FRANCE (CNN) – Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz practiced putting his aircraft into a controlled descent on the flight that preceded the crash of his jetliner into the French Alps on March 24, according to an interim report Wednesday by French air accident investigators.
The report by the French air accident investigation agency, the BEA, is based on analysis of the aircraft’s flight data recorders.
This indicates that on the flight out from Germany to Spain, “Several altitude selections towards 100 ft were recorded during descent on the flight that preceded the accident flight, while the co-pilot was alone in the cockpit.”
The data recorders indicate the captain had left Lubitz alone on the flight deck for less than five minutes.
On the return flight from Barcelona, Spain, to Dusseldorf, Germany, Lubitz is accused of purposely slamming Germanwings Flight 9525 into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board, while the captain was locked out of the cockpit.
