Germanwings A320 crashes in the French Alps killing all onboard

Germanwings A320 crashes in the French alps killing all on-board

The A320 was travelling between Barcelona and Dusseldorf when it crashed in the French Alps near Digne.

Flight 4U9525 departed Barcelona, Spain at 10:00am CET bound for Dusseldorf. The flight reached cruising altitude(38,000 ft) at 10:27. At 10.31, the airplane started losing altitude and dropped off radar at 10.40 CET.

It is understood from the Le Monde and local newspapers that 144 passengers and six crew were on board.

France's air traffic control reported the crew transmitted an emergency call just prior to the plane disappearing from radar near Bassinet.

According to Aviation Herald radar data suggests the plane descended from 38,000ft through to 11,000ft in 8 minutes at an average of 3,375 feet per minute.

The A320 appeared to have levelled off at an altitude of 6,800ft for about one minute while on a north easterly heading.

However mountains rise up to 8,600 feet about one mile north of the last reported position of the plane.

The Germanwings A320, registration D-AIPX, was one of the older A320s flying at 24 years of age and had previously belonged to Lufthansa.

According to Airbus the aircraft had accumulated approximately 58,300 flight hours in some 46,700 flights. It was powered by CFM 56-5A1 engines. At this time no further factual information is available.

The Airbus A320 has an excellent and the manufacturer has delivered 5,895 A320 series aircraft since its certification/first delivery in early 1988, with another 4,298 on order.

One of the aircraft's two black boxes has been found.