Germanwings A320 crash in France

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sn26567
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Re: A320 Germanwings crashed in France

Post by sn26567 »

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.

Image

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.
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Re: A320 Germanwings crashed in France

Post by sn26567 »

Zorba wrote:Crash now confirmed by Germanwings:

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.
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Re: A320 Germanwings crashed in France

Post by Homo Aeroportus »

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.

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Re: A320 Germanwings crashed in France

Post by Acid-drop »

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.
My messages reflect my personal opinion which may be different than yours. I beleive a forum is made to create a debate so I encourage people to express themselves, the way they want, with the ideas they want. I expect the same understanding in return.

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Re: A320 Germanwings crashed in France

Post by Zorba »

Plane was checked by LH Technics yesterday, last C-check dated summer 2013.

VERY curious if there is any link with the LH incident sean posted.
Tot hier en verder

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Re: Germanwings A320 crash in France

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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.


http://avherald.com/h?article=483a5651&opt=0

16 pupils and 2 teachers from a German school were on board the Germanwings flight, school confirms.

A helicopter has landed near the Germanwings crash site and did not find any survivors; "the plane is disintegrated," says French Prime Minister.
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Re: Germanwings A320 crash in France

Post by Homo Aeroportus »

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).
4U9525.jpg
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.

Very sad day.

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Re: Germanwings A320 crash in France

Post by sn26567 »

There was at least one Belgian on board. Besides the 67 Germans and 45 Spanish passengers, there were also many Turks.
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Re: Germanwings A320 crash in France

Post by Passenger »

sn26567 wrote:16 pupils and 2 teachers from a German school were on board the Germanwings flight, school confirms.
A Dutch travel agent reports that they had one Dutch female citizen booked on that flight. It's not known yet if she took the flight indeed.

The press reports that here were also a lot of Türkish and French citizens onboard.

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Re: Germanwings A320 crash in France

Post by Stij »

The news you don't want to get home...

My condolences to the friends and families of all the crew and passengers...

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Re: Germanwings A320 crash in France

Post by SpottairBRU »

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.

My condoleances to all people involved.
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Re: Germanwings A320 crash in France

Post by sn26567 »

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.
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Re: Germanwings A320 crash in France

Post by Passenger »

sn26567 wrote:
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.
Der Spiegel (not the most objective news source in the world) writes that quite some crew members "are afraid":
http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/untern ... 25378.html

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Re: Germanwings A320 crash in France

Post by crew1990 »

sn26567 wrote:
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.

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Re: Germanwings A320 crash in France

Post by andorra-airport »

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.

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Re: Germanwings A320 crash in France

Post by Homo Aeroportus »

der Spiegel is incorrect.

D-AIPX flew yesterday, March 23, DUS-MAD-DUS, leaving at 1640 and returning at 2230.
True only 2 sectors but she did not stay on the ground all day.

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Re: Germanwings A320 crash in France

Post by Homo Aeroportus »

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.



H.A.

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Re: Germanwings A320 crash in France

Post by crew1990 »

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

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Re: Germanwings A320 crash in France

Post by Nevihta »

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...

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Re: Germanwings A320 crash in France

Post by crew1990 »

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.

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