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Airbus A320 crash in France

Flight data recorder confirms Germanwings pilot crashed plane deliberately — investigators

The pilot put the plane into descent and adjusted the automatic pilot to speed up the descent

© EPA/YVES MALENFER/DICOM/MINISTERE INTERIEUR/HO

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Germanwings co-pilot studied suicide methods before crash — German prosecutors

PARIS, April 3. /TASS/. Data retrieved from the second black box found at the Germanwings crash site in the French Alps have confirmed that that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crahsed Flight 9525 on March 24, killing 150 people, the French air accident investigation agency (BEA) said on Friday.

"The pilot put the plane into descent and adjusted the automatic pilot to speed up the descent," BEA said in a statement.

The flight data recorder was discovered on Thursday, while the cockpit voice recorder was found soon after the crash.

French prosecutors said after recovering the plane's cockpit voice recorder that Lubitz was suspected of bringing down the Airbus after blocking his captain's re-entry into the cockpit.

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Meanwhile, prosecutors in Dusseldorf said on Thursday that Lubitz had studied suicide methods on the Internet shortly before the crash. German investigators searched the co-pilot's tablet computer and discovered that he had also reseaerched cockpit door security,

The plane en route from Barcelona to Dusseldorf crashed in mountainous terrain in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, southern France. All 150 people onboard, including 144 passengers and six crew, died in the crash.

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