I have no doubt that by now you have all heard of the tragedy that has hit the Lufthansa family today and have read many of the stories that have been reported by the media.

Unfortunately I am in Seattle on LH Business and have been with Boeing this morning so I am a bit behind on what has happened.

Germanwings flight 9525 was lost today when it crashed in French Alps during a flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf.  It is presumed that 144 passengers and 6 crew members were lost.   Of the passenger roster, it appears that 16 German children returning from Holiday were aboard.

The cause of the crash has of course not been determined so I’m careful not to speculate.  I’m sure that the authorities and professionals who specialize in this will have answers in the coming days.

What we do know is that the flight departed Barcelona at 10:01a and reached a cruising altitude of 38,000 feet at 10:45a.   Within minutes it started an unexplained descent and lost contact with controllers and radar at 10:53a.

The flight crew was well seasoned, with the captain having over 10 years of experience and 6,000 hours of flight time.

The aircraft, formerly a Lufthansa A320 was 24 years old and was inspected by Lufthansa Technik on March 23 in Dusseldorf.   The aircraft’s last major scheduled maintenance had been carried out in 2013.

Flightradar24 has done a solid job keeping track of all the data of the flight including its position, speeds and flight profile.  You can keep up to date with their data via their Twitter handle: @FlightRadar24.

As more information becomes available, I will pass it along as soon as possible.

Thoughts and Prayers are with the families who have lost loved ones in this tragedy.