Black box data reveals Lubitz may have tried to change course during Germanwings descent

A log released by French air crash investigators show that Lubitz was pushing on his control stick seconds before the crash - but not hard enough to disable the autopilot

Rescue workers and gendarmerie continue their search operation near the site of the Germanwings plane crash near the French Alps (Francis Pellier MI DICOM/Ministere de l'Interieur/Getty Images)

New details from the black box recording of the crashed Germanwings plane show that the pilot may have tried to override the automatic descent mechanism just seconds before the crash.

A log of the flight, captured by the Germanwings Flight 4U9525 aircraft's black box recorder, shows co-pilot Andreas Lubitz was moving his control stick just 90 seconds before the plane collided with a mountain in the French Alps.

The log, released by French crash investigators, reads: "Between 10:39:33 and 10:40:07 there was a recorded sidestick input (manual movement) with low amplitude (vibrations) on the co-pilot side."

The report added: "One minute and thirty-three seconds before impact the flight data recorder recorded a control input of 30 seconds on the right side stick controller, which was not strong enough to turn off the autopilot."

More pressure on the stick would have disabled the autopilot and allowed Lubitz to change course, if he wanted to.

A relative of passengers who died in the Germanwings crash arrives at Barcelona airport (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

However, speaking to The Mirror, Rémi Jouty, Director of French civil aviation investigation body BEA, said: "The evaluated data confirms that the co-pilot was able to act, that all his actions had the same meaning. Namely to crash the plane on the ground."

All 150 passengers and crew on board the plane were killed when it crashed on 24 March in the French Alps.

Details that emerged after the crash showed that Lubitz had locked the pilot out of the cockpit, before deliberately putting the plane into a descent and crashing it - a manoeuvre he had practiced multiple times before.

Last week, prosecutors found a tablet computer after searching an address linked to Lubitz.

On the tablet, they found searches for methods of suicide and details of cockpit door safety precautions. Further details about the contents of Lubitz's tablet are pending, as police comb through the evidence.

Read more: USA almost denied Lubitz a license
Lubitz was seeing an 'astonishing' amount of doctors
Footage shows Lubitz learning to fly