Dozy
My point was IF the PF had any problems with those well-used checklists, even a momentary lapse in responding, it would indicate to me he had problems with remembering checklists, especially emergency procedures which he rarely, if ever, used.
I'm having trouble finding where the BEA said everything was normal or that no one besides the crew entered the cockpit. I did find, in the Interim report 3 where the cockpit door was opened and closed several times and had been left open for "some time on several occasions" (page 25, English version).
This one example goes to the core of my previous argument. I may be wrong, but I doubt opening the cockpit door "several times" and the having "it stayed open for some time on several occasions" is standard procedure for Air France these days.
This one small notation from the BEA tells me the pilots were not following standard procedures with regard to the security of the cockpit door so what other procedures did they ignore. Without the CVR transcript release, we may not know.
My questions in this regard come from the Colgan 3407 investigation where the earlier parts of the CVR were instumental in establishing a cause, not just what happened in the last few minutes.
I too think that once the Final Report is ready, many of these questions will be answered but a release of the first part of the CVR shouldn't harm anyone or the memory of the pilots as it should have been just 'another day at the office' for them.