The Airbus A320-200 plane was accelerating to take off for Dortmund, Germany, when one of the engines emitted a loud bang. The crew subsequently rejected take off and safely returned to the apron.

All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.

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The Airbus A319-100 plane took off for Stockholm, Sweden, but had to return shortly afterwards after the crew reported an unidentified odor on board.

The plane landed back uneventfully.

Three passengers were taken to hospitals with respiratory problems while several others were treated at the airport.

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The Airbus A319-100 plane flying from Nuremberg, Germany, was on approach to Berlin when the crew reported an issue with flaps and aborted approach.

The plane landed uneventfully on second approach. All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.

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The Airbus A319-100 plane took off for Stuttgart, Germany, but had to turn back due to a bird strike.

The plane landed uneventfully. Everyone aboard remained safe.

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The plane was accelerating to take off for Stuttgart, Germany, when the crew rejected take off due to asymmetric thrust.

The plane safely returned to the apron.

All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.

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The Airbus A330-200 plane was flying from Palma, Spain, when the crew discovered a leak in a hydraulic system.

The crew decided to continue to Cologne where the plane landed safely.

All passengers and crew members remained unharmed.

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The Airbus A319-100 plane heading from Rhodes, Greece, to Cologne, Germany, was diverted due to a faulty fan.

The plane landed safely. There were 144 people aboard at the time; all of them remained unharmed.

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The plane took off for Domodedovo International Airport, Russia, but had to return shortly afterwards due to a hydraulic issue.

The plane landed uneventfully. There were 131 people aboard at the time; all of them remained unharmed.

The airline arranged a replacement plane for the passengers.

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The plane, flying from Dresden, Germany, declared an emergency after smoke was detected in the cockpit.

The plane landed uneventfully. All 142 passengers and 5 crew members remained safe.

The post Germanwings Plane Makes Emergency Landing at Dusseldorf Airport first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

There is a time to go about our daily business. There is a time to set everything else aside, and just remember. Now it is time to remember.

Dusseldorf airport set aside a room for German family members of the 72 Germans who lost their lives on Flight 9525.

Today in Barcelona, flags were at half-mast and 149 candles lit as people gathered at Barcelona Airport to recall the victims of the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525. On 24 March 2015, one year ago as of tomorrow, Flight 9525 was en route from Barcelona to Dusseldorf when it crashed in the French Alps, killing 144 passengers, two pilots, and four cabin crew. The tragedy was engineered by suicidal co-pilot Andreas Lubitz. Family members gathered here, as well as emergency workers and officials.

There were fifty-one Spanish lost in the crash. Four countries (including the US) lost three victims; seven countries lost two victims, and five countries lost one. I hope that all the families, where ever they live, found comfort somewhere.

On Thursday, the victims’ names will be read and remembered; flowers will be left at the Le Vernet cemetery which houses the accident’s unidentified remains. Six hundred Flight 9525 victim’s friends and family will have a commemoration ceremony in Le Vernet village in the French Alps not far from the crash site. Weather prevents a visit to the crash site.

I was in Le Vernet last July when 149 balloons were released. I can’t help but feel that I should be there again to support the families. I have just returned from Barcelona, and barely unpacked my bags. I can only hope that the year of mourning and grieving has been cathartic, and that the families are finding a way to embrace life again.

The post The Ides of Germanwings: One Year Later first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

Accident to the Airbus A320-211, registered D-AIPX and operated by Germanwings, flight GWI18G, on 03/24/15 at Prads-Haute-Bléone

According to the BEA, they will release the final report on Germanwings 9525 on Sunday, March 13, 2016 during a press briefing. I plan to be there.

Although the public has not seen the final report, and indeed, as the investigation has not yet even been completed, the world already understands what happened aboard this tragic flight. What we really do not understand—and perhaps never will—is what drove Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz to research cockpit door security and methods of committing suicide. We do not know what drove a depressed human being to impel the plane and all the lives in his safekeeping into the side of a French mountain, condemning every soul aboard that plane to death. We do not know the devils that hounded him into this cold-blooded act. We only mourn, perhaps, his loss of humanity, as we mourn alongside the grieving families who have been robbed of their loved ones and their rightful lives.

All passenger/families received a total of 8 million euros, divided equally among them. Media reports on what passengers received from Lufthansa varies.

In the German media, the Rheinische Post claimed officials of the German airline said families of the 144 passengers have obtained different compensation amounts. It is also reported that Lufthansa group has paid 11.2 million euros ($12.48 million) to the families. Additional “uncalculated” compensation in “property damages” is still coming from Lufthansa to the families.

This compensation…coming from Lufthansa, whose 2014 profit was declared “flat” at a mere $31.7 billion, announced in October of 2015 a nine-month net profit of €1.75 billion ($ 1.97 billion), up 262.7% from €482 million. The tragedy which destroyed 150 lives, and crippled all of their families appears to have left Lufthansa’s bottom line untouched.

Do we also mourn and grieve and condemn Lufthansa? The depth of the ethics and principals of this many billion dollar company—the largest airline in Europe—remains to be seen. We can ask ourselves if this is a high-principled company of good repute, of sterling honor. We need not conjecture long. A tangible answer will be obvious when these decisions are made. We will see where lie their priorities when we learn how they treat the families whose lives hang in the balance in their custodianship.

The post Lufthansa: Safekeeping Profits or Passengers? first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

The Airbus A320-200, en-route to Barcelona, Spain, from Cologne, Germany, had to return due to an unusual odor in the cockpit.

The plane landed uneventfully and all 164 passengers remained unhurt.

Passengers were accommodated in a replacement plane.

The post Germanwings Airbus Returns to Germany due to Odor in Cockpit first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

In a recent interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said such random drug tests will help improve flight safety.

It is believed that the airline will submit a proposal for unannounced drug tests to the German taskforce that was set up after flight 9525 crashed in French Alps on March 24.

The post Lufthansa to Propose Random Drug Tests for Pilots first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

The airline said Milan-bound flight 4U 826 was taxiing to the runway when the air traffic tower asked the pilot to abort the flight due to a bomb threat.

All 132 people aboard were evacuated safely. The airline confirmed that the plane was thoroughly searched but not explosive device was found.

An alternate aircraft was arranged for the passengers.

The post Bomb Threat Prompts Evacuation of Germanwings Plane first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

Cockpit door designed to lock trouble out locks in Suicidal Pilot

Pasadena, CA — (ReleaseWire) — 04/02/2015 — As an advocate (not a lawyer) of fair compensation for the victims of plane crashes, I have been closely following the story behind the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 and the now notorious 27-year-old co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz. As is always the case, a team of expert investigators will dig out the facts to determine the most likely scenario behind the crash. That careful investigation will take a year at the very least. In this Germanwings accident, the one factor that stands out already is the role played by the pilot’s state of mind in what appears now to be his deliberate collision course with the French Alps. It is now common knowledge that the plane disintegrated on impact with the Massif des Trois-Évêchés. Imagine how horrified the families were when the transcript of the CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) was quickly leaked by tabloids. Journalists have been shouldering each other out of the way to get to the front of the line, “scooping” each with another “leaked” nugget. A girlfriend’s interview. A medical report here. A video there. TV commentators and newspapers from CNN and the venerable New York Times to the most scurrilous tabloids are spouting “the facts” faster than investigators can have gotten to the information. Tweeting the news as I do results in loads of source-checking, and plenty of on-going head-scratching moments while weeding out wild supposition masquerading as news in sources one would normally consider impeccable. When one source says “the plane is blue,” another says “the plane is red.” Sometimes I can determine which is the truth, but sometimes I have to leave it to readers to puzzle out.

I have been working Wrongful Death cases for some forty-seven years now. I am a consultant to attorneys across the globe who represent the families of Wrongful Death victims. Each investigation is exactly the same in terms of the emotional impact of the accident. Devastating. Whether the case may or may not end up in court, whether or not the accident catches the media’s attention, every aspect is always impossibly difficult for the families. Some accidents seem similar because they share a factor, whether it be similar weather conditions, mechanical difficulties, or a particular flaw in a particular model of plane.

Some aviation accidents personify extremes. Consider that while there is always some degree of speculation as to an accident’s cause, MH370 brought as many conspiracy theorists out of the woodwork in this past twelve months as Amelia Earhart’s disappearance has in the past 87 years. Everything seems plausible when people are desperate for an explanation. Because in this age of cell phones and satellites, there is simply no explanation for a plane to vanish, MH370 has become the “poster child” for speculation. I expect MH370 will continue to spawn new theories and will endure as a mystery until, at some point, the wreckage will be found and examined.

If I were comparing MH370 and Germanwings 9525, I could write a whole piece examining the conflict of government transparency vs. individual confidentiality, but that was not my intent today. I was just thinking of aviation safety, and how 9/11 became the catalyst for upgraded multifaceted flight deck security. One outcome of 9/11 is the impregnable, indestructible cockpit door, the brain child of countless engineering hours, security and scientific research. Passengers since 9/11 have flown safe in the knowledge that no intruder could again gain entry to the cockpit and overpower the pilot thanks to redundant enhanced security precautions and a door designed to keep the dangerous people out. Now there’s a cockpit voice recording that appears to show that same safe cockpit door is the barrier that kept the PIC from being able to save everyone aboard. Captain Patrick Sondenheimer died trying to get that door open.

The impregnable cockpit door, the terrible irony of Germanwings Flight 9525.

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The post The Ironic Tragedy of Germanwings Flight 9525 first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, flight crews no longer have keys to open the cockpit door. The door remains locked during flight. When entry is requested on the outside keypad, a buzzer goes off. The pilot can toggle the switch and unlock the door.

The CVR now seems to indicate that copilot Andreas Lubitz locked out the Pilot In Command, Captain Patrick Sondenheimer. There is audio record of him attempting to get through the invincible door.

Read more about Germanwings Flight 9525

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