Full transcript: French prosecutor Brice Robin explains Germanwings Flight 9525 black box recording

“The black box that is there is the cockpit voice recorder which recorded the spoken exchange between the pilot and co-pilot because we have the transcription of the last 30 minutes of this flight in its entirety.

During the first 20 minutes, the two pilots’ conversation was completely normal, and even in a manner that one could call playful, like normal pilots on a normal flight, so, nothing out of the ordinary.

Then we hear them preparing the briefing for their landing in Duesseldorf, and the replies of the co-pilot seemed laconic.

Then the pilot asked the co-pilot to take command of the plane, I repeat, we hear the pilot asking the co-pilot to take command of the plane, and at the same time the noise of a seat reclining and the door opening and closing.

One could legitimately infer that as is reasonable he had gone to answer a call of nature. At that moment the co-pilot was alone at the controls. It is then that the co-pilot uses the flight monitoring system button to put the plane into descend mode, I repeat, the pilot is in lone control of this Airbus 320, that the pilot is pressing the buttons of the flight monitoring system to put into action the descent mode.

The action of altitude selection could not be anything but deliberate. The action of altitude selection could not be anything but deliberate. Then we hear several calls from the captain demanding to be let into the cockpit. This is done via an intercom with a screen, you can say he showed himself, he identified himself, but there is no response from the co-pilot. He knocked to be asked to be let into the cockpit, and there is no response from the co-pilot.

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We could hear human breathing inside the cabin, and this breathing noise we heard up until the moment of final impact. The means that the co-pilot was alive. We could also hear the contacts from the control tower in Marseille for several times but no response from the co-pilot.

The air traffic controllers then ask for the transponder code, the 7700, and there was no response, which means that this plane had now become a priority over all other planes for a potential emergency landing.

The control tower even asked other planes to contact this Airbus by radio and there was also no response.

The alarms were activated to alert the aircraft of its proximity to the ground. At this moment we hear strong, violent knocks, almost as if to force the door open.

I remind you this is an armoured door according to international norms to protect against potential terrorist actions. These alarms meant to alert the aircraft were activated. Just until the final impact we could hear the noise of a first impact on a slope.

I remind you that the plane glided over a slope before it crashed at 700 kilometres/hour (435 miles/hour) on the mountain. I also remind you that there was no distress or emergency message like a mayday, mayday, mayday, was received by the air traffic controllers. I repeat, that no distress or emergency message like a mayday, mayday, mayday, was received by the air traffic controllers. There was no response to several appeals from air traffic controllers.

The most plausible and probable interpretation for us is that the co-pilot, by a voluntary abstention (deliberate refusal), by voluntary abstention, refused to open the door to the cockpit to the flight captain, refused to open the door to the cockpit to the flight captain, and activated the button to start descent.

I remind you that in the last eight minutes this aircraft went from close to 10 to 12,000 metres of altitude, around 30,000 feet, to almost 2,000 metres altitude from the mountain that it crashed into, that was around 2,000 to 2,100 metres.

So he activated this button to initiate loss of altitude (descent) for a reason that we completely ignore today but that can be analysed as an intention to destroy the plane.”