Germanwings ‘shaken’ by pilot allegations

Germanwings Airlines says it is “shaken” by allegations that one of its pilots deliberately crashed a plane in the French Alps, killing 150 people. 

“We are shaken by the upsetting statements of the French authorities,” the airline tweeted Thursday morning after the allegations were made by a French prosecutor. 

“Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the families and friends of the victims,” the airline continued. 

{mosads}The Associated Press reported that Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said the co-pilot had locked the pilot out of the cockpit and “intentionally” set the plane into the descent on Tuesday that ended with it crashing into a mountainside near Nice, France.

The co-pilot seemed to want to “destroy the plane,” he said.

“There’s nothing to suggest a terrorist attack … but we’ll see,” he added.

Officials said that the co-pilot, whom authorities identified as 28-year-old Andreas Lubitz, was a German who had not been labeled as a terrorist.

The flight from Barcelona, Spain, to Dusseldorf, Germany, was carrying 150 people — 144 passengers and six crew members — when it crashed into the mountain at a high speed.

Germanwings parent company Lufthansa Airlines offered a similar statement about the reports from French authorities. 

The parent company had said it was mystified by the crash before the French authorities revealed their findings on Thursday. 

“We cannot comprehend how a technically flawless airplane steered by two experienced pilots could encounter such a situation at cruising altitude,” Lufthansa said in a series of tweets before the report about the pilot was confirmed. 

“All of us at Lufthansa are working to ensure that such an incident will never occur again,” the airline continued. “We cannot believe that this has happened.” 

The manufacturer of the type of plane that involved in the crash has meanwhile defended the model, which was an Airbus A320.  

“The A320 is a twin engine single aisle aircraft seating 150 passengers in a standard two classes configuration,” the company said in a statement. “The first A320 entered service in March 1988. By the end of February 2015 nearly 6,200 A320 Family aircraft were in operation worldwide. To date, the entire fleet has accumulated some 150 million flight hours in over 85 million flights.” 

U.S. transportation authorities have largely been quiet about the Germanwings crash, but White House officials have said there were no signs of terrorism in the accident. 

—David McCabe contributed to this report