This is so terribly sad.

Speaking live on t.v the French representive says the 2nd black box has still not been found.

They can hear from the first black box the conversations between the pilots. They know that one pilot left the cock pit and on his return he could get not get back in or get any response from his co-pilot. They could hear him demanding to gain entry and banging the door but there was no response from the co-pilot, they could hear breathing from the cockpit.

The pilot left inside the cockpit is said to have been alive when the plane hit the ground! They believe the pilot in the cockpit DELIBERATELY crashed the plane! They don't want to say it was a suicide but they are confirming the pilot in the cock pit did aim the plane towards the ground.

Beyond awful! How could you do that to innocent people! The families will never have peace over this.

My God. They are saying the co-pilot did it deliberately. He operated the key to bring the plane into descent. He refused to press the button which would have responded to the door open code.

Crossed posts. Sorry.

Can you imagine the feelings of the German Pilots family knowing this is the official view at this time. They had to deal with his death now they have to deal with this news.

So many destroyed lives!

I can't bear to imagine the feelings of the poor passengers watching events unfold with the pilot desperatly trying to gain access to the cockpit. Those poor, poor people.

How awful - will they ever know which pilot was at the controls.

I have just read (an unconfirmed report)Riverwalk that it was the co-pilot who locked the Captain out of the cockpit. The co-pilot was named as German Andeas Gunter Lubitz.

I thought the pilot had, for some reason or other, lost consciousness, it's hard to believe this was a deliberate act, but then again that seemed to be the reasoning behind the lost Malaysian plane, at least they have the black box this time. It's heartbreaking, as indeed all plane crash fatalities always are.

It does beg the question that not being able to gain access to the cockpit from the outside has a disastrous consequence.

It is a very difficult problem as access to the cockpit can be a hi-jackers ideal scenario but equally if the co-pilot is ill or 'downs' a plane voluntarily it has an equal life threatening ending.

I suppose the access to a cockpit will have to be reviewed but it is a very difficult decision to make.

Have just read the breaking news on this, how awful, why did he have to take all those people with him, including babies and children.

This is not the first time a pilot has downed a plane, gaining access to the cockpit is a hell of a dilemma now, on the one hand, as you say POGS, the problem of hijackers necessitates the need for it to be locked. This is such a terrible tragedy.

My son has just given me a long winded explanation (comlete with diagrams) of how the door system works on an aircraft. Without going into full "engineers" mode I understand that the pilot outside the cockpit would normally enter a code into the entry system and the pilot inside the cockpit is able to disable/delay automatic entrance by pressing/flicking a switch. This delays the entrance although the pilot on the inside would have to keep pressing/flicking the switch every so often ?????? If in doubt as to who was trying to access the cockpit the pilot on the inside can speak to the person on the outside via telephone. If this is the case then there is a massive problem, which it would appear has now been highlighted.

There is access to the cockpit the pilot has a way (which is kept secret) to over ride the door locking system but for reasons unknown wasn't able to activate it in this case..

I am not sure your post is quite correct Tanith.

Isn't the issue you can gain access from the outside but the co-pilot in the cockpit can block it? That is my perception listening to the official report given by the French spokesperson.

Yes POGS that is exactly how my son explained it. The pilot on the inside can block entry to anyone on the outside. But apparently the switch (or whatever it is) needs to be re-switched/activated at regular intervals in order to continue to prevent access. If this is the case then the pilot on the inside must have been deliberately preventing access by the captain who (if he was able to get in) could have possibly prevented/stopped the impending disaster.

Not what it says on this Video from the BBC POGS.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32062996

Lufthansa usually have a policy of insisting another member of crew is present in the cockpit if one pilot has to leave so that there are always two crew present. With the budget airline this is possibly not enforced.
I really can not write what I think of the pilot that did this

If it was a deliberate act there is perhaps a need to revamp the medical examinations for pilots to ensure that mental health problems are properly screened. I am not sure what happens at present.

You need to be very ill to feel suicidal - and even iller to intend that others should die with you. It is hard to imagine that this degree of mental ill health was not picked up beforehand. from his behaviour.

The only other option is that this was a terrorist act. But no organisation has claimed responsibility - let us hope they do not all start jumping n the bandwagon.

Deliberate actions do sound a worrying possibility but we don't know the facts here yet.
Please don't let us get carried away with these suppositions unless we have some real evidence.

I have a horror of unfounded rumour It does no good to anyone.

Yes tanith and if the pilot on the inside had been (for arguments sake) taken ill then this would work. But the pilot on the inside can physically block the pilot trying to get in ! A pilot taken ill would not do this but a pilot who could see a potential terrorist trying to get in (or in this case with sinister motive) could actively block the entry.

OMG ignore my previous post I have just heard the news. I was watching Richard IIIs reinterment.

Teetime - it may be hard for you to understand that those of us who have watched loved ones die in pain and misery find it very distressing to read your assertion, just as you feel hurt when it is challenged. Where was your god's mercy when our loved ones suffered I wonder. Thank you for recognising that your post had a word missing. That does alter its meaning. I respect your belief, but cannot share it.

Would anyone suffering from severe depression (enough to take their own life) wish to take the lives of over a hundred innocent people with them?

The latest news is just so distressing, the full truth will never be known , if suicide one cannot imagine the horrors in his mind

This poor man must have been seriously ill; and it is hard to imagine that this was not apparent.

I cannot believe someone so mentally ill (to the point of taking all of those innocent children with them) could possibly have carried on as though today was just a normal day.