The worst scenario everyone feared seems to be true, as mainstream European press are quoting officials, saying the co-pilot of the doomed Germanwings airplane chose to crash the plane.

From Sky News:

The co-pilot of a plane which crashed in the Alps activated the descent button and refused to open the cockpit door to the pilot.

Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin says the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, 28, was alone at the controls of the Germanwings flight and “intentionally” sent the plane into the doomed descent.

He said that the crew member – who won a Federal Aviation Authority award in 2013 – wanted to “destroy the plane”.

[more here]

The pilot, who was not in control of the plane when it went down was a veteran, with around 6,000 hours experience in this type of aircraft.

The same cannot be said for the co-pilot, who was flying when the plane went down.

From CNN:

The most plausible explanation of the crash is that the co-pilot “through deliberate abstention, refused to open the cabin door … to the chief pilot, and used the button” to cause the plane to lose altitude, Robin said.

The co-pilot was “fully qualified to pilot the aircraft on his own,” Robin added. The audio recording showed his breathing to be steady, with no sign that he had a heart attack or other medical issue.

He only had about 100 hours of experience on the type of aircraft he was flying, but he had all the necessary certifications and qualifications to pilot the aircraft alone, the prosecutor said.

[more here]

The co-pilot was a German national and here is some info on him:

The co-pilot of the downed Germanwings Airbus 320 who “intentionally” crashed the plane, according to French officials, has been identified as 28-year-old German national Andreas Lubitz.

Lubitz — described by people close to him on Thursday as “rather quiet” — was from Montabaur, in the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany. He had little professional flight experience, having only logged 630 flight hours before co-piloting the doomed flight 9525.

[more here]

We’ll keep you in the loop as we hear more.