The speculation of an unauthorized guest (though tantalizing for those who write news stories) seems premature without supporting input, doesn't it? That creates a mystery (whose bodies were those and what seats were they strapped into) that seems extraneous, since as I understand the retrieval events, it was FOs bodies, strapped in, that were recovered. Perhaps I have missed a detail.
The fundamental concern, to me, remains: "If either of the pilots on the flight deck saw the nasty weather up ahead on the radar (the Christmas Tree
), what crew of any airline would blythely ride through it (with a guest in the front or not)?" (My answer is "None," particularly as this crew was reasonably experienced).
Would not the CVR hold the answers to that question? Discussion of weather (or lack of it) between those in the seats, or between those handing over duties at a crew change, should indicate what they perceived as the weather issues at hand.
Graybeard's, and PJ's, and Teddy Robinson's comments on Wx radars and how to use them rise to the fore.
Teddy, thanks for the experiential points on what can happen when one doesn't "see" what one is flying into. I have a mind's eye picture of (possibly) a crew change interrupted by one of those "tossing people about" events you mention. A crew might be playing catch-up as soon as that happens.
Back in the tube, CC might be dealing with sudden chaos, as a few are tossed about, and a few are now tending to passengers who (not strapped in) are also tossed about depending upon their being in or near seats, or up and going to the bathroom, etcetera.
Itching to find out what was being said in the cockpit.