Crash investigators say Germanwings plane sped up in descent

The co-pilot of the Germanwings flight that crashed in the French Alps repeatedly sped up the plane as he used the autopilot to descend into the mountains, according to data recovered from the flight recorder.

The findings from France's BEA agency follow the recovery of the Airbus A320's second black box on Thursday and strengthen French prosecutors' theory that the co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately cause the crash.

"A first reading revealed that the pilot present in the cockpit used automatic pilot to engage the plane into descent to an altitude of about 100ft," or about 30 metres, the BEA said in a statement on Friday.

"Then on several occasions, the pilot changed the settings of automatic pilot to increase the speed of the plane in the descent."

The flight data recorder, also known as the second black box, contains a detailed readout of hundreds of parameters, including any commands made from the co-pilot's seat on the Dusseldorf-bound flight.

The flight recorder, which had been feared lost, was found at the crash site Thursday afternoon and taken to France's air incident investigative bureau outside Paris.

The first black box that gathered sounds in the cockpit had already indicated that Lubitz had locked himself up alone in the cockpit and initiated an eight-minute descent into the ground from 12,000m, which killed 150 people.

Attention has since turned to building a psychological profile of Mr Lubitz.

Dusseldorf prosecutors said this week that the 27-year-old pilot might have had suicidal tendencies. An examination of a tablet device recovered from his home revealed he had searched for suicide methods on the internet.

On at least one day, Lubitz also spent several minutes looking for information about cockpit doors and security procedures, prosecutors said, adding that Lubitz also searched for information on medical treatment.

The revelations have also heaped pressure on Lufthansa, which owns Germanwings. The group has faced difficult questions about what they knew about their pilot's health troubles.

Lufthansa confirmed this week that Mr Lubitz had sent an email to its pilot training school in 2009 revealing he had previously suffered an episode of severe depression.

Lubitz had psychotherapy several years ago when doctors diagnosed suicidal tendencies. He was passed as fit to continue his training and started work as a co-pilot in 2013.

European airlines have also moved to toughen up cockpit rules following the incident.

EasyJet, Air France-KLM, Norwegian, Monarch, Emirates and Air Canada are among those who have introduced new procedures to require two people in the cockpit at all times.

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