Germanwings

Investigators: Alps crash co-pilot tried previous controlled descent

The co-pilot of a crashed Germanwings plane tried a controlled descent on the previous flight on the morning of the crash, French air accident investigators confirmed Wednesday.

The German newspaper Bild first reported that French investigators said co-pilot Andreas Lubitz tried a controlled descent on March 24, the same day he crashed the Airbus 320 into the French Alps, killing all 150 people aboard.

In a report Wednesday, the BEA investigation agency said Lubitz set the plane into a descent several times on the previous flight on the same A320 plane, from Duesseldorf to Barcelona.

"Several altitude selections towards 100 ft were recorded during descent on the flight that preceded the accident flight, while the co-pilot was alone in the cockpit," the preliminary report said.

French and German prosecutors say that Lubitz locked the pilot out of the cockpit and deliberately crashed the plane into a ravine.

Helmut Tolksdorf, a spokesman for Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings, told the AP that the airline had not had time to analyze the new details and planned no immediate comment.