Pilot of Doomed Germanwings Flight Tried to Smash Cockpit Door with Ax

From the Washington Post:

In a last-ditch attempt to enter the cockpit, the pilot of doomed Germanwings Flight 9525 used an ax to try to break down the reinforced door moments before the plane slammed into the French Alps, reports said Friday.

The accounts added another dramatic and tragic image as Tuesday’s tragedy unfolded: passengers crying out in terror as they realized the plane was on a collision course with the peaks, and the pilot desperately trying to override the apparent lockout measures of co-pilot Andreas Lubitz and regain control of the Airbus A320.

French prosecutors said the cockpit flight recorder was peppered with the sounds of the increasingly frantic banging on the cockpit door. And – as a chilling counterpoint – there was only the subtle sounds of Lubitz breathing after apparently setting the plane on a gradual descent into the mountains of southern France with 150 people aboard.

“Andreas, open that door! Open that door!’” the pilot yelled before reaching for the ax, France’s private television channel Métropole 6 reported, citing French investigators.

Read the rest of the story at the Washington Post.