French investigators say data from the second “black box” recorder recovered after the Germanwings plane crash suggests the co-pilot increased the aircraft’s speed as it descended.<br /><br /> The information confirms earlier findings that last week’s downing of the Airbus into an Alpine mountainside was a deliberate act.<br /><br /> The Bureau d’enquêtes et d’analyses (BEA) investigation agency said in a statement that an initial reading of the data indicated the plane was programmed to go down to an altitude of 100 feet.<br /><br /> Several times, the investigators say, the pilot then modified the automatic pilot’s settings to make the aircraft go faster.<br /><br /> The flight data recorder contains a detailed readout of hundreds of parameters, including any commands made from the co-pilot’s seat on the flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf.<br /><br /> The box was discovered on Thursday by a female rescue officer, in an area of the mountain that had been repeatedly searched.<br /><br /> “I’d found a pile of clothes, we rummaged through a bit,
