Germanwing crash investigation takes a bizarre turn...

[TwinFoxes]

It seems the copilot intentionally crashed the plane. I had heard yesterday that the pilot can be heard on the flight recorder trying to force his way back into the cockpit. But now it appears the copilot had set the plane to descend. I thought perhaps he had some sort of medical emergency. So bizarre and sad.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...4ff_story.html

[boolady]

It's horrible.

[TwinFoxes]

I just heard an NPR story. Apparently the recordings pick up the pilot trying to break down the door and yelling, passengers screaming, and the co-pilot's breathing. It was chilling.

[carolinacool]

All plane crashes are obviously horrible, but this just takes it to another level. I can't even imagine.

[twowhat?]

Terrible. I just can't even...UGH....

Stuff like this SHOULD NOT HAPPEN.

[minnie-zb]

How do you reach a point where you think it's a good idea to kill yourself and decide it's necessary to kill others at the same time? I know this is nothing new and there's plenty of examples of this sort of behavior, but it boggles the mind to think someone could ever reach such a low that this is the only answer.

[AngB]

Awful.

And I think they should have completely finished the investigation (or at least waited another day or two) before publicly announcing any of this. Admittedly, it doesn't appear from the evidence that they could be mistaken but it still seems so early on in the investigation to be making accusations so definitive and accusatory. I mean, there's a big leap to say from the evidence, "oh the co-pilot was breathing" when it crashed to "he intentionally crashed the plane"...what if he passed out (would/could still be breathing) and slumped over and his face hit some controls that made the plane crash? (No idea how much of a leap that is, but how awful would it be if something like that *is* what actually happened and now they have already come out and said he intentionally crashed the plane?)

Either way, so horrible.

[TwinFoxes]

Awful.

And I think they should have completely finished the investigation (or at least waited another day or two) before publicly announcing any of this. Admittedly, it doesn't appear from the evidence that they could be mistaken but it still seems so early on in the investigation to be making accusations so definitive and accusatory. I mean, there's a big leap to say from the evidence, "oh the co-pilot was breathing" when it crashed to "he intentionally crashed the plane"...what if he passed out (would/could still be breathing) and slumped over and his face hit some controls that made the plane crash? (No idea how much of a leap that is, but how awful would it be if something like that *is* what actually happened and now they have already come out and said he intentionally crashed the plane?)

Either way, so horrible.

In the NPR story I heard, the French prosecutor stressed that there was absolutely no way to bump a switch to turn off the auto-pilot. That several intentional steps needed to be taken. (Which, if you think about it, makes sense). And that the plane was intentionally put into a dive.

I just hope that the families were informed of these findings before they heard about it in the media.

ETA: here's the piece I heard: http://www.npr.org/2015/03/26/395499...-in-jets-crash

[kep]

In the NPR story I heard, the French prosecutor stressed that there was absolutely no way to bump a switch to turn off the auto-pilot. That several intentional steps needed to be taken. (Which, if you think about it, makes sense). And that the plane was intentionally put into a dive.

I just hope that the families were informed of these findings before they heard about it in the media.

Also, apparently the locking feature of the cockpit door required a button to be pressed manually to have the door continue being locked. The pilot and flight crew would have had the override code to access the cockpit. The only way the door could have remained locked for the 10 minutes, was for a button to be manually pressed in the cockpit every five minutes by the remaining pilot. In the reading I was doing last night and this morning, it really doesn't sound like there is any way for this to have an accidental. There's also no way to explain the careful slow descent. Apparently the autopilot would not have allowed this, As it would have deviated from the flightplan the autopilot was following.

[citymama]

This is so utterly horrible. I can't stop thinking about those kids. There's really no word for this kind of evil.