Germanwings co-pilot ‘practiced descent on the flight before crash’

The Germanwings co-pilot suspected of deliberately crashing a plane in the French Alps in March practiced a descent on the previous flight, German newspaper Bild has reported. Citing sources close to France’s BEA crash investigation agency, Bild said an interim report BEA was planning to publish on Wednesday would say that Lubitz had practiced reducing flight altitude on the outbound flight from Duesseldorf to Barcelona the same day as the crash.

[The BEA report will talk about a] controlled descent that lasted for minutes and for which there was no aeronautical justification.

Report in German newspaper, Bild

Lubitz had suffered from severe depression in the past and a computer found in his home showed he had used the Internet to research ways of committing suicide in the days leading up to the crash. Lufthansa, which owns Germanwings, declined to comment on the Bild report, pointing to the ongoing investigation.

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