article_snippet: Reports revealed the aircraft had suffered technical issues, including a landing gear problem, just a day before the aircraft was due to fly from Barcelona to Dusseldorf.
article_snippet: Yesterday, Germanwings had reported 'occasional flight disruptions within Germanwings route network' as pilots were too shocked to fly following the news of the crash of an A320 Germanwings jet.
article_snippet: In a separate development, experts claimed the Germanwings plane may have crashed because the windscreen cracked, causing a sudden drop in oxygen levels that rendered the pilots unconscious.
article_snippet: In the latest theory to emerge, it is thought the windscreen gave way, incapacitating the pilots and leaving the pilots unable to send out a distress call.
article_snippet: That may explain what happened in what top French official Segolene Royal has described as the crucial minute between 10.30am - when the pilots were apparently chatting away - and 10.31am when contact was lost.
article_snippet: However, experts are also discussing other theories including faulty speed sensors and technical problems related to the age of the aircraft.
article_snippet: France's transport minister says work had begun on retrieving vital data from the cockpit voice recorder, although first pictures showed the cockpit voice recorder had been badly damaged and the cockpit voice recorder was not clear how much, if any, information could be analysed.