Germanwings Flight 9525
Germanwings Flight 9525 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Barcelona–El Prat Airport in Spain to Düsseldorf Airport in Germany. The flight was operated by Germanwings, a low-cost carrier owned by the German airline Lufthansa. On 24 March 2015, the aircraft, an Airbus A320-211, crashed 100 km (62 mi; 54 nmi) north-west of Nice in the French Alps, killing all 144 passengers and 6 crew members.
D-AIPX, the aircraft involved, in May 2014 | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 24 March 2015 |
| Summary | Murder-suicide by pilot; mass murder |
| Site | Prads-Haute-Bléone, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France 44°16′48″N 6°26′20″E |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Airbus A320-211 |
| Operator | Germanwings |
| IATA flight No. | 4U9525 |
| ICAO flight No. | GWI18G |
| Call sign | GERMANWINGS 18 GOLF |
| Registration | D-AIPX |
| Flight origin | Barcelona–El Prat Airport, Barcelona, Spain |
| Destination | Düsseldorf Airport, Düsseldorf, Germany |
| Occupants | 150 |
| Passengers | 144 |
| Crew | 6 |
| Fatalities | 150 |
| Survivors | 0 |
The crash was deliberately caused by the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, who had previously been treated for suicidal tendencies and declared unfit to work by his doctor. Lubitz kept this information from his employer and instead reported for duty. Shortly after reaching cruise altitude and while the captain was out of the cockpit, Lubitz locked the cockpit door and initiated a controlled descent that continued until the aircraft hit a mountainside.
Aviation authorities swiftly implemented new recommendations from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency that required two authorised personnel in the cockpit at all times but, by 2017, Germanwings and other German airlines had dropped the rule.
The Lubitz family held a press conference in March 2017 during which Lubitz's father said that they did not accept the official investigative findings that his son deliberately caused the crash. By 2017, Lufthansa had paid €75,000 to the family of every victim, as well as €10,000 in pain and suffering compensation to every close relative of a victim.