The co-pilot of a FlyBe passenger plane who passed out in his cockpit seat inadvertently hit the rudder pedal causing the aircraft to roll just before descent into Dublin Airport, writes Catherine Shanahan.

Lufthansa subsidiary Germanwings could face liabilities well above the typical ceiling in airline crashes for the passengers who died on Tuesday when one of its jets was flown into an Alpine mountain, some aviation lawyers said.

The Germanwings airline said it is stunned and “utterly baffled” as to why one of its pilots deliberately crashed a plane into the Alps killing himself and 149 other people.