile. Delivery of “prosperity packages” is imminent. The cabal is preparing areas beneath a number of buildings to be temporary living quarters, escape routes and/or arsenals.

Those are samples of distorted information, uninformed opinions or skewed interpretations, long-outdated contingency plans, long-outdated potential land/sea changes, scare-tactic lies, or falsehoods in messages channeled by base entities claiming to be respected light sources. And, just as not all information on the Internet is valid, neither is everything that mediums tell their clients. A reader wrote what a friend told her a medium had told him: The people on earth would be transported to a very large planet that is big enough to hold the population of the earth. It would be a trip of several weeks to save us, because the environment on earth has become uninhabitable. It is a friendly more advanced group who said they were offering their help for a better, peaceful, and loving experience that sounded pleasant. The reader added her question: “Do you know if people will be moved off planet earth in a year ending in nine?”

We tell you this, dear ones, because you are deluged with information, some of it shocking or frightening, a lot of it conflicting, and we know that at times it is difficult for you to discern what is true and what isn’t. When your thoughts aren’t clear about an issue you feel is important, ask within for the answer, then quiet your mind and listen to what comes from your heart and soul. God said, “The heart is the seat of the soul,” and the soul knows the truth.

Someone who knew that my mother’s recent trip included visiting our family in Peru asked if extraterrestrials were involved in the disappearance of Incas from Machu Picchu or the ancient buildings with precisely-fitting boulders that weigh as much as a hundred tons. You may be interested in the answers.

When the residents of Machu Picchu heard that Spanish forces had reached Cusco and were continuing their bloody conquest downward from that high elevation, they started building a trail down the other side of their lower Andean community; when it was ready, they started their journey to safety and the last in line disguised the trail’s beginning. Although that was discovered along with the ruins, little or no connection has been made between the trail and its purpose.

To accommodate the Peruvians’ desire for high, strong walls and monuments, members of advanced civilizations living among them used teleportation, levitation and laser technology. Similar assistance was given in other areas where mammoth rocks also had to be transported many miles to the erection sites, for pyramids or structures like Stonehenge and the heads on Easter Island.

The people living in those times were grateful for the extraterrestrials’ friendship and help. Dear ones, you have infinitely more reason to feel grateful—your universal family saved the very life of your homeland planet about 80 years ago and they have been helping you in vitally important ways since then. Lighted beings throughout this universe are eagerly awaiting the day when people from other civilizations who are in ships above you, residing among you, or living in Inner Earth can greet you as the beloved family members you are.

LOVE and PEACE

Suzanne Ward
Email: suzy@matthewbooks.com
Related Article:

"THE THREE WINDS" – Feb 23-24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Humanity, Home - other side of the veil, Wind of Birth - Birth, Wind of Existence - Life, Wind of Transition - Death) - (Text version)

Friday, April 3, 2015

Second Germanwings black box found

French prosecutors have confirmed that the second black box from the Germanwings flight 4U9525 has been found. Authorities hope to find more clues about the plane crash in the French Alps.

Deutsche Welle, 2 April 2015


After the first voice recorder suggested that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately locked the plane on a collision course with the mountains, the second black could provide more information about the Airbus A320 that crashed in the French Alps last week, French prosecutor Brice Robin told reporters in Marseille on Thursday.

Brice Robin
The voice recorder with the conversations between Lubitz and the pilot had been found shortly after the crash on March 24. German co-pilot took the advantage of the captain's absence to lock him out and set the plane on a deadly descent into the Alps.

The Marseille prosecutor in charge of the case, declined to give any further comment, but said he was planning a press conference for later on Thursday.

The Flight data in the second black box contain readings from hundreds of parameters of the Airbus aircraft including any pilot commands.

French search teams were also examining cell phones found in the debris of the plane crash for more clues about the tragedy. However, no video or audio from such devices has been released publicly.

The Germanwings flight 4U9525 from Barcelona to Düsseldorf crashed into the mountains at a speed of 700 kilometres (430 miles) an hour, killing all 150 people on board.

Co-pilot studied suicide methods on internet

Meanwhile, German state prosecutors said a computer seized from 27-year-old co-pilot's home showed searches had been made on cockpit doors and their safety precautions as well as suicide methods.

Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz
"On at least one day, the person also spent several minutes trying out search terms for cockpit doors and their security protection," German prosecutor Ralf Herrenbrueck said.

"The browser history wasn't erased, in particular the search terms called up on this device in the period from March 16 to March 23 were able to be retraced," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Lubitz's tablet computer was found in a search of his flat in Düsseldorf.

German prosecutors have said Lubitz was diagnosed as suicidal "several years ago," before he became a pilot. He informed Lufthansa about his illness in 2009 after interrupting his flight training.

Two days after the crash, Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr said Lubitz had passed all medical and psychological tests to obtain a student pilot certificate including the one from the US Federal Aviation Authority in 2010.

jil/rc (dpa, AFP)

Monday, March 30, 2015

Alps crash captain shouted 'open the damn door'

Yahoo – AFP, Kate Millar, 29 March 2015

Police vans block the view as Japanese victims pay their respects on 
March 29, 2015 near a commemorative headstone in Seyne-les-Alpes, the 
closest accessible area to where a Germanwings flight crashed in the
French Alps (AFP Photo/Jean-Pierre Clatot)

Berlin (AFP) - The captain of a passenger jet that investigators believe was deliberately crashed into the French Alps, killing all 150 aboard, shouted at the co-pilot to "open the damn door" as he desperately tried to get back into the locked cockpit, a German newspaper reported Sunday.

Forensic teams meanwhile announced that they had isolated 78 distinct DNA strands from body parts at the mountain crash site with investigators describing the difficulty of the search as "unprecedented" due to the arduous terrain.

French officials say the plane's black box voice recorder indicates that Andreas Lubitz, 27, locked the captain out of the cockpit of the Germanwings jet and steered Flight 4U 9525 into a mountainside.

Machines work to make a path up to 
the crash site on March 29, 2015 in 
Seyne-les-Alpes (AFP Photo/
Jean-Pierre Clatot)
They believe that the more senior pilot, identified by Germany's Bild newspaper as Patrick S., tried desperately to reopen the door during the Barcelona to Duesseldorf flight's eight-minute descent after he left to use the toilet.

The mass-circulation paper's Sunday edition reported that data from the cockpit recorder showed the captain shouted: "For God's sake, open the door", as passengers' screams could be heard in the background.

It said "loud metallic blows" against the cockpit door could then be heard, before another warning alarm went off and then the pilot is heard to scream to a silent Lubitz in the cockpit "open the damn door".

Investigators in the Alps said the violence of the impact and the remote location was severely hampering the search for both body parts and the second "black box".

"We haven't found a single body intact," said Patrick Touron, deputy director of the police's criminal research institute.

"We have slopes of 40 to 60 degrees, falling rocks, and ground that tends to crumble," said Touron. "Some things have to be done by abseiling."

As investigators seek to build up a picture of Lubitz and any possible motives, media reports have emerged that he suffered from eye problems, adding to earlier reports he was severely depressed.

Forensic experts of the French
 gendarmerie disaster victim identification
 unit (UGIVC) work under a tent near
 the site of the crash of a Germanwings
 Airbus A320 in which all 150 people on
 board were killed (AFP Photo/F.Balamo)
German prosecutors believe Lubitz hid an illness from his airline but have not specified the ailment, and said he had apparently been written off sick on the day the Airbus crashed.

'Sight problem'

The Sunday edition of Germany's Bild tabloid and the New York Times, which cited two officials with knowledge of the investigation, said Lubitz had sought treatment for problems with his sight.

It is thought to be a retinal detachment, the German weekly said.

It also reported that Lubitz's girlfriend with whom he lived in the western city of Duesseldorf was believed to be pregnant.

It gave no sources but said the teacher, who taught maths and English, had told pupils a few weeks ago she was expecting a baby.

Bild's Saturday edition had published an interview with a flight attendant who it said had had a relationship last year with Lubitz and recalled him saying: "One day I'm going to do something that will change the whole system, and everyone will know my name and remember."

Picture released on March 27, 2015 shows
 the co-pilot of Germanwings flight 4U9525 
Andreas Lubitz (AFP Photo/Foto 
Team Mueller)
If Lubitz did deliberately crash the plane, it was "because he understood that because of his health problems, his big dream of a job at Lufthansa, of a job as captain and as a long-haul pilot was practically impossible", the woman told Bild.

German prosecutors revealed Friday that searches of Lubitz's homes netted "medical documents that suggest an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment", including "torn-up and current sick leave notes, among them one covering the day of the crash".

Police have found a number "of medicines for the treatment of psychological illness" during a search at his Duesseldorf home, Welt am Sonntag newspaper said.

It added that the Germanwings co-pilot was suffering from being overstressed and was severely depressive, according to personal notes found.

Search for second black box

French police investigator Jean-Pierre Michel told AFP Saturday that Lubitz's personality was a "serious lead" in the inquiry but not the only one.

The investigation has so far not turned up a "particular element" in the co-pilot's life which could explain his alleged action, he said.


Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr has said that Lubitz had suspended his pilot training, which began in 2008, "for a certain period", before restarting and qualifying for the Airbus A320 in 2013.

The second-in-command had passed all psychological tests required for training, Spohr told reporters.

Rescuers stand as relatives of Japanese victims pay their respects to crash
 victims, on March 29, 2015 near a commemorative headstone in
Seyne-les-Alpes (AFP Photo/Jean-Pierre Clatot)

Germany is to hold a national memorial ceremony on April 17 for the victims of the disaster, half of whom were German, with Spain accounting for at least 50 and the remainder composed of more than a dozen other nationalities.

France's Investigation and Analysis Bureau (BEA), tasked with investigating civil aviation accidents, meanwhile said it was "dismayed" by the revelations in the German press which it said smacked of "voyeurism".

Related Article:


Saturday, March 28, 2015

Germanwings crash co-pilot hid illness from airline

Yahoo – AFP, Celine Jankowiak with Deborah Cole in Berlin, 27 March 2015

French gendarmes and investigators sift through the scattered debris on March 26, 
2015 at the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 in the French Alps above
the southeastern town of Seyne (AFP Photo/Anne-Christine Poujoulat)

The black box voice recorder indicates that Andreas Lubitz, 27, locked his captain out of the cockpit on Tuesday and deliberately flew Flight 4U 9525 into a mountainside, French officials say, in what appears to have been a case of suicide and mass murder.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that "everything is pointing towards an act that we can't describe: criminal, crazy, suicidal".

German prosecutors revealed that searches of Lubitz's homes netted "medical documents that suggest an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment", including "torn-up and current sick leave notes, among them one covering the day of the crash".

A police officer pictured outside the apartment 
of Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot of the crashed
 Germanwings plane, in Duesseldorf, western
 Germany, on March 26, 2015 (AFP Photo/
Federico Gambarini)
They did not specify the illness.

But Bild daily earlier reported that Lubitz sought psychiatric help for "a bout of serious depression" in 2009 and was still getting assistance from doctors, quoting documents from Germany's air transport regulator.

The paper also cited security sources as saying that Lubitz and his girlfriend were having a "serious crisis in their relationship" that left him distraught.

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said that Lubitz had suspended his pilot training, which began in 2008, "for a certain period", before restarting and qualifying for the Airbus A320 in 2013.

According to Bild, those setbacks were linked to "depression and anxiety attacks".

Lubitz lived with his parents in his small home town of Montabaur in the Rhineland and kept an apartment in Duesseldorf, the city where his doomed plane was bound.

Duesseldorf prosecutors said the evidence found in the two homes "backs up the suspicion" that Lubitz "hid his illness from his employer and his colleagues".

They said they had not found a suicide note, confession or anything pointing to a "political or religious" motive but added it would take "several days" to evaluate the rest of what was collected.

Reiner Kemmler, a psychologist who specialises in training pilots, noted that people "know that depression can compromise their airworthiness and they can hide it".

"If someone dissimulates, ie they don't want other people to notice, it's very, very difficult," Kemmler told Deutschlandfunk public radio.

Desperate captain used 'axe'

Lubitz locked himself into the cockpit when the captain went out to use the toilet, then refused his colleague's increasingly desperate attempts to get him to reopen the door, French prosecutor Brice Robin said.

According to Bild, the captain even tried using an axe to break through the armoured door as the plane was sent into its fatal descent by Lubitz.

This could not be immediately confirmed, but a spokesman for Germanwings told Bild that an axe was standard emergency equipment on board the aircraft.

A policeman stands next to a police car in
 front of a house in Duesseldorf, western 
Germany, on March 26, 2015, during the
 investigation into the Germanwings 
plane crash over the French Alps 
(AFP Photo/David Young)
The tragedy has already prompted a shake-up of safety rules, with several airlines announcing a new policy requiring there always be two people in the cockpit.

German aviation industry body BDL and the transport ministry agreed to the rule for Lufthansa, its subsidiary Germanwings and other companies, while the European Aviation Security Agency threw its weight behind the policy.

Meanwhile, the UN world aviation body stressed that all pilots must have regular mental and physical check-ups.

'Unimaginable'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the findings that Lubitz appeared intent on crashing the plane added an "absolutely unimaginable dimension" to the tragedy, in which most victims were German and Spanish nationals.

In the northwestern town of Haltern, which lost 16 students and two teachers who were returning from a school exchange, the revelations prompted shock and rage.

The principal of the stricken school, Ulrich Wessel, said "what makes all of us so angry (is) that a suicide can lead to the deaths of 149 other people".

German President Joachim Gauck, a Protestant pastor, attended a memorial service in Haltern Friday and also extended special condolences to the families of the victims in Spain and other countries.

Meanwhile in Montabaur, Mayor Edmund Schaaf urged reporters encamped in the community to show restraint with Lubitz's parents, a banker and a church organist, who live in a handsome home on a leafy, normally quiet street.

"Regardless of whether the accusations against the co-pilot are true, we sympathise with his family and ask the media to be considerate," he said.

A French gendarmerie helicopter winches up an investigator on March 26, 2015 near
scattered debris on the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 in the French
Alps above the southeastern town of Seyne (AFP Photo/Anne-Christine Poujoulat)

Descent button

Investigators say Lubitz's intention was clear because he operated a button sending the plane into a plunge.

For the next eight minutes, Lubitz was apparently calm and breathing normally.

"He does not say a single word. Total silence," Robin said.

The second-in-command had all psychological tests required for training, Lufthansa's Spohr told reporters Thursday, insisting: "He was 100-percent airworthy."

Recovery operations at the crash site were ongoing, with French officials trying to find body parts and evidence. A second black box, which records flight data, has not yet been recovered.

"There's not much plane debris left. There's mainly a lot of body parts to pick up. The operation could last another two weeks," said police spokesman Xavier Vialenc.

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Thursday, March 26, 2015

Leaders see horror of French Alps crash as probe gathers pace

Yahoo - AFP, Daniel Ortelli and Marc Burleigh, 25 March 2015

French President Francois Hollande (3rd left), German Chancellor Angela 
Merkel (centre) and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy (2nd right) arrive 
at Seyne-les-Alpes on March 25, 2015, near the site where a German airliner
crashed in the French Alps (AFP Photo/Jeff Pachoud)

Seyne-les-Alpes (France) (AFP) - The leaders of France, Germany and Spain visited a makeshift rescue base near the Germanwings air crash site Wednesday, as investigators ramped up their probe into the mysterious disaster that killed 150.

French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel flew over the crash site to see the devastation for themselves before meeting rescue workers outside the crisis centre set up on Tuesday after the worst crash in France in four decades.

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy also visited the centre to be briefed on the gruelling rescue operation in difficult mountain terrain where Flight 4U9525 crashed early Tuesday, scattering debris over a wide area.

France's investigators have recovered
 the cockpit voice recorder from the 
doomed Germanwings flight but say it
 was badly damaged in the crash (AFP
Photo)
Buffeted by strong mountain winds, the ashen-faced leaders spent several minutes inspecting a line-up of blue-uniformed rescue workers, chatting intently with the help of interpreters.

"My deepest sympathies with the families and all my thanks for the friendship of the people of this region and in France," wrote Merkel in a book of condolence.

Hollande wrote: "Tribute to the victims. Support to the families."

Grieving families were also gathering near the crash site, where a counselling unit has been established.

Meanwhile, investigators were combing through the pulverised wreckage and examining its badly damaged black box for clues as to what caused the mysterious crash.

Hundreds of firefighters and police were involved in the massive task at the rugged crash site, accessible only by helicopter or an arduous hike on foot.

And in Paris, experts analysed one of the plane's black boxes, hoping to discover why the Airbus A320 went down in good weather -- an "inexplicable" disaster according to Lufthansa, the budget airline's parent company.

Photos issued by the BEA air crash investigation office showed the mangled orange "black box", its metal casing torn and twisted by the violence of the impact.

Officials warned it would take several days to analyse the "very badly damaged" cockpit voice recorder, but hoped it might offer initial clues to the mystery later Wednesday.

'Horrendous' scene

A woman reads a book of condolence for 
the victims of the Germanwings plane crash
 at the Berliner Dom cathedral on March 25,
2015 (AFP Photo/Tobias Schwarz)
A second black box, recording technical flight data, has yet to be found.

Authorities are scrambling to explain why the plane suddenly began a fatal eight-minute descent shortly after reaching cruising altitude on its route between Barcelona and Duesseldorf.

No distress signal was sent and the crew failed to respond to desperate attempts at contact from ground control.

"It is inexplicable," Lufthansa chief Carsten Spohr said in Frankfurt.

"The plane was in perfect condition and the two pilots were experienced."

Officials in Spain said at least 49 Spaniards had been killed in the accident, and Germanwings said at least 72 Germans were dead.

French police set up road blocks near the crash site, ordering all non-official vehicles to turn around, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

Just beyond lay a steep and broken landscape littered with the shattered pieces of what was Flight 4U9525.

"It's a zone that is very difficult to access, very slippery. There was rain and snow overnight. So we need to secure the zone before the investigators begin their work," a spokesman for the French interior ministry, Pierre-Henry Brandet, told reporters.

"We are not in a race against time," he said. "We need to move forward methodically."

The plane was "totally destroyed," a local member of parliament who flew over the site said, describing the scene as "horrendous."

A helicopter flies over the crash site 
of the Germanwings Airbus A320 in the 
French Alps (AFP Photo/Francis Pellier)
"The biggest body parts we identified are no bigger than a briefcase," one investigator said.

'Darkest day'

More than 300 policemen and 380 firefighters have been assigned the grisly task of searching the site.

The plane was carrying six crew and 144 passengers, including 16 German teenagers returning home from a school trip.

Their high school in the small German town of Haltern was to hold a memorial event Wednesday to honour the victims.

"This is certainly the darkest day in the history of our city," said a tearful Bodo Klimpel, the town's mayor. "It is the worst thing you can imagine."

"Yesterday we were many, today we are alone," read a hand-painted sign at the school, decorated with 16 crosses -- one for each of the victims, most of whom were around 15 years old.

Opera singers Oleg Bryjak, 54, and Maria Radner, 33, were also on board, flying to their home city of Duesseldorf. Radner was travelling with her husband and baby, one of two infants on board the plane.

Condolence messages for the victims 
of the Germanwings plane crash are laid at 
a memorial at Duesseldorf airport in western
 Germany, on March 25, 2015 (AFP Photo/
Federico Gambarini)
In Spain, meanwhile, a minute's silence was observed at noon at countless points around the country, including both houses of parliament in Madrid and public offices.

As the probe gathered pace, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said investigators were not focusing on the possibility it was a terrorist attack.

Germanwings, the growing low-cost subsidiary of the prestigious Lufthansa carrier, had an unblemished safety record.

Weather did not appear to be a factor in the crash, with conditions calm at the time, French weather officials said.

It was the deadliest air crash on the French mainland since 1974 when a Turkish Airlines plane crashed, killing 346 people.

Victims were also confirmed from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Britain, Colombia, Denmark, Holland, Israel, Japan, Mexico and the United States, according to officials.