Germanwings Flight 9525 (4U9525/GWI9525) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Barcelona to Düsseldorf, operated by Lufthansa-owned low-cost airline Germanwings. On 24 March 2015, the aircraft serving that flight, an Airbus A320-211, crashed around 100 kilometres (62 mi) northwest of Nice, in the French Alps. All 144 passengers and six crew were killed.It is the third-deadliest crash of an Airbus A320, after TAM Airlines Flight 3054 and Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501, and the third-deadliest aviation disaster on French soil, after Turkish Airlines Flight 981 and Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308. As of the day of its occurrence, March 24, 2015, it is the deadliest aviation accident in 2015, with the highest death toll of any aviation incident since December of 2014.
Flight 9525 took off from Runway 07R at Barcelona–El Prat Airport at around 10:01 CET (09:01 UTC) and was due to arrive at Düsseldorf Airport by 11:39 CET (10:39 UTC). The flight's scheduled departure time was at 9:35 CET (08:35 UTC).The French aviation authority Direction générale de l'aviation civile (DGAC) declared the aircraft in distress after the aircraft's descent and loss of radio contact. The aircraft had reached its cruising altitude, flight level 380 (approx. 38,000 ft [12,000 m]) at 9:27 GMT. Three minutes later the aircraft began its descent —the purpose of the descent is not currently known. 14 minutes after the initial descent, radar contact with the aircraft was lost. The aircraft crashed within the territory of the remote commune of Prads-Haute-Bléone, which is about 100 kilometres (62 mi) north-west of Nice. Radar contact was lost at 10:53; at the time, the aircraft was flying at an altitude of about 6,800 ft (2,100 m).The crash is the deadliest air disaster in France since the crash of Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308 in 1981, which killed 180 people. This was also the first crash of a civil airliner in France since the Air France Flight 4590 Concorde crash near Paris in 2000.
ABOUT AIRCRAFT
The aircraft involved was an Airbus A320-211, serial number 147, registered as D-AIPX. Its first flight was on 29 November 1990, and it was delivered to Lufthansa on 5 February 1991. It served with Germanwings for the first time in 2003. It was returned to Lufthansa in 2004 and was re-transferred to the relaunched Germanwings on 31 January 2014. The aircraft had accumulated about 58,300 flight hours on 46,700 flights. The original Design Service Goal (DSG) of the aircraft was 60,000 hours or 48,000 flights. In 2012 an optional Extended Service Goal (ESG1) was approved, extending the service life to 120,000 hours or 60,000 flights, provided that a required package of service and inspections were performed before the DSG was reached.
In the arms of the angel, fly away from here. We know you are in good hands now. We love and miss you! Rest in peace. |
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