Free Republic

On Fox News, Greta just reported that the NY Times is reporting that regarding the plane crash in the Alps, one pilot was unable to return to the cockpit during the flight.

The co-pilot of the Germanwings flight that authorities believe was deliberately crashed in the French Alps was certified by U.S. aviation officials. The co-pilot, 28-year-old Andreas Guenter Lubitz, was granted status as an airman by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Jan. 6, 2012, according to the agency’s online database. French authorities have accused Lubitz of locking the captain of Germanwings Flight 9525 out of the cockpit and intentionally crashing the plane, killing all 150 people who were on board. The FAA certification lists Lubitz as a “private pilot (foreign based)” who is proficient in single engine landings and gliders....

The German co-pilot who deliberately flew a Germanwings flight into the French Alps has been named as Andreas Lubitz, who was aged 28. Prosecutors said information suggested he was fully conscious as the plane went down. "The co-pilot is alone at the controls," prosecutor Brice Robin said, drawing on information gathered from the black box recorder. "He voluntarily refused to open the door of the cockpit to the pilot and voluntarily began the descent of the plane." Details of Lubitz's life are still emerging, with investigators confirming he did not have any known terrorist links. According to the website of...

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is recognizing Andreas Guenter Lubitz with inclusion in the prestigious FAA Airmen Certification Database. The database, which appears on the agency's website at www.faa.gov, names Lubitz and other certified pilots who have met or exceeded the high educational, licensing and medical standards established by the FAA. Pilot certification standards have evolved over time in an attempt to reduce pilot errors that lead to fatal crashes. FAA standards, which are set in consultation with the aviation industry and the public, are among the highest in the world. Transportation safety experts strongly recommend against flying with an...

The co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 appears to have deliberately crashed the plane after he was left alone in the cockpit, according to a French prosecutor. The captain was intentionally locked outside minutes before the A320 crashed into an alpine mountain ridge, French Prosecutor Brice Robin said Thursday. Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, a 28-year-old German national, was silent throughout the plane’s descent and was alive at the point of impact, according to the prosecutor. Mr. Robin’s conclusions are drawn from the plane’s cockpit voice recorder, recovered at the crash site in the French Alps late Tuesday and analyzed by French accident...

The director of the lead investigating agency said today that they have recovered an audio file from the black box of the downed Germanwings flight but have not found the second black box from the Airbus A320 that crashed in the French Alps. This comes after French Prime Minister Francois Hollande said at an earlier news conference when he said that crews had found the exterior of the black box but not the module that contains the memory equipment, though a the director of the Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses (BEA) went on to deny any such discovery. "We have not...

PARIS — As officials struggled Wednesday to explain why a jet with 150 people on board crashed in relatively clear skies, an investigator said evidence from a cockpit voice recorder indicated one pilot left the cockpit before the plane’s descent and was unable to get back in.

GatesofVienna: Terror in the Alps?Given the multiple terror threats issued recently by Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, whenever a major jetliner crashes one immediately suspects that jihad may be involved. And, given the Western political propensity to deny and cover up any planned Islamic terror attack, one suspects that the evidence of jihad will emerge slowly, if ever. The A320 is designed to cruise at 37,000 feet for optimum fuel usage. The fact that it began a controlled descent at full speed without making radio contact with air traffic controllers is peculiar, to say the least. A320 pilots...

FULL TITLE: Search aircraft find the remains of Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 scattered all over an alpine mountainside: Riddle over why pilots didn't send SOS despite taking eight minutes to fall 32,000 feet The final moments of Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 were shrouded in mystery today after air traffic controllers claimed they received no SOS despite the jet nosediving 32,000ft in just eight minutes. All 144 passengers and six crew were today presumed dead after the Airbus A320 crashed in a remote region of the French Alps en route from Spain to Germany. Two babies were among 45 Spanish on...

"An Airbus A320 has crashed in the southern French Alps, a security source has said." & "A Germanwings A320 has crashed in the southern French Alps, according to security sources."

... be hailed a hero for trying to avert disaster' An investigation into the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and three others could now be reopened after a respected pilot brought forward new factors as to how the aircraft may have gone down. At the time of the crash, the Civil Aeronautics Board ruled the probable cause of the crash was error by the pilot, Roger Peterson, who took off from Mason City to Moorhead, Minnesota, in inclement weather, even though he was qualified. The chartered plane crashed in Iowa not long after takeoff, killing Holly, Peterson, and...

I didn't see it posted. Earlier today Harrison Ford Crashed out of Santa Monica airport on to a golf course in nearby Venice. It was an old school Ryan (?) he was flying solo. He is injured fairly badly, but not dead. No report said he is expected to die, or live.

Following the news that actor Harrison Ford, who made his name flying the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars, had crashed his plane on a golf course in California, Twitter was quick to react in its own inimitable way. Here are the best of the online jokes and memes.

A small plane piloted by Harrison Ford has crash-landed at an L.A. golf course ... but we're told the actor has survived. TMZ has learned ... Ford was piloting what appears to be a vintage 2-seater fighter plane Thursday ... when something went wrong and he crashed into Penmar golf course in Venice, CA. We're told Ford suffered multiple gashes to his head and was bleeding. Two doctors who happened to be at the golf course rushed over to treat the actor. Emergency personnel arrived to the scene a short time later. Ford was transported to a nearby hospital. 72-year-old...

LAYTON — Two men suffered just minor injuries when their plane crashed into a golf course Saturday morning. The plane — which has been identified by Layton city as a single-engine Cessna — went down at the Valley View Golf Course at 2501 E. Gentile Street just after 10 a.m. Witnesses reported seeing the plane's wing clip a tree before it landed upside-down near a sand trap on the course. Both the pilot and his male passenger made it out of the aircraft with minor injuries, according to Layton police. The pilot was released at the scene, while the other...

Fifty four years after a Douglas DC-3 crashed in Chile’s Andes – killing all 24 people aboard, including members of a Chilean soccer team and three referees – a team of mountaineers discovered the remains of the crash. The 1961 LAN 301 air crash was deemed at the time one of the world’s major air disasters involving athletes – surpassed maybe only by the 1972 Uruguayan plane crash that stranded members of a rugby in the high Andes. The plane’s whereabouts has been one of the great unsolved aerial mysteries.

The bodies of Liao and his co-pilot were retrieved from the almost-new turboprop ATR 72-600's cockpit still clutching the joystick, with their legs badly broken, investigators said. UPDATED taiwan-crashTAIPEI: The pilot of the crashed TransAsia plane was still clutching the joystick when his body was found in the cockpit, after he battled to avoid populated areas, reports said Friday as the airline faced sanctions over its second fatal accident. The TransAsia Airways ATR 72-600 crashed shortly after take-off from Songshan airport in Taipei on Wednesday, hitting an elevated road as it banked steeply away from buildings and into the Keelung...

Mountaineers in Chile have discovered the wreckage of a plane that went missing more than 50 years ago. Twenty four people died when the aircraft disappeared in 1961 - among them eight players for what was then one of Chile's top football teams. VIDEO at site.

One of the engines on TransAsia Airways Flight 235 went idle soon after takeoff, and the pilots apparently shut off the other engine before the plane crashed, according to Taiwan’s top aviation official.

Selfies likely contributed to a small plane crash in Colorado last year that killed two people, federal investigators have said. Video footage from a GoPro camera found near the wreckage showed the pilot and passenger taking flash "self-photographs" with their mobile phones prior to the 31 May crash, said a report. The report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the phone use likely disoriented the pilot, causing him to lose control of the two-seat Cessna 150 near Denver. "Based on the evidence of cell phone use during low-altitude manoeuvering ... it is likely that cell phone use during...