"There was a 'deliberate attempt to destroy the aircraft'..."

"... Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said Thursday about the Germanwings crash."

The co-pilot of the doomed Germanwings flight �accelerated the descent� of the plane when he was alone in the cockpit, Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said Thursday. That can only be done deliberately, he said. The co-pilot was alive until impact, Robin said, citing the sound of breathing in the cockpit.

The most plausible explanation of the crash is that the copilot, �through deliberate abstention, refused to open the cabin door � to the chief pilot, and used the button� to cause the plane to lose altitude....

ADDED: Here's a much more substantial report in the NYT report:

[Brice Robin] said it appeared that the intention of the co-pilot, identified as Andreas Lubitz, had been �to destroy the aircraft.�... He said there was no indication that this was a terrorist attack, and that Mr. Lubitz was not known to law enforcement officials...

The prosecutor said that the authorities had a full transcript of the final 30 minutes of the voice recorder. �During the first 20 minutes, the pilots talk normally,� he said, saying they spoke in a �cheerful� and �courteous� way. �There is nothing abnormal happening,� he said...

�You can hear the commanding pilot ask for access to the cockpit several times,� the prosecutor said. �He identifies himself, but the co-pilot does not provide any answer. You can hear human breathing in the cockpit up until the moment of impact,� he said.