Germanwings Plane Crash. Disaster? Terrorist attack? Or simply just a horrible tragedy?

In recent news, this Tuesday, March twenty-fourth, a plane, Germanwings Flight 9525, crashed into the southern Alps of France and killed all 150 passengers on board. The plane was in route from Barcelona, Spain, to Düsseldorf, Germany. The plane contained 144 passengers and six crew members.


Timeline:
Flight took off at 10:01 am, and was 26 minutes late.
10:18- The plane reached cruising altitude of 38,000 feet.
10:31- The plane alters course and begins to descend rapidly.
10:34 the plane is descending at nearly 4,000 feet per minute.
10:53 at 6,000 feet, air traffic controllers lose contact with the plane. Minutes later the plane crashes.

The weather that day in the area was completely clear and calm, so many are wondering what could have caused this. Search teams have found one of the black boxes in the wreckage and have been able to analyze what was said in the cabin of the plane, right before the crash. Since Tuesday, when the crash occurred, more and more evidence has come up, such as that one of the co-pilots was locked out of the cabin and was banging on the door to be let in. Just this morning, French investigators have deemed that one of the co-pilots, named Andreas Lubitz, wanted to "destroy the plane." As to why he wanted to do such a thing, is still an unanswered question. Luckily updates are regular so we should soon find out. From the evidence that has come up, he seemed like a normal young guy that enjoyed pop music, had a lot of friends and lived with his parents. So far nothing has been found about possible links between Andreas Lubitz and any terrorist or extremist groups. 

How does this relate to our class? Well last week we talked about terrorism and disasters and read an article called "Earthquakes, hurricanes, and terrorism: do natural disasters incite terror?" By Claude Berrebi and Jordan Ostwald. Part of the article gave the a an incite as to criteria of what makes a terrorist act a terrorist act. Briefly, it said things such as, "The incident had to be intentional... It had to entail some level of violence or threat of violence-this includes damage to property... The act had to be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal." (Berrebi and Ostwald, 387). So far, from what is known, this act was intentional and entailed a great level of violence, but it did not do any damage to any property. If the French Alps were not monitored as much as they are, this crash could have gone unnoticed and had been discovered later than it actually was. There is also no known goal by the co-pilot to attain anything social or political.

So far evidence does not show that the plane crash was an act of terror, but what could lead a young adult to want to do something so horrendous and out of the ordinary? This plane crash is, without a doubt, a tragedy, but it may also be considered a disaster if you consider the facts and the possibility that it was an act of terror.

Sources

• Berrebi, Claude, and Jordan Ostwald. "Earthquakes, Hurricanes, and Terrorism: Do Natural Disasters Incite Terror?" Public Choice 149.3-4 (2011): 383-403. 
• http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32063587
• http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/25/europe/france-germanwings-crash-what-we-know/
• http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/mar/26/germanwings-plane-crash-investigation-press-conference-live-updates-4u9525
• http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/world/europe/germanwings-airbus-crash.html?_r=