Fatal Descent: Andreas Lubitz and the Crash of Germanwings Flight 9525

by Jeff Wise

The definitive investigation into the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 and the mind of the co-pilot who committed the most shocking crime in aviation historyOn March 24, 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed into the French Alps. All 144 passengers and six crew members were killed. In the ensuing days, a picture of the flight’s harrowing final moments began to emerge. Shortly after reaching cruise altitude, a 27-year-old first officer named Andreas Lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit, took control of the plane and deliberately caused its descent. In Fatal Descent, journalist and aviation expert Jeff Wise travels to Lubitz’s hometown in Germany and pieces together a definitive and haunting portrait of the killer and the system he betrayed, revealing in heart-pounding detail how a lifelong super-achiever like Lubitz could have committed such an unthinkable act, what actually happened inside the cockpit, and whether current airline regulations leave us vulnerable to similar attacks in the future.Jeff Wise is a science journalist specializing in aviation and psychology. He is the author of the bestselling Kindle Single The Plane That Wasn’t There, about the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. A licensed pilot of gliders and light airplanes, he also has stick time in powered paragliders, trikes, World War II fighter planes, Soviet jet fighters, gyroplanes, and zeppelins, as well as submarines, tanks, hovercraft, dog sleds, and swamp buggies. A contributing editor at Travel + Leisure magazine, he has written for New York, the New York Times, Time, Businessweek, Esquire, Details, and many others. His Popular Mechanics story on the fate of Air France 447 was named one of the Top 10 Longreads of 2011. His last book was Extreme The Science of Your Mind in Danger. A native of Massachusetts, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree at Harvard and now lives in New York City with his wife and two sons.Cover design by Kerry Ellis.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Aviation

61 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 14, 2015

About the author

Jeff Wise is a science writer, outdoor adventurer, and pilot of airplanes and gliders. A contributing editor at Popular Mechanics and Travel + Leisure, he has also written for The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Details, Popular Science, Men’s Journal, and many others. In the course of his journalism career he has surfed in Alaska, scuba dived the South China Sea, piloted a WWII fighter plane, and mushed a dog team in Montana. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[AdiTurbo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again, Jeff Wise excels in explaining all the aspects of an aero-tragedy in the clearest, brightest and fascinating way. His research and knowledge are great, but his deep and important conclusions are even better, enlightening and add meaning to an event that is hard to find meaning in.

[Ursula Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Account of the Tragedy & Life of Andreas Lubitz

This was a fascinating account of how one man, in a trusted position of pilot, suffering from depression and mental illness, committed suicide and killed 150 people by crashing a plane. His depression was known to the airline, yet they allowed him to fly anyway. This book aptly covers his background and explains how the testing and procedures failed, yet new ones have been drafted, to hopefully keep this from happening again. The author narrates his book and he does an excellent job. I hope he narrates more books. An excellent book.

[Wendy (bardsblond) · Rating 3 out of 5]

After enjoying The Plane That Wasn’t There, I picked up Fatal Descent by the same author. A similarly fascinating story, but for totally different reasons. It probes the flight of Germanwings Flight 9525, a flight where the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, committed suicide (and mass murder) when he crashed the plane he was piloting into the French Alps. Jeff Wise explores the life of Andreas Lubitz and, perhaps one of the most disturbing things about this book is how few signals of suicidality Lubitz displayed prior to his decision to kill himself along with about 150 other people. It really makes you think about how fragile mental health is and the profound trust we place in figures who occupy positions of authority in our society, e.g., doctors, pilots, etc. A good read.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a fascination with aviation and I tend to read a lot of aviation fiction and non-fiction books so when I saw this book about German wings flight 9525 I felt I had to read it as it is a story. I am quite familiar with and I also know of Jeff Wise as an aviation journalist so I felt it was worth a look.

Overall, the book doesn’t tell you anything new and I do feel that Jeff went to town a little bit with his creative license in telling the story of Andreas Lubitz, as no one else was inside the cockpit at the time of him flying the plane into the mountain side no one is going to know what was going through his mind, and Jeff seem to fill in the gaps quite liberally which I found a bit unnecessary - it’s a well-known fact that Lubitz committed a mass murder suicide by aircraft without having someone who doesn’t actually know the man creating scenarios that we will never know whether they existed or not.

From the other sources regarding this particular incident we know that Lubitz lied and connived in order to keep hold of his license because he knew he wasn’t fit to fly and his license should have been suspended, so we can only surmise what led to the final act of committing mass murder suicide. I feel that Jeff went too far into the realms of supposition and guest work to really give this book any real Creedence..

I also found that Jeff seemed to make quite a few comparisons to Malaysia flight MH370, yes there is a possibility that there are similarities as it is possible that captain Zahari Shah was guilty of mass murder suicide but we do not know and at this moment in time it appears we will never know so I felt it very inappropriate that Jeff made that comparison. Due to the fact that MH370 has never been found thus far, we don’t know whether that plane is missing due to the captain or first officer’s murder suicide or whether it was hostage situation, a catastrophic mechanical failure or something else that made that aeroplane and all its passengers and crew disappear so I’m very surprised that yet again Jeff Wise is using the unknown fate of those people to publish more material and ultimately make money out of it.

Personally I feel that Jeff Wise now is losing credibility because everything that involves aviation seems to revolve around Malaysia flight MH370 and he seems to be bolstering in his career and his notoriety off the back of all those peoples loss and suffering, I did have a couple of his other books lined up on my wish list but having read this book and watched him on a recent Netflix program. I’ve decided I don’t wanna know. I don’t like him. I feel that he is using a tragedy to massage his, ego and line his pockets.

If you want to know a less subjective version of what happened to German Wings flight 9525 I suggest you go onto YouTube and look up Mentour Pilot or Green Dot Aviation as they tell the non-biased story of what actually has been deduced to be the events of that day Based solely on the findings of the NTSB and other relevant organisations extensive investigations.

[Anthony Chase · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was informative and gave a ton of background information to a story that I hardly knew about before reading it. The problem I had with this book wasn’t so much the content as it was the length. The book in total was probably less than 100 pages and there were points in which I felt like the author could have expended on - such as the family of Lubitz and whether he felt pressured into making a successful career of himself. But the author doesn’t focus as much on those around him as they could have. Otherwise it was a good read

[Jani Kemppainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was short book, but informative reading about this tragic flight, where copilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately flew passenger jet against mountain in French Alps. His intention was to commit suicide, but sadly this took also lives of 149 other people. Was kind of scary and sad book in same time.

[Brianna Flores · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating

This was truly a fascinating read. I had already done the google search and watch documentary tv series that looked into this case but Jeff still provided with a lot of information that wasn’t covered enough on such as suicide by pilot. This would be a great book for someone who doesn’t fully understand the crash.

[Barbara Finazzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very Interesting

This was a horrible event that touched many lived. The author explained how it happened and the effects depression can have on an individual, and the outcome. It was well researched and told in a matter of fact way.

[Danalli Calhoun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! Jeff Wise did an excellent job every aspect of this tragedy.

[Ami · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth reading

Was a short but intriguing book I read in a couple afternoons of down time. Hope to read more by this author.

[Richard Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

I must say it was an easy read and well researched for the length of the book it really deserves all 5 stars

[Lynsey Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 ⭐️

[Eileen Granfors · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting psychological profile of suicidal airline pilot. Good breakdown of German education system and also of rigorous pilot training.

[joanna j white · Rating 5 out of 5]

great read and insightful thoughts

Am really liking this author and his chronicles of air disasters. Well researched and human.
Five more words required Kindle sez…,

[Luís Castilho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and insightful ebook on Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot who crashed Germanwings Flight 4U9525 in the French Alps. You really get a good sense of where he was coming from and what was his probable motivation. The author did a great job of keeping it interesting all the way through. Great quick read.

[Robert Hanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick read ,factual, informative.

Learned a. Lot./ recommend it. Good invite into mass suicide and mass murder. So so so so so get the book.by

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

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[Maurice Azurdia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched

Very informative. Well written. This tragedy had madness behind it. A man who was not fit to become an airline pilot slipped through the cracks.