French prosecutors have confirmed that the co-pilot of the Germanwings plane that crashed Tuesday deliberately flew the A320 into the mountains killing all 150 passengers and crew.

In a dramatic development overnight the investigators confirmed AirlineRatings.com analysis that pilot suicide was the likely cause of the crash.

At a press last night French prosecutor Brice Robin revealed the co-pilot as 28 year old Andreas Lubitz from Montabaur, in Rhineland-Palatinate.

He had 630 flight hours and joined Germanwings in September 2013 from the Lufthansa Flight Training School in Bremen.

Yesterday the New York Times, quoting an un-named crash investigator, revealed that one of the pilots was locked out of the cockpit.

The investigator said that on the cockpit voice recorder were the sounds of one of the pilots trying to get back into the cockpit after taking a short break.

But chillingly, there is no response.

The investigator said that the initial conversation was “very smooth, very cool”.

Then he says the audio indicated that one of the pilots left the cockpit and could not re-enter.

“The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door and there is no answer,” the investigator said.

“And then he hits the door stronger and no answer.

“There is never an answer.

“You can hear he is trying to smash the door down.”

The crash investigator said there was no indication why the captain left the cockpit.

“But what is sure is that at the very end of the flight, the other pilot is alone and does not open the door."

It was also revealed that there was no further conversation from the cockpit after the captain left the cockpit. Prosecutor Robin said that the co-pilot “voluntarily“initiated the descent of the Germanwings flight.

“The co-pilot is alone at the controls.” “He voluntarily refused to open the door of the cockpit to the pilot and voluntarily began the descent of the plane.”

Prosecutor Robin said Lubitz was not listed as a terrorist.

He said the co-pilot was “not known by us” to have links to terrorism or extremists, and that German authorities were expected to provide additional information on his background and private life on Friday.

Apparently the co-pilot turned the “flight monitoring system” button to initiate the plane’s descent.

However in a twist Prosecutor Robin claimed that passengers were unaware of their imminent demise “until very last moment”.

But that would be inconsistent with the captain banging on the cockpit door.

The co-pilot in the cockpit engaged the lock mode on the cockpit door which disables the emergency access procedure for about 20 minutes, according to Airbus manuals.

Investigators have not yet found the other black box, the digital flight data recorder.

This crash is a strikingly similar to another suicide flight in November 2013 involving a LAM Mozambique Airlines ERJ190, which crashed in Namibia, killing all 33 aboard.

That plane, en route from Maputo in Mozambique to Luanda in Angola, crashed after the co-pilot left the cockpit for a toilet break.
On the cockpit voice recorder, the sound of the co-pilot banging on the cockpit door can be heard as the plane descended.

During the descent, the captain changed speed several times. It is understood the captain’s son died a year earlier and the pilot had alleged serious marital problems.