Germanwings Flight 9525
On 24 March 2015 Germanwings Flight 9525, an Airbus A320 flying from Barcelona to Düsseldorf, descended from its cruising height and flew into a mountainside in the French Alps after the co-pilot locked the captain out of the cockpit. The French investigators, the BEA, found that he did it deliberately, and all 150 people on board were killed.
The sequence of events
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Watch this moment · 0:54
Takeoff from Barcelona
Flight 4U9525 took off from runway 07R at Barcelona, about half an hour late, for Düsseldorf. The co-pilot was flying.
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Watch this moment · 1:16
Level at 38,000 feet
The aircraft levelled off at its cruising height and was handed to the Marseille en-route control centre. At 10:30 the captain read back a clearance direct to the IRMAR waypoint, the last exchange with air traffic control.
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Watch this moment · 3:06
The captain leaves the cockpit
The captain asked the co-pilot to take over the radio and left. The cockpit door was heard opening and closing.
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Watch this moment · 34:05
The altitude is set to 100 feet
The selected altitude changed in one second from 38,000 feet to 100 feet, the lowest possible value. The autopilot began a descent at idle thrust, and the co-pilot later increased the speed.
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10:34:31 CET
A request to enter
The buzzer to request access to the cockpit sounded. Controllers had been calling the flight since 10:33:47 without an answer. Knocking on the door began about a minute later.
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10:39:30 CET
Violent blows on the door
Sounds of violent blows on the reinforced cockpit door were recorded five times. A French Air Defence controller and another aircraft tried to call the flight, without an answer.
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10:41:06 CET
Impact in the Alps
The ground proximity warning had sounded for 25 seconds when the recording stopped as the aircraft struck the mountainside near Prads-Haute-Bléone.
Key facts
| Aircraft | Airbus A320 |
|---|---|
| Aircraft variant | Airbus A320-211, D-AIPX |
| Flight number | 9525 |
| People who died | 150 |
| People on board | 150 |
| Were there survivors? | No |
| Phase of flight | Cruise |
Official finding · Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la sécurité de l'aviation civile (BEA), France
the collision with the ground was due to the deliberate and planned action of the co-pilot, who decided to commit suicide while alone in the cockpit; the process for medical certification of pilots, in particular self-reporting of a decrease in medical fitness between periodic examinations, did not stop him flying while he was experiencing a mental disorder with psychotic symptoms.
More coverage
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Fascinating Horror
Germanwings Flight 9525: The Locked Cockpit and the BEA Findings
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Mayday: Air Disaster
Germanwings Flight 9525: Mayday on the Cockpit Recorder Evidence
Questions and answers
What happened on Germanwings Flight 9525?
About half an hour after takeoff from Barcelona, the captain left the cockpit. The co-pilot locked the door, set the autopilot to descend to 100 feet and held that descent for about 10 minutes, ignoring calls from air traffic control and the captain's attempts to get back in. The aircraft hit a mountainside in the French Alps.
Why could the captain not get back into the cockpit?
Since 2001, airliner cockpit doors have been reinforced to resist forced entry. On the A320, a pilot inside can move a switch to LOCK, which keeps the door locked and disables the cabin keypad, including the emergency code, for five minutes at a time. The BEA noted that these security requirements made it impossible to enter the cockpit before the aircraft hit the ground.
Why was the co-pilot allowed to fly?
The BEA found that he was experiencing a mental disorder with psychotic symptoms, and that the medical certification process, which relies on pilots reporting a decrease in fitness between examinations, did not stop him. Factors it identified included his probable fear of losing his licence, the lack of insurance against loss of income for pilots found unfit, and unclear German rules on when a threat to public safety outweighs medical confidentiality.
How many people died on Germanwings 9525?
All 150 people on board: 144 passengers and 6 crew.
What changed after Germanwings Flight 9525?
Many airlines and regulators introduced a rule that two crew members must be in the cockpit at all times, which some later relaxed. The BEA's recommendations focused on pilots' mental health: medical assessment, support programmes for pilots, and clearer rules for doctors on when to report a risk to public safety.
Sources: The facts and written text on this page come from the 3 videos on this page, by Smithsonian Channel Aviation Nation, Fascinating Horror, Mayday: Air Disaster.
