One other question comes to mind - it seems I might not be able to post on threads but I'll give it another shot...
...can you guys think of/list all incidents (an admittedly tiny tiny list) where pilot 'suicide' is either known or largely suspected, and of that list, which ones (SilkAir 185? any others?) did the 'suicidal' pilot pull the CVR bus during or before the incident?
Half of me thinks the (eminently rare) 'suicidal' pilot would want to disable the CVR so as maybe to avoid being tagged as the cause, the other half says that pilots are very bright and all know full well that almost always - a cause of a crash is going to be discerned regardless of CVR status. And frankly, probably a suicidal crew member doesn't really care if hes going to be found as the culprit because basically he is nutso (at that moment) anyway and knows he'll be dead.
As an aside, I really really hope that crash investigators determine that something happened to 'disable' to the lone crewmember in the flight deck and for whatever reason the other guy couldn't get in . . . vs. a premeditated lockout situation - because as noted above by someone this sort of thing is so exquisitely rare yet the lay flying public will start casting stones where none should be hurled. This guy (if suicidal) will have marred a profession merely by virtue of his own mental insufficiency. And I hope that's not the case. We'll see.