On Tuesday, March 24, Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 crashed into the French Alps at an astonishing speed of over 700km/h, or 430mi/h. The impact killed all 150 passengers instantly, disintegrated the plane, and unleashed a massive debris field on an inaccessible slope in the French Alps.

The plane’s black box, a device that records everything happening in the cockpit during the flight, was recovered by authorities. The majority of the flight audio was normal, but as the pilot was discussing landing details to his copilot, the copilot became very reserved and quiet.

It was concluded from the recording that the veteran pilot of the plane left the cockpit to use the restroom, relinquishing control of the aircraft to the copilot, Andreas Lubitz. After the pilot shut the cockpit door behind him, Lubitz activated the safety lock on the door, which makes the nearly impenetrable door even more difficult to open. The feature, which was developed after the events of the September 11^th terrorist attacks, is designed to halt any attempt to enter the cockpit from the outside.

Lubitz then set the autopilot of the aircraft to descend from the cruising altitude of 38,000 feet, to only 100 feet, more than low enough to hit the side of a mountain. The audio recorder in the cockpit clearly picked up the pilot kicking at the door and screaming at Lubitz to let him back in, while Lubitz sat in total silence. In the final moments of the flight, Lubitz’s calm, almost haunting breathing pattern can be heard on the recorder, along with the screams of passengers seconds before the plane crashed into the mountainside.

Mr. Lubitz, who was 27, “was 100% fit to fly without any caveats”, according to Carsten Spohr, CEO of Lufthansa, which is the parent company of Germanwings. The official investigation has determined that Lubitz deliberately and consciously orchestrated the crash. The only question left is that of Lubitz’s motive, and that has become the main focus of the investigation. A spokesman of the investigation has confirmed that Lubitz was “not known by us” as having any visible links to any extremist or terrorist group. Unfortunately, this type of apparent murder-suicide is not unknown to the aviation world. There have been three other recorded instances like that of Flight 4U 9525.

FSA Connection Questions

1. In the article, the author uses a quote from which person?
2. In the piece, the word “aviation” means what?
3. The author seems to offer what main idea?
4. Select the best 2 sentences from the story that support the idea of Lubitz deliberately crashing the plane.
5. What is the connotation of the word “veteran” in the story?