The pilot being locked out and his co-pilot being unconscious doesn't explain why the plane was set on a descent. It was at cruisng altitude and would have been on auto pilot, so the co-pilot would have had to disengage the auto pilot and take manual control. Sounds increasingly like a suicide.
It turns out I know several family and friends for this poor lad. I understand that they think the cockpit lost a window.
If the cockpit lost a window the entire plane would have lost cabin pressure as the cockpit door isn't airtight and would likely have blown off anyway. The pilot knocking and then trying to break down the door rules out that theory imo.
If the pilot was indeed trying to break the door down, then it would seem so, but that's not what the family have been told so far.
the latest news suggests that the cockpit door was deliberately disabled so the other pilot couldn't get back in - seems strange that no details have been released about the pilots - I think the one that left the cockpit was called Mustapha Crap
#Germanwings co-pilot appears to have crashed the aircraft deliberately, prosecutor says. Shocking stuff.
It already shouldn't be able to happen, there's a way for a co-pilot to get in, even if the main door is locked.
Apparently there are only three places in Europe which decode 'Black Box' data - one in UK, one each in France and Germany. Apparently security is v. tight at all three - often neither airline nor plane-maker allowed in. So details can be quite sparse (hence rumours can spread).
Its turned into a murder investigation, the true horror is if the co-pilot intended to commit suicide and take the plane down he also had the power to crash it into the centre of a major European city!
It's not unique: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Airliner_accidents_and_incidents_involving_deliberate_crashes
Here are the main points of the press conference held by the Marseille public prosecutor, Brice Robin. The co-pilot of the Germanwings jet that crashed in the French Alps deliberately forced the plane into the descent that led to the disaster, the prosecutor said. He pressed a button that accelerated the Airbus A320’s descent when alone in the cockpit. “It was a voluntary action,” Robin said. The co-pilot - named by the prosecutor as Andreas Lubitz, 28, a German citizen, was alone because the pilot had gone to the toilet. When he returned, the co-pilot refused to open the door. “The intention was to destroy this plane,” he said. Lubitz was breathing normally at the point of impact, the prosecutor reveals. He said nothing during the final descent, which lasted about 10 minutes. “Absolute silence inside the cockpit. Nothing, no word during the last 10 minutes.” There was no indication that Lubitz’s actions amounted to terrorism, Robin said. But he stopped short of declaring it suicide, saying only that was a “legitimate” question to ask. Cries could be heard just before the impact, the prosecutor said. “The death would have been sudden, immediate.” Air traffic controllers attempted to contract the plane in the last few minutes before the crash but received no reply from the cockpit. Robin said he had briefed the families of the dead.
My thoughts go out to the poor souls on the plain! they must have been terrified? I don't think there is a worse way to die then that? Terrible news.