The transcript of the final moments of the ill-fated Germanwings flight that crashed into the French Alps on March 24th, 2015, gives the chilling account of what occurred in the plane as it went down.
10 am The airplane takes off.
10:30 The captain has gone to the bathroom and the co-pilot Lubitz locks the armoured door with the “Lock” button: it is no longer possible to open the door from the outside.
10:33 The plane drops 3000 feet per minute. Air traffic controllers detect this and try to contact the plane several times but Lubitz does not respond. The captain’s voice can be heard as he tries to open the door: “It’s me!” The captain grabs an oxygen tank or fire extinguisher in order to break down the door. No response from Lubitz. The captain yells: “For the love of God, open this door!”
10:35 The captain asks for the crowbar hidden in the back of the plane. Louder bangs can be heard hitting the door, followed by metallic sounds. The captain tries to bend the door with the crowbar. The captain yells: “Open this f… door!”
10:38 Despite the deafening noises, Lubitz’s breathing can clearly be heard through an oxygen mask he put on. He is breathing normally.
10:40 A violent sound can be heard outside. At the same time, screaming is heard inside the aircraft. The Airbus hits the mountain with its right wing. No other sound, save for the alarms and the screaming passengers.
10:40 The airplane hits the mountain range at 5000 feet at 800 km/h.
We (me and a few cousins on a whatsapp group) were discussing how the passengers would have felt during their final seven minutes. One minute they are looking down marvelling at the majestic snow clad alps, the next they are hurtling towards it at a frightening velocity. The conversation steered towards how we would react in a similar situation. One of the cousins said she would have probably removed her rosary which she wears round her neck and clutching it tight, she would have thought, ‘help me come to You, Lord.’ I mean what else would you do in a similar situation, when your gut tells you that this is it, this is the end. The others in the group said they would have prayed to be saved. They would still hold on to hope, cause the most common human emotion is to hope for the best in the midst of the worst. What do you think… what would you do in a similar situation?
A detailed account.
Imagine hitting the mountains at 800 km/h.
I am hoping that all airlines are taking measures to see that something similar will never happen again.
Haddock, yeah… hope so too, how can one measure the human mind's capacity to snap, go off the deep end…