Germanwings crash: one of the two pilots were locked out

One of the two pilots on a Germanwings flight left the cockpit before the plane crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday, said the New York Times on Wednesday. Questions still remain over why the plane rapidly descended to crash in the mountain area in just eight minutes, and now another suspicion over the pilots is making the accident more mysterious.

The New York Times quoted an investigator as saying, “Evidence from a cockpit voice recorder indicated one pilot left the cockpit before the plane’s descent 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 as if he were trying to smash the door down.”

It was not confirmed why the pilot in question left the cockpit and the other pilot in the cockpit did not open the door. Agence France-Presse quoted investigation sources that one of the two pilots appeared to have been locked out of the cockpit, which supported CNN’s report. “It is too early to make a conclusion on what happened. We’ll closely analyze it," the French aviation authorities said.

CNN said the situation where the cockpit door was locked before the crash is a "terribly shocking revelation” and possibilities range from a medical emergency to a suicide mission. At first, a mechanical defect or a system breakdown were thought to be the cause of the crash. After the analysis of the voice recorder, however, the crash is thought to have been related to the pilot’s mistake, low decompression in the cockpit, or a suicidal attempt.

Rescue teams recovered the cockpit voice recorder from one of two black boxes, but did not find the flight data recorder that includes all flight information on engines and altitudes. As the flight data recorder logs the location and status of key parts, it is expected to play an important role in identifying the cause. The analysis of both black boxes will be able to reveal what caused the crash.

Rescue workers found the first body of a victim on the site on Thursday. A local rescue worker said in an interview with foreign media that shattered pieces of the plane and bodies were spread all over the mountain and the valley like a carpet, adding that it was the first time to see such a horrible site, which indicates that the plane smashed into the ground.