[This story was updated at 3:30 p.m. to include new information from a press conference.]
French accident investigators have found the flight data recorder (FDR) of the Germanwings Airbus A320 that crashed on March 24 in the French Alps. French prosecutor Brice Robin, who is handling the pending criminal charges, announced the breakthrough in the investigation with a short statement confirming that “the second black box has just been found by investigators at the site of the crash.” The FDR was delivered to the Paris headquarters of French accident investigation late on Thursday.
At a press conference held in Marseille on Thursday evening local time, Robin said that further evidence from the aircraft' cockpit voice recorder (CVR has established that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz was conscious when he was alone in the cockpit. He told reporters that Lubitz, who he accuses of deliberately crashing the A320, changed speed settings multiple times to avoid triggering an overspeed alarm. "He corrected the speed at least twice," Robin said, arguing that this proves Lubitz was conscious until the point of impact.
According to the prosecutor, the FDR was partly scorched by fire but he believes it will be possible to retrieve all data from the box. The FDR contains more than 500 operational parameters, including the aircraft's speed, altitude, acceleration and direction. It can also confirm the timings of radio transmissions from the cockpit.
The FDR was found by a police officer on the left side of a ravine that had already been searched. BEA gave police an example of an FDR to help them know what to look for since it is similar in shape and color to the rocks on the mountainside. The police officer had to dig to retrieve the box.
After publicly accusing Lubitz barely 48 hours after the investigation began, Robin’s office has yet to confirm the exact criminal charges it intends to pursue or name magistrates to handle the committal proceedings. His accusation was based on a transcript from the cockpit voice recorder, which was found within a few hours of the crash.
The accident investigation is being conducted by France’s BEA agency, which operates independently of the judiciary. It has yet to confirm the recovery of the FDR and has expressed dissatisfaction about the alleged leaking to the media of information from the CVR.
Meanwhile, German prosecutors today reported that a tablet found at Lubitz’s home revealed that the 27-year-old pilot had been conducting Internet research into suicide methods and cockpit door mechanisms. In recent days, the German media has been full of conflicting unconfirmed information about Lubitz’s medical records and the extent to which Germanwings parent company Lufthansa was aware of any specific issues.