The pilots sent out no distress call and had lost radio contact with their control center, France's aviation authority said, deepening the mystery over the A320's mid-flight crash after a surprise 8-minute descent.
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/st...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-24-09-07-08
Eric Heraud of the French Civil Aviation Authority said the Germanwings plane
lost radio contact with a control center at
10:30 a.m. Tuesday, but "never declared a distress alert itself."
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/st...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-24-09-07-08
Germanwings chief executive Thomas Winkelmann said the aircraft began descending at 10.45am, a minute after reaching cruising height of 38,000ft.
This descent lasted eight minutes, he told reporters in Cologne.
Radar and air traffic control contact broke off at 10.53am when it is understood to have
crashed at more than 400mph.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ldorf-francois-hollande-Lufthansa-4U9525.html
10:01 Flight 4U9525 departs Barcelona for Dusseldorf altitude mph
10:27 Flight reaches its cruising altitude without incident 38,000 520
10:29 Aircraft crosses the French coast just east of Marseille 38,000 532
10:30 Aircraft continues at its cruising altitude 38,000 547
10:31 The aircraft appears to have dropped more than 2,000 feet 37,975 549
10:32 The pilot fails to inform Air Traffic control of the drop in altitude 35,575 544
10:33 The jet continues along its course but has lost almost 8,000 feet 32,625 544
10:34 Radar returns show the jet starts to increase its speed 28,875 552
10:35 After five minutes, the aircraft has dropped almost 14,000 feet 24,650 560
10:36 The doomed jet passed over Montagnac-Montepezat 20,300 547
10:37 Next the jet passed Puimoisson Airport continuing its rapid descent 17,050 518
10:38 Seven minutes into the emergency the jet had lost 25,000 feet 13,300 496
10:39 Now the jet was passing the 4,000ft high Upper Bleone Forest 10,475 473
10:40 One minute from impact, the jet was 4,000 feet above the ground 8,250 442
10:41 Air traffic controllers lose contact with the aircraft 6,800 435
10:47 French Air Traffic declares an emergency