Reported in our local newspaper (attributed to New York Times):
AS investigators go through the audio recovered from one of the Germanwings black boxes, reports have emerged that one of the pilots became locked out of the cockpit and was unable to get back in.
The New York Times reports that a senior military official involved in the investigation described “very smooth, very cool” conversation between the pilots during the early part of the flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf.
The audio then seems to reveal one of the pilots left the cockpit and was unable to get back in.
“The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door and there is no answer,” the investigator said. “And then he hits the door stronger and no answer. There is never an answer.”
He said, “You can hear he is trying to smash the door down.”
The cause of the crash, which killed all 150 people on board, is still unclear and it’s hoped the answers to many questions will be contained in the black boxes.
“We don’t know yet the reason why one of the guys went out,” said the official, who requested anonymity because the investigation is continuing. “But what is sure is that at the very end of the flight, the other pilot is alone and does not open the door.”
Almost 600 gendarmes and other police and rescue groups were yesterday involved in inspecting the site of Flight 9525 deep in the French Alps and unravelling what may have happened from the moment it took off from Barcelona to its crash about an hour later on Tuesday en route to Dusseldorf.
The last communication from the doomed jetliner was routine. The mangled black box has yielded sounds and voices, the lead investigator said, but so far not the “slightest explanation” why the plane plunged into an Alpine mountainside.
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