'Cold' four final words before pilot flew plane into mountain killing all

Irish Daily Mirror

28-06-2025

A heart-rending documentary on the catastrophe of Germanwings Flight 9525 was released on Sky last month.
The passenger aircraft met with disaster over the French Alps on March 24, 2015, soon after setting off from Barcelona, Spain, en route to Dusseldorf in Germany, resulting in the loss of all 150 people aboard.
What was meant to be a regular trip for those on board turned tragic an hour into the flight when it crashed in the French Alps at 430mph. An immediate investigation, which included extracting data from the black box, disclosed that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz intentionally caused the crash.
The harrowing event prompted major changes to regulations concerning pilots being alone in the cockpit to prevent such a tragedy from reoccurring. Flight 9525 had a scheduled departure time of 10 am local time, with its final correspondence with air traffic control occurring 30 minutes later.
A critical moment took place when Captain Patrick Sondenheimer left the cockpit for the toilet, when Lubitz seized the opportunity to lock him out. The chilling final words captured by the cockpit voice recorder were Lubitz's to his captain: "You can go now."
Before leaving Lubitz in charge, Sondenheimer informed him he would handle the radio communications. Approximately 28 minutes into their journey, the sound of the cockpit door closing is audible, reports the Daily Record.
At this juncture, Lubitz altered Flight 9525's altitude from 38,000 feet to a mere 100 feet, initiating a descent into the mountains and disregarding communication attempts from air traffic control as the plane plummeted towards the ground.
The co-pilot maintained his silence for the remainder of the flight, while Sondenheimer can be heard pounding on the cockpit door in a desperate attempt to regain entry.
However, the captain's efforts proved futile as Lubitz had also bypassed the emergency access codes that would have allowed the flight crew to enter the cockpit.
This left him alone at the helm, with complete control over the aircraft. As Sondenheimer's desperation escalated, he can be heard shouting, 'open the damn door' whilst continuing his attempts to break down the door.
In the final moments captured on the recording, passengers' screams can be heard just before Flight 9525 crashes into the mountainside. This chilling sound suggests that many were oblivious to the impending disaster until the very last moment.
In the wake of the crash, it emerged that Lubitz had been battling severe depression and had shown signs of suicidal tendencies.
He had been deemed unfit to fly by his doctor, but this crucial information had been concealed from his employer.
Following the incident, there was increased discussion around medical confidentiality, leading to the implementation of new policies within the aviation industry to address pilot mental health.
A former girlfriend of Lubitz provided a haunting perspective on the pilot, recounting to a German paper his ominous words: "One day I will do something that will change the whole system, and then all will know my name and remember it. I never knew what he meant, but now it makes sense."
The family of Lubitz firmly dismissed the conclusive investigation regarding the crash's cause, contesting that it wasn't suicide. They suggested that instead of taking his own life, he had lost consciousness before Flight 9525 met its tragic end.