Horrible to see/hear this kind of thing once more. Not much left of the plane from what I can see on the BBC. Wonder why there was no distress signal. As a Father my heart especially goes out to those poor parents sat at Dusseldorf Aiport.....

Could be down to the saying:

1) Aviate
2) Navigate
3) Communicate

They may have just run out of time for the 3rd option, especially if they were furiously running through emergency procedures.

Always makes me feel sick when i read theres been a plane crash, i cant imagine the hell of not knowing whats happening and the loss of loved ones that these families are going through.

I wonder if there was a decompression that ultimately brought the plane down. It must have been major event given the spread of wreckage over the mountain. Thoughts are with the families

The latest news (speculation) is a bit disturbing regarding one of the pilots being locked out of the cockpit. Procedure on the flights I take seems to be that a stewardess swaps with the pilot if he needs to use the toilet - avoiding such a situation I guess.

Pointless and extremely unlikely speculation, though... the Pprune lot are I think merely pointing out that such an event *could* happen.

There's been a few suicide pilots in recent history.

Very sad if that is the case.

I'd understood it was based upon the cockpit recordings

It is.

Yes, I heard more details on the way into work. It was being discussed yesterday as a possibility.

Although there has still been no official comment on the contents of the CVR, just the rumours and 'briefings'.

Since 9/11 I assume the cockpit doors are now locked and are stronger etc. Silly question, but is the door locked from the inside, or do pilots have some kind of key access?

If the 1st officer was unconscious - had a heart attack or something, then how would the captain get back in?

If it was a pilot suicide, would he have retained a fairly gentle decent ?

Well, I assume that's why a stewardess goes in to replace a pilot

As I understand it, the cockpit door cannot be opened from the outside to prevent anyone unwanted from forcing their way in. Clearly, an entry code could be extracted from someone by force or threat of violence. Similarly, it would rather defeat the object to have an axe concealed in the cabin... On this basis, I assume that if you're locked out of the cockpit and the person(s) inside is/are unresponsive, you will struggle to get back in.
I suspect it will be impossible to establish the reason for the pilot in the cockpit failing to respond (and indeed the other pilot not being in the cockpit without another crew-member in his place), but I would think a medical explanation would be more likely than anything sinister.

What a dreadful tragedy.

Jim you can get in to a locked cockpit from outside possibly by a remote signal! Was mentioned on 5live this morning and has been used in the 10 odd years since cockpits were fortified! He just refused to say how why or by what means but it could only be a certain protocol decided by somebody that is not under duress and not on the plane! Perhaps 8 minutes was not long enough for somebody to make that decision?

Would of been a harrowing 8 minutes for most that were aware!

Interesting, H_R, I haven't heard that, but it makes sense for the circumstances that - apparently - occurred in this instance. Seemingly, the final communication from the plane was a routine air traffic exchange, so no request was made to invoke the protocol.

A remotely decided protocol would be useless, since the comms are in the front... more likely a hidden switch somewhere.

However, I understand that the man in the front can disable the keypad. Whether this affects the 'secret' way in I don't know and obviously the air crash investigator discussing this didn't elaborate.

I've just listened to this on the news and I'm truly shocked to envisage them trying to kick the door in to regain control

I've seen a few air crash investigation episodes which featured suicide. The senior pilot can command the first officer to leave the cockpit under certain circumstances.
Rate of decent is probably the last thing in the mind in those circumstances. More over looking for a good target to ensure you don't survive!

The Beeb are reporting that the co-pilot crash on purpose.

Terrible tragedy.

According to one report a pilot can only get "locked out" if the one remaining in the cockpit manually changes the code whilst he's gone. I can't think of any reason other than suicide for doing that, unless the excluded pilot was some threat. Tragic whatever the circumstances though, all thoughts are with their families and friends

In possibly becoming clearer about what happened, it's become less clear why it happened.

Just watching the news now and it's truly awful. The cockpit recorder picked up the pilot banging on the door and in the final seconds, screams from the passengers.

RIP to all those poor souls on board.

It seems there is a code access panel to open the door but it can be over ridden by a switch in the cockpit!
The anti terror procedures will have to be looked at again and or a member of crew will have to swap over if pilots need a comfort break!
Their last few minutes must have been shear hell

They have to balance the risk between unwanted people getting into the cockpit and the possibility that a pilot could do something like this.

I would say having the cockpit inaccessible from the outside is probably the right decision.

Indeed Ali.

If this was deliberate, the fact he was able to keep the pilot out looks irrelevant. It was the easiest way to achieve what he wanted.

Not being able to do it would not have prevented it. Swapping over with someone else or the other pilot not being able to be locked out would just have meant that person would have been killed/disabled (bearing in mind he was prepared to kill all on the plane).

A terrible event. Based on what I have read on here(seen no news today) was there any passenger communication to the outside world?

Let's hope any suffering was short .

Thoughts are with the family's.

It's at least being reported that the passengers weren't aware until late into the descent. I'm sure, based upon the wreckage, that the end would have been instantaneous. The anguish for the families is that it looks like someone murdered them all.

That part of the Alps is very remote. I'd have thought there would be little chance of getting a mobile phone signal above there (unlike more populated areas), so I doubt that anyone would have been able to communicate, even if they had realised the situation.

If it transpires that the co-pilot took deliberate action to crash the plane, I imagine there will be reflection on whether to change the cockpit-manning protocol.

As Ali said above, it's hard to see how increasing accessibility would help in other, perhaps more conventional, crisis types.

So what next, a sky marshal for the flight deck......until you have a suicidal sky marshal who takes out both pilots.

Is now the correct time to make the move to unmanned flight decks? The technology is most certainly already in aircraft, it would make planes a safer place, cut costs and make room for more seats.

Horrific incidents like this need not happen.