reasonable doubt
emjanssen: How do they know the FO started the descent without data from the FDR?
This is one thing that is troubling me as well.
I will not argue that there are many elements to argue in support of conclusion that this was murder/suicide by the co-pilot, however I am not sure the case is beyond all reasonable doubt, and the blogs, boards and news media seem to be locking down on that conclusion.
It strikes me as odd that someone intentionally headed into a suicide crash would have "normal" or "steady" breathing, and I believe there are states of incapacitation under which breathing may sound "steady". The gradual descent also seems possibly inconsistent with an intentional suicide crash.
I know that we want to know, and we want resolution, but I believe there is some ambiguity here, and perhaps we should accept that we don't, and may not, really know what happened here.
They do have squitter data,
as linked to above, which clearly shows intentional reprogramming of the autopilot from 38000 to 96 ft.