Early Tuesday morning, a Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crashed in the Alps in southeastern France. This plane had around 150 people on it. The crash had such impact that it obliterated the plane, and sent shock waves through three European nations. Flight 9525 left Barcelona Spain on its way to Dusseldorf, a little after 10 a.m. The flight went down at 10:53 a.m. near Digne-les-Bains in the Alpes de Haute Provence region of France. The crash area is a very remote area, so the only way to make it to the site is by helicopter. Helicopter crews started searching soon after they got reports of the plane going down. The plane was completely destroyed by the speed and climate and terrain of the area. When the plane crashed, it virtually crumbled due to the cold weather. Small pieces of the plane were recovered, none being bigger than a small car, along with human remains spread all across the area. Authorities said that it will be difficult to recover any bodies due to the damage done by the crash and snow in the forecast.

The German passenger plane was carrying 144 passengers, with two known infants, and six crewmembers on the plane. Along with them, there were many students and teachers on the plane. Relatives of the students gathered at the Barcelona airport, where a crisis center has been set up. There were sixteen students and two students from a German high school on the flight. Joseph Koenig Gymnasium of Haltern Germany is in a hoping and mourning time right now, waiting to hear more on their fellow students. A crisis center has been set up in the city hall in Haltern as well.

Update:

Reports now lead to conclusions that the copilot of flight 9252 might have crashed the plane on purpose while the pilot was in the restroom. The copilot was 28-year-old, Andreas Lubitz. Lots of other pilots are shocked from hearing word of him crashing the plane. They say that the man that they knew would never have deliberately crashed a plane. “He was a very normal young person, full of energy,” said Klaus Radke, a fellow pilot in Lubitz’ area. “What can I say? He had a bright future. He made his hobby into his job. What more can you hope to achieve?”

Even officials in charge of this investigation are still shocked about why Lubitz would crash the large passenger plane. According to the audio from the cockpit voice recorder, Lubitz had locked the pilot out of the cockpit while he steered the plane. Another fellow pilot from the area, Peter Ruecker says that it doesn’t seem like Lubitz to wreck the plane. “Knowing Andreas, this is just inconceivable for me,” said Ruecker.

Investigators have now found paperwork in Lubitz’ apartment that show that he has mental illnesses that say that he cannot fly. In his trash, investigators found a torn up note from a doctor that called him “unfit to work”. A doctor in a Dusseldorf clinic said that Lubitz had came in twice concerning a diagnosis. The University Clinic said that they had not treated him for depression, where some reports show that they should have.