airbus 320, we deployed them over the last years. there were many within this group, and from many years ago they left the factory, the plant. will it have any consequence for your further [ inaudible ]? it's sad. we were proud about our quality -- we were proud about our security precautions of everything. we have our standards of course. what concerns the investigation of the accident whatever is necessary. what can contribute to the -- to the clarification being implemented, of course. so . . . were there any dutch people on board in --? i cannot say whether there were any. i cannot give a [ inaudible ] of -- there were the passport control in spain, but we'll clarify all of this as soon as possible. there's some assumptions we have to -- to check -- to clarify things. >> do you know if there are any chinese passengers on board? >> there are no chinese passengers as far as we know today. >> okay. thank you. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] are you planning to take better control now, measures to investigate their soundness at this time.

it's a low cost airline and this particular model of plane this airbus? >> they operate 80 aircraft, low cost, low frills, short haul destinations around europe and to other countries around western europe, central europe, that sort of thing. they tend the break down of the airline is they tend to the airbuses, whether it's an a319, which is short haul or the a3120 which is the concern in this incident. the safety record is relatively good. these are airliners with very many different airlines operate around the world seen as a work horse, as it were for transporting passengers short distances a understand short haul flights low frills sort of thing around the world. i think we need to be careful about going into too much detail about safety records until we have certainty about what might have caused this plane to come down. we need to be very clear about saying that the airliner concerned, the aircraft manufacturers will point to safety records but a320s are flying every day around the world in all sorts of countries and their safety record is very good

the airbus a320 took off from barcelona at 9:55 a.m. less than one hour later it began a sudden and rapid eight-minute descent crashing your the french alpine resort of barcelonnette in remote mountain terrain. >> french flight controllers lost radar contact at around 10:53 a.m. and, at the approximate altitude of around 6000 feet. >> the first responders have secured the accident zone, but the bad weather and difficult access are hampering efforts to get emergency crews and equipment to the area. for the victims' family and friends in dusseldorf, that means more anxious waiting for news of their loved ones. sarah: our correspondent is at dusseldorf airport where that flight was headed, and sadly never arrived. do you have any more details about what caused the crash? reporter: we do not. there is a lot of speculation going on in the media. there is speculation the plane may have had a computer problem the day before the flight took place. but we don't know anything about that really. i just spoke to a lufthansa spokesman, lufthansa bei

tell our viewers, talk to us about the airbus a320. it's a reliable work horse of many airlines throughout the world, isn't it? >> yes, it is. the last time an a320 was involved was when when an a320 came down from we think was a weather incident. they have to be analyzed to determine that sequence. it is going to be pretty much the same as this, all of the information will have to be retrieved, contained and analyzed very carefully. >> let me get a final thought from you chris. will the authorities be looking at other causes of the crash such as human intervention or security failures? they can't rule those out can they? >> no, they certainly can't rule them out and particularly not given the age that we live in at the moment, so every avenue is going to have to be investigated, where there were any threats to the flight. that is one area that investigators will look at, any unusual people onboard the flight anything unusual as far as the cargo is concerned. all of this information has to be carefully assessed, carefully followed up a

airbus 320. it is believed that president hollande said from the very beginning this morning that all onboard were killed. this is an extremely mountainous area of the alps. an area with few residents and villages. the crash happened at about 6,000 feet according to some reports. the scene has been -- the debris on the scene has been isolated. there have been some eyewitnesses that have seen it with those up there. they have seven helicopters flying back and forth. they have established a temporary morgue in a small village in a gymnasium of a school in a small village. >> i'm going to interrupt you because the press conference is about to begin. let's listen. >> translator: a tragic very sad day for germanwings and also for the whole lufthansa family. sat sadly i have to inform you that we today have been informed by the french department in southern france informed that an airliner of germanwings had an accident. the route from barcelona to dusseldorf. the airliner this morning at 6:48 left dus

that is -- chris is at the airbus headquarters. reporter: behind me, you can see the thousands of airbus workers. they want answers. back in 1990, it might seem old, but the company says that it has a whole new avionics suite inside of it. it's a plane that was well up to standards. and he will be there, airbus has sent their own investigators to help with the investigation. anchor: we can go now to the french alps. he has made his way. reporter: i am 30 minutes away from the side of the crash. we just got here and a fairly remote location. an estimated 300 firefighters deployed in the area. the psychological aspect of the crash. anchor: you can't get to the crash site by road? will they hold off until tomorrow morning yeah co or will they do something this evening? reporter: for now, they are not looking further in the mountains. the plane crash, apparently, there are several military police affecting the area. but they are not searching. when you get here, you get a sense that at least one of the roads was blocked. as peacefully

they are zynga specific airbus a320 was 24 years old. they are also saying this is the first crash of a low-cost air carrier in europe. tom: you go to the separation within society of the kind of airline. we see this of course in asia with korean air -- not korean air -- korean airline crashing in san francisco that level of airline is a really important issue. brendan: we also talk about how the a320 is a workhorse of these fleets. the airbus is selling these planes because the fleets are growing. you have increased pressure from ryanair on europe ryanair of course famous for cutting standards, offering lower pay packages to its pilots, and that is one of the things that lufthansa is trying to adapt to. first it was not worried about ryanair at all, note is very worried about ryanair. tom: we wait to see what the experts say brendan: about it. i should say -- experts say about it. brendan: i just want to say this hat lufthansa has a sterling record. olivia: as far as the a320, it has a terrific safety record. tom: francois hollande sayi

only on al jazeera america >> an airbus a320 belonging to german wings crashes in southern france. >> hello i'm live from doha. we're continuing with our breaking news, coverage of the crash in southern france. the french transport minister confirmed there are no survivors of that germanwings plane crash flight knife 525 that's the flight number that went down in the provence region. 142 passengers and six crew members were known to be on the plane traveling from barcelona to dÜsseldorf. that was the flight route. debris has been located near the french village of barcelonnette north of nice. let's look at an animation created by a website which tracked the plane's journey, you can see flight 9525 heading off from barcelona and rapidly gains height to 38,000 feet, as it crosses land at marseille that's near the french coast it begins to drop to 6,800 feet, so a rapid descent to 6,800 feet in the french alps. a short while ago the french president francois hollande confirmed the crash. >> it's a tragedy a new aerial tragedy. we will make sure we know all the cause of what happened and

now the doomed germanwings flight was an airbus a320. that is well known by aviation analysts for its strong safety record. >> it is. and there are several thousand of these planes in operation around the world. miguel marquez take a closer look now at the history of this type of aircraft. >> reporter: worldwide more than 3,600 airbus a320s are flown by more than 400 airlines charter companies, and private entities. eight american carriers combined have more than 450 a 20s in n fleets. among the biggest, jetblue with 130. united has 97. daley and u.s. airways -- delta and u.s. airways 9 each. in the short to medium range world, the a320 is second only to the boeing 737 which has delivered more than 1,000 of their medium sized planes. airbus says every 2.5 seconds, a plane from one of its 320 family is taking off or land somewhere in the world. the plane identified as germanwings flight 9525 had been in service since 1991 when it took off from barcelona. airbus says it had approximately 58,300 flight hours and some 46,700 flights. >> this

it's operated by germanwings, a-320 airbus. germanwings is the subsidiary of lufthansa. 142 passengers on board and six crew. the plane took off from the spanish city of barcelona. they sent out a message at 09:47 "gmt." we don't know what the message contain contained, just it was a distress call. there are a couple of official tweets from the germanwings social media account. the first said we have recently become aware of media reports speculating on the incidence. we don't have our own confirmed information. another tweet, then definite information is available, we shall inform the media. the a-320 is considered to be an extremely safe aircraft. this one, with almost 150 people on board having gone down. we don't know the details of the nationalities of those on board. there are reported to have been two pilots four other crew and 140 passengers. this is the type of aircraft that the germanwings company was using. i like to stress at the moment we don't have a flight number for this plane. we do know that it took off from b

but again, an airbus an a320 has crashed in the alps. this is according to german air traffic control and nbc news has double confirmed this. the aircraft was traveling from barcelona to dusseldorf. we're looking atlanta least 1-- at least 142 people onboard and two pilots and four flight attendants. we have squonjohn cox on the phone. he flew these types of plane so he may be able to give us insight as to what happened. john, we know so little at this point but it looks very bad. >> unfortunately it does. some of the earlier reports say they have gotten -- spotted remains of the aircraft actually on the ground. the a320 which is reported to be from german wings, this is a very well-known and tried and tested aircraft type. it's been in service for about 30 years, i think now. and german wings is a well-known, well respected airline. and the airplane, initial reports say it was a 38,000 feet and then something occurred and it initiated a rapid descent. that's about all the information we have here. the a320 has had a good safety record,

the airbus 820 is a work horse of a plane. it is flown around the world and built in europe but flown heavily here in the u.s. by u.s. airways and american airlines and united and others. this is a very reliable plane and what we call a fly by wire plane. it is heavily automated with a lot of computer assistance and a lot of back up systems helping the pilot to fly the plane. it is not the old 737 pulley system. this is a sophisticated aircraft. what happened is anybody's guess. >> the last crash of an a-320 that we can find was air asia flight 8501 back in december of 20 freezing rain from surabaya to singapore. did we find out what caused that plane to go down? >> off the top of my head i don't know. this plane is just very, very commonly flown around the world and i have been to the airbus factories in france and they will tell you we build planes for all of the world to fly, not just the best and the brightest that come out of the world air forces. we build them for pilot who is may not be topical ber. this is concerning.

of course it is an airbus. it will have been built the a320 is built in france and in germany, so those are the countries that would have been involved as far as the technicalities are concerned so it isn't such a widespread of nationalities as it might have been. >> what about international oversight? what about the international aviation authority that will need to be informed and kept appraised of every development in the investigation? >> the international governing body will be keeping an eye on what's going on. they will let the french authority get on with it. they will almost certainly produce an interim report within a month and they're obliged to give another interim report after a year. sometimes these accidents take two years to unravel, and so, you know, we're not probably expecting much in the way from the officials anytime very soon. >> ok, and i'm also hearing sean, that vias twitter sphere that the bodies are victim are being taken to an emergency morgue that's been set up at a gymnasium in the

the airbus a-320 was quote, obliterated. the question tonight is why did this plane, which was at its cruising altitude of 38,000 feet make such a sudden dissent. it plunged to 27,000 feet in only eight minutes. there was no distress call. what are you learning about this plane tonight and it's may not nans record and when it had been inspected? >> reporter: it depends who you ask pd when we asked they held a couple of press conferences, they're trying to tell us this plane was in perfect shape. it ended service edntered justice in january of 1990. the vice president came to this afternoon and said there was a routine maintenance check on the plane yesterday. it was grounded yesterday in germany because of a door that closes around the nose landing gear. he said he didn't believe this problem was a safety issue. he suggested it was rattle a noise on that door. the plane departed 26 minutes late. we have been asking since this morning why did your plane leave 26 minutes late? was it a technical problem. was it a timing proble

el airbus 320 tiene mandos completamente digitales el medio de transporte mÁs goor que existe. el aÑo pasado fue el mÁs seguro de la historia de la aviaciÓn. lo que ocurre cada vez viajamos mÁs. mÁs de 3.000 millones de personas tomaron un aviÓn. >>> en su historia el airbus 320 ha estado involucrado en 60 accidentes el mÁs reciente en diciembre del aÑo pasado un vuelo de la aerolÍnea airasia cayÓ con 162 pasajeros abordo >>> aparte de una posible despres raciÓn de la cabina otros expertos dicen que los sensores del aviÓn se congelaron, causando el accidente. no serÁ luego de 30 o 60 dÍas que las cajas negras van a revelar lo que causÓ esta tragedia, josÉ. >>> vanessa hauc, muchas gracias. hoy hubo protesta de costa a costa en estados unidos a afr de los inmigrantes. el objetivo denunciar que decenas de mujeres y niÑos hace 6 meses siguen detenidos y exigen su liberaciÓn. isolda peguero nos acompaÑa donde tuvo lugar una de las manifestaciones. >>> josÉ, con pancartas y dibujos realizados por los niÑos detenido s junto a sus madres en centros de detenciÓn,

airbus has the 320. it is a workhorse. it can carry, depending on the seat configuration, up to 180 passengers. i'm trying to think the last time we have had a european airline go down. we don't want to speculate, it's the very early stages of course. crashing into the french alps somewhere in the french alps is rather astonishing. these planes don't just fall out of the sky or hit mountains. there's enough equipment on board. it's all computer driven as we know. the airasia accident we had that fell out of the sky into the java sea was an a-320. >> we don't know what caused the airasia crash. we know they encountered bad weather. they still don't know exactly what happened. we are getting more information from an official that 148 people in total were on board this airbus a-320. six of whom were members of the crew. we don't know nationalities. we don't have the details in terms of passenger manifest. we don't have a flight number. it was a germanwings aircraft the budget airline of germany's national carrier. >> this has

we started focusing on the airbus a 320's cockpit door. we looked at measures put in place after 9/11 for keeping terrorists off the flight deck that in this case sadly locked out the pilot. our gary tuchman spent the day at a huge bone yard in california's mojave desert. here's what he discovered about the doors and what the captain was up against. >> reporter: stores airplanes no longer being used here but this boeing 737 was flown after 9/11 so it has a reinforced cockpit door. we want to give you a close up look at how it works. the 737 was moth balled less than a year ago. the locking system on these reinforced doors is very similar to the locking system you would have in an airbus a 320 that crashed in france. he's the director of southern california aviation. what is this door made of? this reinforcement? >> this is an inch and a half thick of kevlar with some steel. it's a kevlar door. >> reporter: unlike the airbus this is a key lock? >> this is a key override system. >> reporter: but it has what the airbus has. a numbering system

an airbus a-320 and that eight-minute decent to death. what should have been a relatively quick flight. barcelona to dusseldorf germany. disappearing from radar, silence from the cockpit. dissint rating in the french alps. 150 knew 00 now feared dead. that plane in tiny pieces. you can almost make out the name of the airline there. families of the passengers in shock, gathering at the airport, waiting for official word tonight. on board that plane, families students headed home after an exchange program. and tonight, there is new word one of the black boxes has been recovered. we do have team coverage this evening, and we begin with abc's chief foreign correspondent terry moran at the airport in deucele gor of. >> reporter: rescuers searching, hoping for signs of life. but sifting through the wreckage in this remote mountain area some of the debris still smoldering, the plane just obliterated, it was clear. all are lost. scattered among the rocks, parts of the tail. and the fuselage. you see the plane's windows and a bit of the germanwing

airbus noted one of their aircrafts takes off and lands every 2.5 seconds. that's one of the reason that resonates so much ever ripy one of us takes off on these planes and it has a remarkable record no fatal plane fatal plane crashes in its history. the captain had five years flying with germanwings. the co-pilot had been with the airline for a year and was less experienced. we're expecting to hear more detail later with regards to the contents of the black box. we understand the voice recorder has been damaged but we're hoping it might provide clues why this aircraft cruising at an altitude of 38,000 feet then came down rapidly into the alps. >> from dusseldorf thank you very much. let's take you to spain, a minute of silence held in barcelona and the spanish parliament as well for the spanish nationals on board. 45 had spanish sounding sur names. bethany joins us now from barcelona. what details are emerging from victims on board this plane? >> reporter: as you say, over 40 of the victims were from spain. we know one woman -- one company who lived in manc

these pictures show inside the cabin of another airbus a-230. it's claimed the pilot was outside the cockpit, knocking repeatedly, but there was no answer. >> obviously, the person leaving must have said something to the other crew member, there must be voices recorded as well, which will explain to some degree, at least, what was going on, what was happening. and that information, well, there is now much greater pressure for some full statement, official statement to be released. >> reporter: lufthansa says the co-piloted joined germanwings in 2013, directly after training. the captain had more than 6,000 hours of flying time. the families of the dead are traveling to the crash site. those in barcelona chose not to fly. the german relatives left from dusseldorf airport. around 100 people from both groups are to visit the site. they'll go to the small french town, which is now the hub of a major aircraft investigation. as they do so, experts have been pointing out that claims that one of the pilots left the cockpit before the crash are unconfirm

an airbus 320 filmed on a previous flight. the french president hollande was hosting the king of spine on an official visit that has now been cut short. >> translator: we do everything in our power to understand the cause of the accident and recover all of the victims. the accident has taken place in an area that is especially difficult to access. >> reporter: germanwings is owned by luf than sa a low-cost-airline that flies mainly short hauls around europe. it has an excellent safety record. the passengers are thought to include german spanish and turkish nationals. >> translator: we are all deeply shocked and shaken the flight of our daughter company, germanwings crashed at around 11:00 in the french alps and now our thoughts and prayers with the victims and the families and friends. >> reporter: the terrain is difficult. it will take some time to retrieve the bodies on board and to determine why flight 9525 ended in disaster. >>> to afghanistan now where thousands of people marched through the capitol to mark injustice for

an airbus 320 filled on a previous flight. the trench president was hosting the king of spain on an official visit that has now been cut short. we will do everything in our power to understand the cause of the september. the accident had taken place in an area that is especially difficult to access, and it could take some hours to research the site. german wings is owned by a low cost subsidiary airline that flies nearly short journeys around europe, it has an excellent safety record with no previous crashes. the passengers onboard flight 9525 are thought to include german spanish and turkish nationals. >> we are all deeply shocked. the flight of the german wings crashed at around 11:00 a.m. now our thoughts feelings and prayers are with the loved ones of the passenger and of course our crew on this dark day for us. >> the rescue will be dangerous and challenging. the most it can achieve is bring some comfort, and crucially, to determine why flight 9525 ended in disaster. barnabie phillips al jazeera. >> andrew brooks aerospac

an airbus a 230 flight crashed. i want to bring back in our aviation experts petter goelz and mary sciavo. peter, i don't know if you heard but he said as the plane was flying along there was a dip in speed that lasted perhaps five minutes and then it speeded up again, right? it started to climb. and then the speed dipped again and then shortly thereafter the plane crashed. does that tell you anything? >> well no. it's simply a focus of the investigation at this point. you know, that it's an interesting piece of information. the plane should have been on auto pilot at that point. the speed should not have been varying, that it did vary is a point that investigators will zero in on as soon as they get the black boxes. the flight data recorder in particular. >> tom also mentioned censors on the plane that could have frozen over mary. can you expound on that? >> yes. there was -- there has been a warning put out by airbus that this particular plane model, 320, 321 had something called a stuck angle of attack indicator,

where that airbus a320 went down in very rugged terrain. we have news that we can tell you from reuters. and that is this -- it is being reported by the french interior minister that they have found at least one of the black boxes, make no mistake, they are orange. this is something they may have been able to spot from the sky as there is no reporting that anyone has been able to land. there has been some reporting that rescuers. >> reporter: at least recovery agents have been able to lower via cable from helicopters but no helicopters are landing but there is news that one of the flight reporters has been found, whether it is the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder is unclear at this time. but one of those recorders has been found. whether it's been retrieved is also another issue as the weather is terribly inclement and terribly difficult for those on the ground to recover anything at this point given that they've been lowered in. anyone who may be on the ground did not land. they were cabling down from hovering helicopters

we found out by airbus there are 6,200 planes used worldwide. they have a good track record in terms of safety. >> where does this investigation begin, jeff? any indication about how this happened? >> well, it's too early to tell how this happened. the investigation will begin on the ground there. the key is how will they get there and will weather be a factor in terms of getting to the crash site. you have to start gathering debris and start looking for those black boxes. the cockpit voice recorder and flight data reporter will go a long way in determining what happened to the plane. >> jeff, what can you tell us about the airline? >> germanwings is a low cost airline in germany. it is a subsidiary of lufthansa airline. it is too early to tell in terms of safety how germanwings operating. what investigators will do is look at maintenance records of the plane. that is one thing they will do almost immediately. the key in this case as it is in all cases involving these commercial aviation crashes is finding the black boxes because they will have

a recovered black box is already being analyzed hopefully it will explain why the airbus plunged from 38,000 feet falling at a rate of 400 miles an hour before vanishing from radar. >> the debris field clearly says it impacted the terrain and controlled flight at a very high speed probably around 425 miles an hour. >> reporter: eye much witnesses describe hearing the moment of impact. 'we heard a loud sound like dynamite" she says. a number of towns have plunged into grief. heartbreak. 16tenth graders and two teachers were returning home from studying in spain. now they're all gone. also on board two famed opera singers one holding her baby. today family members are expected here and the leaders of french and germany are expected to visit the crash site. snow showers here making the challenges here even more difficult. molly hunter abc news at the base of the french alps. >> and the plane was a top-selling airbus a320 and underwent a routine check in germany just a day before the crash. >> the aircraft is considered a workhorse of modern aviation. with a great safety record there have

airbus 320 is one of the most reliable aircraft. it's been around for so many years with a very good track record. so it's this is going to be something that's just totally anomalous right now. we're going to have to find out what happened as it goes forward. >> a couple more details about germanwings, we understand that they've been embroiled in a longstanding dispute with their pilots union about some sort of retirement plans and that lufthansa, which owns this airline, had announced plans to rebrand this as eurowings and they were going to do away with the germanwings brand and name by this coming fall. >> i was going to say, you know if you remember back with united airlines when united airlines was going through very similar thing and they started ted, discount airline and it was driven a lot by the fact that they were financially in trouble. so the finances have a lot to do with this as well. when unions start to say that we need to get more money, that's can often cause an airline to go under because they can't afford to pay

at least one of the airbus a320 black boxes have been found. why did the plane have a rapid descent after at a cruising altitude which is one of the safest points in a flight. we are going to cover all of the breaking news. let's again with our aviation correspondent rene marsh. she has the very latest. rene? >> the airliner is in pieces. nothing bigger than a small car. the mystery tonight is what went so terribly wrong on board an aircraft with an impeccable safety record it just passed a maintenance record the day before and had experienced pilots in the cockpit. tonight, this is the challenging rocky terrain first responders and investigators are navigating. germanwings flight 9525 with 150 people on board went down in the snowy french alps where peaks are as high as 10,000 feet. what seemed like a routine flight from barcelona to dusseldorf suddenly turned deadly. the flight took off at 10:01 a.m. local time. flight tracking sites show the plane climbed to a cruising altitude of 38,000 feet before starting an unplanned descent, dropping to

the crash of the germanwings airbus with 150 on board. this is an image that's come in of the crash site. if you see closely there, a little smoke can be seen at the center of your screen. also right now the french interior minister is having a news conference. let's listen in. >> translator: we are mobilizing a variety of policemen, 300 troops. the first ones on the site today were the high mountain range policemen. they have much more intimate knowledge of the terrain and they were able to fill us in on what happened. we mobilized ten helicopters to facilitate the search and rescue. the mixture of all resources are intended to help the search and rescue mission, even in the violent shock leaves little hope for the outcome. we are still engaging in an intensive search and this is all happening under the leadership of marseilles i would like to thank you for being here today as well as your diligence. all of these resources will be coordinated by the prefecture. and any additional resources are coming from the province area as well as our

airbus a-320, 150 people believed to be known survivors. we learned european safety officials flagged a potential problem with the key safety feature on airbuses. the glitch that can sometimes under very rare conditions put them into a descent that can be hard to stop. to give a better idea of what the crash site we spoke with a local mountain guide. what do you actually see when you got to the site of the crash? >> >> brkhow far was the debris spread out? out. [ speaking foreign language ] >> so it looks like it completely disappeared, you were saying. because from the images we're seeing, we didn't see any large pieces at all. what is the area like where the plane crashed? how difficult is it to get to that site? [ speaking foreign language ] >> jean-louis, thank you very much for talking with us. gathering in two cities barcelona and dusseldorf its destination. both airports tonight, obviously, a heartbreaking scene. carle pennhall joining us now. a lot of things going on. you've been trying to get answers. what are you learning? >> abso

this was the original destination of this airbus a320. are there any relatives on board where you were? snoo>> we understand the 67 german passengers came to the airport last night but they were quickly whisked away to a vip area to avoid the glare of the cameras and microphones to receive information and the airlines are making arrangements to take those who wish to travel to the crash site to see the site for themselves. i've just come from the site at dusseldorf and they were holding a moment of silence and announce ing everyone at the airport for a moment of silence and many wipe wiping their eyes. many lost colleagues. in fact one of the germanwings flight had to be cancels this morning. they say the crew members refused to fly due to emotional distress and many lost beloved colleagues in this crash. a notice board has been put up inside the airport and flowers laid and notice attached to this board and one of them reads flight attendants don't die, they just fly higher. thoughts with those 150 people on board here in dusseldorf toda

are we talking about lufthansa or germanwings airbus and mark chris: we are talking -- airbus? chris: we are talking about german wings primarily. the impact is being felt in some way for german wings. some of the pilots yesterday refused to fly a320's and that is partly in response to the impact the psychological impact i suppose, of the events of yesterday morning. moreover, there might well be a significant knockback from passengers who are booked on german wings. at the moment, there are reports that people are changing their travel plans. the possibility of that will increase over time dependent on what the results of the black boxes produce. anna: i know you said that we don't know what caused this. rescuers have said they are working on the assumption that this is an accident. is there anything you read that leads you to doubt that? chris: none whatsoever at the moment. you can only ever characterize an aircraft accident as an accident until you know differently. it has to be said that all aspects of this incident will be investigated, whether there was anything untoward

it is a french made airbus 320. this is a subsidiary of lufthansa group. tom costello reports the plane is widely used and it is used by all experienced rebels. it is highly automated we are dundant computer back-up programs afternoon. a tweet this morning the heads of lufthansa writes, we do not know yet what happens to that flight. my future sympathy goes to the family and friends of the passenger and crew. if our fears are confirmed, this is a dark day for lufthansa. we hope to find survivors. again, finding survivors is highly unlikely, according to french president and according to aviation experts. the flight crashed above the altitude that it would be a likely culprit. again, aviation experts say it would take more than one engine to bring down a plane of this size and cause this kind of crash. they scheduled a press conference for 7:00 this morning, so we are getting new information. before then, we'll have more details as we get them. laura. >> all right, thank you very much. of course, we will continue to check back in with crews all morning long

airbus maintains that the number of fatal commercial flights has remained stable. while the number of overall flights and passengers have skyrocketed. in its 2013 report airbus claims six fatal accidents translateing into a rate of less than 1 per million flights, jean. >> right. so it's safe but something like this happens and, of course it gets everybody's attention in a tragic way. a question for greg what are they, what specific things are they going to be looking for in the flight data recorder data? >> what can they get out of it? >> once they get it what are the top things they're going to be looking for? ? >> one of the things about the flight data recorder it will indicate to the investigators exactly what was transpiring with the airplane. it will give you system indication, whether the auto pilot was engaged or disengaged. it will give you the general parameters of the operation air speed, altitude rates of descent. it will actually show what you the crew had programmed as far as some of the equipment on board the aircraft what systems were on what syste

the fatal accident rate on airbus a320 is remarkably low. it's 0 .14 per million takeoff ls which is a very good record. at this point, they are anxious to find the debris field. they need to determine how big of a field it is. it's in a remote area that's going to take some time to get to. they want to isolate the data recorders, the black boxes, which should give them some sense of what was going on. >> i was just hearing a press conference with the president of france and he was there with the spanish king who happened to be visiting. they are now canceling that trip. it is a very remote area very mountainous. i'm struck by this information that you're give. ing us that it descend eded 5,000 feet in ten minutes. that doesn't seem to show -- >> more than that. 38,000 down to 5,000 feet over the course of ten minutes, which actually if you're descending at 4,000 feet a minute, that would be an orderly descent. >> so that's a very interesting development. it seems as though they had control of the aircraft at least for those ten minutes. >>

the area where the airbus a320 crashed is difficult to reach but a search-and-rescue crew is en route. the president of france hollande said it is a tragedy on french soil and he does not expect there to be survivors. we do not know the nationalities of the passenger or crew and it is not then if anyone on the ground was injured. two tweets were sent "we do not know what has happened to flight 9525 and our deepest sympathies to friends and families of of flight525." >>> we will be tweet out the latest. right now, breaking news in vallejo police are searching for a woman after receiving a report she has been kidnapped for ransom. officials say a man told them that 30-year-old denise huskins was forcibly taken from a hope on kirkland avenue yesterday morning. the victim's car was locationed in vallejo but denise huskins is still missing. vallejo police are asking you to call them if you have any information about her whereabouts. amy hollyfield will have a report from the command post coming up at 5:30. authorities in antioch arrested a man for trying to kidnap a teen on her way to scho

airbus is a french company. heavily -- french will be heavily involved in this investigation as will the germans as it progresses. >> we know that german wings is a budget airline, what can you tell us about their safety record? >> there is a big debate not only in europe about the safety record of these budget airlines but also here in the u.s. there is a turf battle going here between legacy airlines american airlines u.s. air, united airlines and some budget carriers based in europe that want to do business here in the u.s. there is a battle going on in terms of the future of aviation not only in europe but also in this country, as well. the pilots union believes that these budget airlines cut corners when it comes to safety. however, there is no evidence of that in this crash right now but there is a major turf battle underway between legacy airlines not only in europe but also here in the u.s. >> we thank you. we will continue to monitor this breaking story. >>> angelina jolie offers a personal diary this m

the airbus training video shows the cockpit door. then there's a control panel which can override if the door has been locked as the investigators are telling us happened in this case. in the united states, that also exists, but if a pilot leaves the cockpit in the united states, a flight attendant must join the other pilot in the cocke pilot. cockpit. that is not the rule in europe. that may change. you see the control panel there of being able to override the lock. the pilot inside the cockpit can override the override. that might be an issue. even nancy pelosi is weighing in maybe it's something we need to look at. >> if there were such a -- a barrier between passengers and the galley and the cockpit, however they would do it, better and more strategic minds in terms of safety of the cockpit. but i do think that deserves attention again. >> and finally, cheryl, there have been incidents where pilots have locked the other pilot out and crashed planes. this has happened rarely. it happened in africa twice. in mozambique airlines. an

as he said, the airbus 320 crashed en route to barcelona. they are reporting that the pilot put out an sos according to air traffic control that the plane was in distress. tow we have not been able to specify what kind of distress. this would be far above the altitude where a bird site could be likely. they were being alerted of weather at the time. tow there is a storm now headed to the region. the search could be inpacked. here's an image of the accident scene. it was taken last year. it is a french airbus 320 this is a subsidiary of the lufthansa group. nbc's tom kass tell lo reports it is heavily automated with a lot of redundant computer programs as well. the morning, the head of lufthansa writes, we do not yet know what has happened to that flight. my deepest sympathies goes to the family and friends of the passenger and crew. we confirm this was a black day for lufthansa. the french president says finding survivors is very unlikely. the passenger manifest is being verified as we speak and they say a press conference at 7:00 this morni

they want to buy a few more of these giant airbus planes. i am trying to get an interview with the ceo to see if he is going anywhere and pushing these into more markets. mark: thank you. up next, the latin america room toward, not exactly the response the president was looking for. ♪ mark: welcome back. it is time for today's latin america report. brazilian president is asking for other companies to help with investments. vale, the world's biggest iron ore producer will cut expenditures to a secure low -- six year low. in petrobras plans to make the lowest annual investment since 2008. coming up, the china effect. we will look at how global commodity markets will hurt from china's slowing growth. ♪ mark: welcome back. we have the top stories but we are following. in its real, voters began casting ballots today in an election that is too close to call. one of the first to vote was prime minister benjamin netanyahu. pulls indicate that his party is trailing the sinus party of his opponent, but both are well short of the majority. they wil

. ♪ >>> hello, 150 people are feared dead after an airbus a320 passenger jet crashed in the french alps. the german flight was flying from barcelona to dusseldorf. it took off at 10:01 local time. by 9:45 gmt the plane has reached hits cruising altitude of 30,000 feet but a minute later it nose dived for eight minutes. the last radar contact was at 9:53 gmt. shortly after that the plane crashed in the french alps. barnaby phillips has the latest. >> reporter: in the southern french alps a rescue operation is now underway. the emergency services pooling their resources. but this is difficult terrain and the weather a cloudy. in these mountains they have located the crash site, but retrieved the bodies could take days. relatives and friends have gathered to receive more information about absorb the terrible news. germanwings flight 9525 never showed up. it was traveling from barcelona to dusseldorf but crashed in the french alps. this is thought to be footage of the actual plane that crashed an airbus 320 filmed on a previous flight. the french president was hosting the king of spain on a

you can see in airbus training videos. there's a procedure to override the system. you go to the electronic system, the other pilot punches in the code, you should be able to go in. the pilot in the cockpit can attempt to override the original lock. he stayed in control of the plane. brought about this tragic. now, itragedy.in the united stad or stewardess has to go into the cockpit to prevent someone from getting locked out. that was not the case in europe until two hours ago. european airlines will follow the same rules as the american airlines and require two people in cockpit when one leaves for whatever reason. charles, as i go, you should know this is not the first time that a pilot has locked out his copilot and crashed the plane. ethiopiaian airlines. in that case, the plane landed in geneva. the pilot wanted to leave his country. essentially did. flight of a crash in mozambique in 2013. of course, one not too long after that where these things happen in africa, where they lock a pilot off and crash. it's happened in the french alps. >> wow. thank you very m

the airbus with 150 people onboard had simply disintegrated on impact. searchers, though, did find the cockpit voice recorder. this was the doomed aircraft operated by the low-cost airline germanwings. flight 9525 took off from barcelona at 10:00 this morning, climbing normally to a cruising altitude of 38,000 feet at 10:27. but minutes later, it began an unexplained descent over the alps. for eight minutes the pilots sent no distress signal. flight radar 24 says it lost contact with the plane which had dropped more than 30,000 feet at 10:40. "i heard the noise of the impact," this man says. then we saw smoke and thought the flight must have crashed. at dusseldorf where the plane was due to land, distressing scenes as waiting relatives were told the news. onboard were 144 passengers, 2 pilots, and 4 flight crew. among them at least 67 passengers from germany and 45 from spain. there were two babies, and 16 teens from the same school in germany hood who had been on an exchange holiday. also, two famous opera singers, who had been performing in barcelona.

airbusairbus a320 withr airbus a320 withp airbus a320 withairbus a320 with airbus a320 with 130 people aboard slamspaboard slams into the alps, and kills everyone aboard. theppicture of horror picture of horror with the p wreckage scattered on the mown wreckage scattered on the mountainside. that ispthat is what we know right now, but so much reman s a mystery right now. and right now, we have aviation experts standing by to answer the questions for you and why so many distress calls? and what does the eight-minute plunge tell us? was it intentional? what went wrong? we will answer all of it for you. and cnn reporters are live throughout the areas, and nic robertson is there, and we have richard quest with me here in new york and fred pleitgen in dusseldorf. richard, what do we know happened? >> we have absolutely no idea. it was 40-some-odd minutes into the flight, and it had reached the cruising altitude of 38,000 feet and about two minutes after it did, that it sudden starts to descend. there is some dispute as to what rate of speed it is descending. some suggest it is a consistent

across the world, airbus a320 takes off or land every three seconds. the key question for investigators, is there a problem that could crop up in other aircraft? laura: for more on this incident and the search for answers, i'm joined now from denver by aircraft accident investigator matthew robinson. blackbox recorder has already been found. how's the second is that in -- how significant is that this early in the investigation? matthew: this is nothing but good news, and relatively speaking, this investigation is going much quicker and smoother than the previous publicized crashes. that blackbox, or as we refer to it, the flight data recorder will be taken to the laboratory and the system downloaded. you want to make sure you are not erasing any of the memory. all of this nice data is recorded from -- all of this nice data are recorded from the various systems. that is merely a good starting point, and the whole investigation should not rely solely on those data. we should find corroborating evidence. so correct -- so the best hitters will have a trail