Germanwings: Latest

Occupants 150, Fatalities 150. The Airbus A-320 is one of the world's most popular aircraft, one taking off every few seconds around the world - the famous Hudson River (heroic) landing was an Airbus A-320. Today's aircraft was around 24 years old, it descended from 38.000 to 6.000 feet during eight minutes, had the chance to turn to Nicfe or Marseille, did not, and crashed into the Alps.

Germanwings Airbus A 320-211 Flight Number 4U9525 en route from Barcelona El Prat to Düsseldorf International Airport departed Spain at c. 9.55 CET, reaching a cruising altitude of FL 380 at 10.27 and at 10.31 hours it started losing altitude. Flightradar24 tracked the aircraft at 10.40 over Southern France near Barcelonette where it impacted at around 4.920 feet.

There are reports an emergency situation was reported twice, while other reports state there was no official MAYDAY message. The aircraft in question was 24 years and 4 months old and had its maiden flight on 1990-11-29. There were 6 crew and 144 passengers on board. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair without any survivors reported.

Germanwings is a low-cost airline owned by Lufthansa, which has a very good safety record. All airlines flying in the EU have to have the same safety parameters, whether or not they are low cost or not.

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru

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