German chancellor Angela Merkel said she was "deeply shaken" and announced that she would travel to Germanwings crash site tomorrow. Spain's Prime Minister is also "appalled" by the Germanwings crash - 67 German and 45 Spanish passengers were reportedly on board.
A French Air Force Boeing C-135 Stratotanker (!) is circling over the general area where 4U9525 was lost.
The Germanwings toll-free number 0800 11 33 55 77 (900 808 890 from Spain) is available to all the families of the passengers involved for assistance.
UPDATE: Wir müssen leider bestätigen, dass Flug 4U9525 auf dem Flug von BCN nach DUS über den französischen Alpen verunglückt ist ...
Es handelt sich um ein Flugzeug vom Typ A320. An Bord waren 144 Passagiere und 6 Crew-Mitglieder. Lufthansa und Germanwings haben eine Telefon-Hotline geschaltet: Unter der kostenfreien Telefonnummer 0800 11 33 55 77 können sich Angehörige von Fluggästen melden und werden dort betreut. Alle Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter der Germanwings und der Lufthansa sind in tiefer Betroffenheit mit ihren Gedanken und Gebeten bei den Angehörigen und Freunden der Passagiere und Besatzungsmitglieder.
French TV just said DGAC (French Civil Aviation Authority) confirms there has been NO Mayday call from the crew.
Misunderstanding seems to be coming from ATC declaring Distress Phase when the flight disappeared from their screens.
it seems the weather was very good at that time.
they could probably see they were low altitude, even with the hypothesis of frozen sensors
no mayday, no direction change, everything looks like there were nobody controling the plane anymore.
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Excerpts from the long report in The Aviation Herald :
Radar data suggest the aircraft had reached FL380 about 3 minutes prior to leaving FL380 and descended from FL380 through FL110 in 8 minutes (average rate of descent 3375 fpm). The aircraft appeared to have levelled off at FL068 for one minute while on a northeasterly heading of 26 degrees true, mountains rise up to 8900 feet about 1nm north of the last reported aircraft position.
French Police reported two helicopter spotted the remains of the aircraft on the ground at about 2700 meters elevation (8800 feet) between Prads-Haute-Bleone and Barcelonette (France), about half way between the two cities there is a mountain ridge rising up to 8900 feet.
The KC-135 was about 50km West of the crash site. I don't think it is directly involved in this, and I do hope not indirectly either.
Here is a Google Earth pic showing the normal flight path LUSOL-BODRU-OKTET (blue line) and the actual flight path per last two FR24 screen shots at 6800 and 6500ft (red line).
The crash area is about 20km from Barcelonnette in its 250°.
Search helicopters are based primarily at Seyne-les-Alpes. There are very few roads in the area.
Why would an otherwise flyable aircraft leave cruise altitude for a dive (not a steep one) and in a straight line???
I note that the incoming flight DUS-BCN reached FL370.
Terrible news. I was working in Berlin Today and all my German colleagues are very, very schocked.
I am currently in Tegel, waiting from my flight to BRU, and noticed that a huge number of Germanwings flights are now cancelled. Lots of stranded passengers around here.
SpottairBRU wrote:a huge number of Germanwings flights are now cancelled. Lots of stranded passengers around here.
Why is that? In my opinion, the best way the crew could have shown support to their deceased colleagues would have been to continue flying, showing that the spirit never dies.
SpottairBRU wrote:a huge number of Germanwings flights are now cancelled. Lots of stranded passengers around here.
Why is that? In my opinion, the best way the crew could have shown support to their deceased colleagues would have been to continue flying, showing that the spirit never dies.
SpottairBRU wrote:a huge number of Germanwings flights are now cancelled. Lots of stranded passengers around here.
Why is that? In my opinion, the best way the crew could have shown support to their deceased colleagues would have been to continue flying, showing that the spirit never dies.
Who said the crew didn't show up? It was probably due to some operational reason I guess. And I do think everyone show there support toward the group, even the pilot stopped striking.
Hintergrund für „die Weigerung etlicher Piloten“, ihren Dienst aufzunehmen, ist nach Darstellung von „Spiegel online“ offenbar, dass die Unglücksmaschine
" am Montag wegen technischer Probleme den ganzen Tag in Düsseldorf am Boden gestanden habe. Es habe ein Problem an der „Nose Landing Door“ gegeben, bestätigte die Lufthansa-Sprecherin."
Die „Nose Landing Door“ ist „Spiegel online“ zufolge eine Klappe, die sich am Rumpf öffnet und schließt, wenn das Bugrad aus- und eingefahren wird. „Das ist kein sicherheitsrelevantes Thema, sondern ein Geräuschthema. Das Problem wurde routinemäßig behoben“, sagte die Lufthansa-Sprecherin.
The airplane was yesterday (Monday 23) the whole day on the ground , because there was a problem with the nose landing door. Because of the "AOG" of this aircraft, many (?) pilotes refused to fly today.
Quite a lot of cancellations this afternoon indeed.
STR : 3 flights cancelled out of 19 (counted as from the first cancellation in early afternoon).
DUS : 11 cancelled out of 44, all but one are A32S flights, the CRJs almost not affected.
HAM : 5 cancelled out of 29 total flights.
TXL : 9 cancelled out of 18.
CGN : 11 cancelled out of 22.
Total for these bases : 39 cancelled out of 132 total. 38 were A32S.
Tomorrow will tell if the today cancellations are due to, understandable, emotional reaction or if there is a deeper problem such as lack of confidence in the aircraft / operations.
No cancellations on Flightstats at this time.
Statement from 4U :
Current information: Flight 4U9525
Köln 24/03/2015
24th March, 9.30 p.m.: Following the tragic accident on Tuesday, Germanwings reports occasional flight disruptions within its route network. This is due to crew members, who decided not to operate aircraft today following the reports on the accident of a Germanwings aircraft with 144 passengers and six crew members onboard. “We understand their decision”, says Thomas Winkelmann, Management Spokesperson of Germanwings. Some flight had to be cancelled.
I had a quick check of the fleet of Germanwings, I'm surprised that there are quit a few 25 years old airplane, it's not very common for a European Airlines
It really looks like no-one was commanding the plane and it went straight ahead descending.
Pilot incapacitation, or not in the cockpit, or unlawful interference...
To me it also I pilot incapacitation, also it was the beginning of the flight so I think that the cabin crew didn't even realized it, and if the plane was losing altitude the cabin crew probably didn't notice it until the last omen when the pax probably starting shouting.
I'm really looking forward to know what happened, when a plane crash in Asia or Africa, it seems always far, from us and our well maintained "uncrashable" european plane untill one of them actually get an accident.