BEA plans A320 flight to validate Germanwings CVR data
FlightGlobal -- Investigators will conduct a flight with an Airbus A320 to validate sounds picked up by the cockpit voice recorder of the Germanwings aircraft that crashed in the French Alps on 24 March. ...
The aim is not to simulate events on board that aircraft before it crashed, says BEA. Instead, the investigators want to ensure that the sounds of selector knobs and switches being used – as recorded by the CVR on the Germanwings flight – can be precisely attributed to specific controls in the cockpit.
Some interesting details:
[German transport ministry Alexander Dobrindt] says the co-pilot's capacity to act throughout the descent has been "fully proven". FDR data shows that the first officer not only changed the altimeter and speed settings several times but also "actively used the control organ [sidestick]" during this period, he says.
"These three elements are verifiable on the FDR and thus [make] conclusively clear that the co-pilot intervened several times consciously to bring that aircraft to a crash," he says.
The article also states that a preliminary report will be published "within weeks".