A new documentary revisits the devastating crash of Germanwings Flight 9525, offering a closer look at the chilling final moments before co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately flew the plane into the French Alps.
On 24 March 2015, what began as a routine journey from Barcelona to Düsseldorf turned into an unimaginable tragedy. Less than an hour after take-off, the Airbus A320 crashed at a speed of 430 mph, killing all 150 passengers and crew on board.
Investigators later confirmed the crash was intentional. Lubitz, who had a history of depression and suicidal ideation, waited until he was alone in the cockpit before initiating the fatal descent.
Calculated Act
Flight 9525 took off shortly after 10 a.m. local time. Around 30 minutes in, Captain Patrick Sondenheimer stepped out of the cockpit to use the lavatory, leaving Lubitz alone at the controls. As the door clicked shut behind him, Lubitz locked it, changed the altitude setting from 38,000 feet to just 100 feet, and began the plane’s final descent, according to the BBC.
Black box recordings later revealed that Lubitz ignored repeated attempts by air traffic control to make contact. Meanwhile, Sondenheimer can be heard desperately banging on the cockpit door, shouting: “Open the damn door!” as he tried to regain control.
Lubitz had overridden the emergency access codes, ensuring no one else could enter.
Final Moments
In the last minutes of the flight, the voices of passengers screaming are captured on the recorder, just seconds before the plane slammed into the mountainside.
The black box also preserved earlier remarks made by Lubitz, including a seemingly routine exchange in which he tells the captain: “You can go now,” after being handed control of the aircraft.
After the crash, it emerged that Lubitz had been declared unfit to fly by a doctor, but had concealed this from his employer. A former girlfriend later told a German newspaper that Lubitz once said (via CBS News): “One day I will do something that will change the whole system, and then all will know my name and remember it.”
Lubitz’s family rejected the findings of the official investigation, claiming instead that he had lost consciousness before the crash. However, the evidence from the cockpit voice recorder has widely supported the conclusion that the crash was premeditated.
The incident led to an overhaul of aviation safety protocols, including stricter rules requiring two people to be present in the cockpit at all times.
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