Search aircraft find the remains of Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 scattered all over...

www.dailymail.co.uk ^ | Updated: 11:36 EST, 24 March 2015 | By Simon Tomlinson and John Hutchinson and Gerard Couzens, Richard Spillett, Fidelma Cook et al

[Red Badger]

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 board and 16 children from the same school on an exchange trip were among some 100 Germans also feared to have died.

Images from the first rescue helicopters to reach the crash site showed wreckage scattered across hundreds of metres of mountainside, with some debris the size of a car.

Earlier reports quoted aviation sources in France as saying the pilots issued a Mayday distress signal and requested an emergency descent minutes before it hit the ground.

However, civil aviation authorities later denied that air traffic controllers received any such call.

'The aircraft did not itself make a distress call, but it was the combination of the loss of radio contact and the aircraft's descent which led the controller to implement the distress phase,' a spokesman for the French civil aviation authority said.

Germanwings chief executive Thomas Winkelmann said the aircraft began descending at 10.45am, a minute after reaching cruising height of 38,000ft.

[woodbutcher1963]

If we remember the strike on the Pentagon on 9/11, there was hardly anything left except the engines.

[SkyDancer]

Oxygen system went out? Pilots incapacitated? Strange no comm’s with ATC ....

[tcrlaf]

Far from me to question anyone on the Internet, but if you fly an Airbus outside of FlightSim, you know that there is an “Emergency Descent” setting that can be activated, in the case of cabin pressure loss.

And it’s been available since 1980.

Boeing required the mod in all of it’s aircraft years ago.

[SkyDancer]

Oxygen system went out? Pilots incapacitated? Strange no comm’s with ATC ....or the ROP planted a bomb since there were mentioned two distinct booms ....

[Tzfat]

It is nearly impossible for an Airbus to exceed its VMAX or to overload the wing etc. Bomb, or some other catastrophic event is a better theory - nothing gradual because the result was not gradual.

[Toespi]

I can’t see it being a terrorist attack, simply because no terrorist groups have announced their responsibility in the crash. An attack would be pointless if it didn’t create terror.

[TexasGator]

“Something doesn’t add up, with the plane being so far off course.”

The article says it was on course?

[Red Badger]

I wonder if ISIS will lay claim to this disaster, even if they didn’t do it?.............

[Red Badger]

I wonder if ISIS will lay claim to this disaster, even if they didn’t do it?.............

[Red Badger]

The booms could have been echoes from the Alps.............

[Tzfat]

Far from me to question anyone on the Internet, but if you fly an Airbus outside of FlightSim, you know that there is an “Emergency Descent” setting that can be activated, in the case of cabin pressure loss.

Funny. I can tell you that there is no such thing, and I have thousands of hours on the A320 series aircraft.

All emergency descents are crew initiated. Period. There is no automatic emergency descent, nor has there ever been. I have 10,00 hours in B737, and I can assure you there is no such thing there either. The only automatic feature in a loss of cabin pressure is the PAX O2 masks drop at cabin altitude of 14,000. The autoflight system does absolutely zero in the event of a cabin loss.

[Tzfat]

It depends. If those are accurate. Many of those consumer web sites simply average out the time between returns. We may have to wait until the flight data record is possibly read to know what really happened with altitude and airspeed. Then, like TWA 800, we may be given bogus information if the conclusions don’t add up.

[Tzfat]

It depends. If those are accurate. Many of those consumer web sites simply average out the time between returns. We may have to wait until the flight data record is possibly read to know what really happened with altitude and airspeed. Then, like TWA 800, we may be given bogus information if the conclusions don’t add up.

[tcrlaf]

I never said it wasn't crew initiated, I said the autopilot mode exists, and can be activated. Boeing required it be fitted years ago. Autopilot for aircraft having automatic descent function in the event of cabin depressurization US 6507776 B1 http://www.google.com/patents/US6507776 As I said, if the pilot/FO recognized Hypoxia, but too late to do more than dial down the altitude before incapacitation, that would explain the CONTROLLED but fast descent, which is my unfounded theory. Here is an example Emergency Action flow for an Emergency descent.

[Yaelle]

Sometimes planes just disintegrate?

[SkyDancer]

But from what?

[Tzfat]

Apparently you do not know what a flow is. A flow is not “activated.” It is simply a series of steps. Each pilot has separate steps. It is the left seat pilot (not always the captain in an augmented crew with 3 or more pilots) that initiates the descent.

Every step is a crew step. NOTHING is automatic. And, you missed the first, most important step in the flow for EVERY airline on EVERY aircraft. Crew O2 On/100%. No hypoxia.

[Tzfat]

I said the autopilot mode exists, and can be activated.

Take a look at your flow diagram again. There is no autopilot "setting" for emergency descent. The left seat pilot is setting the altitude to 10,000 (as I said previously would the floor), then checking speed in case of structural damage, etc. No "emergency descent setting" - those are simply normal settings in the autopilot. In every single case, the pilot must be conscious, and if aware that a descent must be initiated, would most certainly already be on O2. No hypoxia.

[tcrlaf]

And when was your last Hypoxia Recognition Course?

As I said, if the pilot, OR FO, recognized Hypoxia, dialed down the altitude, and then passed out, it could explain the flight path we have seen.

And as I have proven, Hypoxia incidents HAVE happened in the Modern Era. The example I cited was the Helios crash from 2005.

Also as I have proven, a mod DOES exist for automatic autopilot override for emergency descent in the event of a cabin pressure loss.

At this time, all we are doing is speculating without facts, anyway.

I have a theory. That’s all it is, a theory, based on the limited amount of data available, and my own knowledge/experience.

[Karl Spooner]

No "emergency descent setting" - those are simply normal settings in the autopilot.

Would it be possible that the auto pilot software could be tampered with? If so, could it be possible that the crew would not of noticed what was going on?