|
The flight data recorder found on Thursday appears to
corroborate evidence from a cockpit audio recording recovered
from a first 'black box' hours after the March 24 crash.
"A first reading shows that the pilot in the cockpit used the
automatic pilot to put the airplane on a descent toward an
altitude of 100 feet," the BEA investigation office said in a
statement.
"Then several times the pilot modified the automatic pilot
settings to increase the speed of the airplane as it descended,"
it added.
Prosecutors have said the cockpit audio recording from the first
'black box' suggested that 27-year-old co-pilot Andreas Lubitz
locked the captain out of the cockpit and set the plane on
course to crash in the French Alps.
The flight data recorder contains a detailed readout of hundreds
of parameters, including any commands made from the co-pilot's
seat on the Duesseldorf-bound flight.
The BEA said that they were still working to establish the facts
surrounding the flight leading up to the crash, which killed 150
people.
Lubitz's motives remain a mystery but investigators have
uncovered growing evidence that he had made suicide preparations
ahead of the doomed flight.
German prosecutors said on Thursday that Lubitz had made
Internet searches on ways to commit suicide in the days ahead of
the crash as searches about cockpit doors and safety
precautions.
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; editing by Mark John, Tim Hepher)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
