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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    Pilot 'Deliberately' Downed the Germanwings Plane

    Tuesday's Germanwings airline crash that killed 150 people is now being investigated as a criminal case. The co-pilot is suspected of intentionally flying the Airbus 320 into a mountain in the French Alps. Speaking through a translator, French Prosecutor Brice Robin announced, "I consider it to be deliberate.

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    By Warren Olney • Mar 26, 2015 • 1 min read

    Tuesday's Germanwings airline crash that killed 150 people is now being investigated as a criminal case. The co-pilot is suspected of intentionally flying the Airbus 320 into a mountain in the French Alps. Speaking through a translator, French Prosecutor Brice Robin announced, "I consider it to be deliberate. First of all, refusing entry to the cockpit; second, maneuvering the lever for loss of altitude."

    Carsten Spohr is chief executive of Lufthansa, which owns GermanWings. The former pilot of the Airbus 320 — the kind of plane now said to have crashed deliberately with deadly results, told CNN today, "Apparently after the pilot... after the captain left the cockpit, he tried to regain access. There were knocks on the doors, according to French authorities, and the door was either kept locked or not opened in the way it was supposed to be. And that for sure is a clear indication that the remaining pilot, the copilot, didn't want the captain to return."

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

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      Sáša Woodruff

      Producer, 'To the Point'

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      Mike Kessler

      freelance journalist

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      Katie Cooper

      Producer, 'One year Later'

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      Vivienne Walt

      Time magazine

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      Alan Levin

      Bloomberg News

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      Thomas Anthony

      University of Southern California

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