Preliminary Report on Germanwings Flight 4U9525 Accident (D-AIPX)

Overview and Investigation Authority On May 2015, the French Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA) published a preliminary report concerning the accident that occurred on March 24, 2015, involving an Airbus A320-211 registered D-AIPX, operated by Germanwings. The accident took place near Prads-Haute-Bléone in the French Alps. The BEA, the French authority for civil aviation safety investigations, opened the investigation immediately after being informed by the Marseille en-route control center around 10:15 UTC. The investigation’s sole objective is to improve aviation safety, not to determine fault or responsibility. ## Flight Details and Crew The aircraft was scheduled to operate regular flight 4U9525 from Barcelona, Spain, to Düsseldorf, Germany, under the callsign “GWI18G.” Aboard were six crew members (two flight deck crew and four cabin crew) and 144 passengers. The same flight deck crew had completed the outbound leg from Düsseldorf, departing at 06:01 UTC and landing in Barcelona at 07:57 UTC. The aircraft took off from Barcelona runway 07R at 09:00 UTC, with the co-pilot acting as pilot flying (PF). ## Sequence of Events At 09:02:54 UTC, autopilot No. 2 was engaged in climb mode with flight plan tracking. At 09:12:15 UTC, a cockpit door buzzer sounded for one second, followed by sounds resembling the cockpit door opening and closing; a cabin crew member then entered the cockpit. The crew discussed the Barcelona stopover. At 09:15:53 UTC, the cabin crew member left the cockpit. The flight reached cruise altitude of 38,000 feet (FL380) at 09:27:20 UTC. At 09:30:00 UTC, the captain acknowledged a clearance for a direct route to the IRMAR waypoint. This was the last communication with air traffic control. At 09:30:08 UTC, the captain announced he was leaving the cockpit and asked the co-pilot to handle radio communications. At 09:30:24 UTC, sounds of the cockpit door opening and then closing were recorded, indicating the captain had exited. At 09:30:53 UTC, the selected altitude on the autopilot panel changed from 38,000 feet to 100 feet in one second. One second later, the autopilot entered OPEN DESCENT mode and thrust went to idle. The aircraft began descending, and engine power decreased. ## Descent and Loss of Contact At 09:33:12 UTC, speed management changed from managed to selected mode, and the selected speed became 308 knots while the aircraft speed was 273 knots. The aircraft’s speed and descent rate increased, with the descent rate varying between 1,700 and 5,500 feet per minute, averaging about 3,500 feet per minute. At 09:33:47 UTC, the air traffic controller asked the crew at what cruise level they had been cleared; the aircraft was then at 30,000 feet and descending. The co-pilot did not respond, and the controller made two further attempts over the next 30 seconds without reply. ## Investigation Findings and International Cooperation After extracting and listening to the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), the BEA determined that an act of illicit intervention had probably played a role in the accident. Under EU Regulation 996/2010 and a 2014 agreement between the French Ministry of Justice and the BEA, relevant elements were immediately communicated to judicial authorities. The BEA continued its safety investigation. The BFU (Germany) and CIAIAC (Spain) were associated with the investigation, along with technical advisors from AESA, DGAC, Snecma (for CFM), and Airbus. Experts from Australia, Israel, and Japan were also involved due to their nationals among the victims.