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Germanwings A320 Crashes in Alps

JohnW

JohnW

pfm member
French media are reporting that a Germanwings Airbus A320 has crashed in the Alps.

The media, citing the French civil aviation administration DGAC, state that the aircraft had been en route from Barcelona to Dusseldorf.

"According to reports, the Airbus A320 climbed to 38,000ft, started descending, then lost signal at 6,800ft"

Very very sad, may they RIP...
 
Another tragedy. I feel for the victims and their families.

It seems recently like passenger plane crashes are happening more often.....or is this just my perception?
 
DEBRIS HAS BEEN LOCATED ON THE ALPS AT AN ALTITUDE OF AROUND 6,500FT

* FLIGHT 4U9525 ISSUED EMERGENCY "7700" SQUAWK TO AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL BEFORE DESCENDING FROM 38,000FT

WEATHER WAS CALM AT TIME OF CRASH AND THERE DIDN'T APPEAR TO BE HAVE BEEN TURBULENCE

*SQUAWK 7700 — Emergency

"The pilot of an aircraft in a state of emergency shall set the transponder to Mode A Code 7700 unless ATC has previously directed the pilot to operate the transponder on a specified code. In the latter case, the pilot shall continue to use the specified code unless otherwise advised by ATC. However, a pilot may select Mode A Code 7700 whenever there is a specific reason to believe that this would be the best course of action."
 
The pilots sent a 7700 Squawk which is an Emergency signal.

As the pilots sent an Emergency Squawk, it could indicate that they where unable to verbally communicate with ATC, factoring the age of the Aircraft could it be structural failure with loss of cabin pressure?

Sending 7700 tends to rule out Hijacking as the code 7500 is sent to indicate a Hijacking incident.
 
Shit.

I have spent many months in Barcelonette and climbed to Pra Loup. Beautiful part of the world and difficult to imagine just how it be. The highest pass in the Alps is there and most of the cols are over 2000m

I hope no friends of Forum members were involved.

A horrible piece of news for all Europeans.
 
Very tragic. Even if anybody did survive the impact, the outlook wouldn't be good for them at that altitude and temperature. :(
 
It is now being denied that there was any mayday message at all from the cockpit.
Civil aviation authorities told the AFP agency: "The crew did not send a Mayday. It was air traffic control that decided to declare the plane was in distress because there was no contact with the crew of the plane."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/32030778
 
Just give it time.

Emergencies like this and bloody 24 hour news channels are not really compatible.
 
merlin said:
Just give it time.

Emergencies like this and bloody 24 hour news channels are not really compatible.
Click to expand...

And the media tend to forget about the story after a week or so when accurate data actually starts to flow through the system...I hate the way media approach the reporting of these events.

At least with this one it's remote so they can't plonk down a reporter within camera shot of the smoke and debris which is the money shot in that sick industry (although you know that is the first question the producers will be asking - actually no the first question would be ...quick get some cameras down the airport to film the relatives..).
 
They can, however, show aerial shots of the crash, as they have done. No survivors.
They have found one of the black boxes, apparently.

Current 'facts' are that the plane didn't deviate from course, but descended rapidly (8 minutes) to 1600 metres.
 
Except that it isn't remote. It's just in the Alps, on a hillside, not far from Digne and Barcelonette. It's in an area that I could walk to in a day carrying mountaineering gear, if they dropped me at the roadhead. They have already had a heli' in for the black box. I would imagine though that the French authorities have told the news crews to keep their heli's out, I know I would have.

It would be a cold night at 2000m in March. On second thoughts I'm glad I'm not marching in there carrying the gear.
 
KC Cantiaci said:
It seems recently like passenger plane crashes are happening more often.....or is this just my perception?
Click to expand...

It's your perception. 2014 was the safest year ever for air travel in terms of crashes / deaths per mile flown. However we're flying a lot more now so there are more reported crashes.

Which doesn't make it any better for the relatives, particularly those who had children on the flight.
 
avole said:
Current 'facts' are that the plane didn't deviate from course, but descended rapidly (8 minutes) to 1600 metres.
Click to expand...

A descent of circa 4000fpm is fairly steep but suggests it didn't 'fall' out of the sky. And for it to not deviate from its original course is strange to say the least. If the flight crew were aware they had a problem, you would perhaps expect a radio call or the plane to change course in an effort to look for somewhere flat if at all possible which could mean the flight crew were incapacitated in some way?? The Vice President of the airline told a news conference that the aircraft had a maintenance check the day before in Germany.
 
KC Cantiaci said:
A descent of circa 4000fpm is fairly steep but suggests it didn't 'fall' out of the sky. And for it to not deviate from its original course is strange to say the least.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is quite strange.

The airspeed and altitude plot on the BBC site is interesting. You don't have the resolution to be able to analyse it well but it looks like the decent is speeding up but from FL200 the airspeed drops. I think that indicates a stall of some kind or perhaps attempt to slow the plane.

8 minutes is a long time to be out of contact in an emergency situation. Decompression at cruise with the flight deck attempting to recover at a lower altitude?
 
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