Germanwings crash co-pilot may have had detached retina
(Agencies) Updated: 2015-03-30 11:07
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| File photo of co-pilot Andreas Lubitz. [Photo/IC] |
"For God's sake"
Investigators have retrieved cockpit voice recordings from one of the A320 jet's "black boxes", which they say show Lubitz locked himself alone in the cockpit, before causing the jet to crash in southern France as it headed to Duesseldorf from Barcelona.
Bild am Sonntag reported that the voice recorder data showed that the locked-out captain said to his colleague inside the cockpit: "For God's sake, open the door."
The pilot can then be heard trying to smash the door down.
Even when he yells: "Open the damn door!" Lubitz does not give an answer as passengers' screams can be heard in the background just seconds before the fatal crash, the paper said.
The newspaper also reported that Lubitz's girlfriend, a teacher at a secondary school in a small town near Duesseldorf, had recently told students she was expecting a baby.
On Saturday, Bild published an interview with a woman who said she had a relationship with Lubitz in 2014 and that he told her about planning a spectacular gesture so "everyone will know my name and remember it".
Airbus boss criticizes media
The chief executive of Airbus, which made the aircraft that Lubitz crashed, criticised uninformed experts sounding off about the disaster on television talk shows and he called for better oversight of the media.
"Some (experts) speculated without any facts, fantasised and lied. That makes a mockery of the victims," Tom Enders wasquoted as saying by Bild am Sonntag.
Airbus has not been in the crosshairs of investigators following the crash as evidence early on pointed to a deliberate act by Lubitz, but French investigators warned on Saturday that it was too early to rule out other explanations for the crash.
Berlin aims to review safety rules for airlines incooperation with the industry. "There are high safety standards in the aviation sector, but they still need regular updating, "Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt told Bild am Sonntag.
Several airlines, including Lufthansa, have changed their rules since the crash and now require two crew members in the cockpit at all times, a measure already mandatory in the United States but not in Europe.
