Pilot suicide brings down Germanwings flight 

Revelations today from investigators working on flight 4U9525, indicate pilot suicide as the cause of the tragedy.

One of the pilots of Germanwings flight 4U9525 that crashed into mountains on Tuesday killing all 150 passengers and crew on-board was locked out of the cockpit it has been revealed.

    READ: How it's easy to lock a co-pilot out

According to the New York Times, an unnamed military official who has heard the cockpit voice recorder from the doomed jet, says one pilot, for reasons unknown, left the cockpit and then can be heard banging on the door to get back in.

But there is no response, infact there is no more conversation on the cockpit voice recorder after the pilot leaves.

The New York Times says that the senior military official involved in the investigation described “very smooth, very cool” conversation between the pilots during the early part of the flight from Barcelona to Düsseldorf.  Then he says the audio indicated that one of the pilots left the cockpit and could not re-enter.

“The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door and there is no answer,” the investigator told the New York Times.

“And then he hits the door stronger and no answer. There is never an answer.”

He said, “You can hear he is trying to smash the door down.”

The pilot in the cockpit appears to have engaged the lock mode on the cockpit door which disables the emergency access procedure for about 20 minutes according to Airbus manuals.

It takes just one flip of a switch for a pilot to lock anyone, including those withthe access code, out of the cockpit.

This accident bears a chilling resemblance to another suicide in November 2013 involving a LAM airlines ERJ190 which crashed killing all 33 aboard.

In that crash between Maputo InternationalAirport and Luanda Airport, the co-pilot left the cockpit for the lavatory.

On the cockpit voice recorder the sound of the co-pilot banging on the cockpit door can be heard as the plane descended.

During the descent the captain changed speed several times and even activated the spoilers.

It is understood the captain’s son had died a year prior to the accident and he had alleged serious marital problems.

If suicide is the cause it will be the ninth pilot suicide in the past 40 years (or tenth if you include MH370 which is likely human input)  that has taken an airliner down.

An alarm indicating the proximity of the ground can also be heard before the impact of the Germanwings flight.

According to the source the pilots had been speaking normally and in German at the start of Flight 4U9525.

But the source could not say if it was the captain or the first officer who had left the cockpit.

Investigators have not yet located the other black box – the Digital Flight Data Recorder.

French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel flew over the crash site yesterday to see the devastation for themselves, while Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy also visited the scene of the crash - the worst in France in four decades.

 “My deepest sympathies with the families and all my thanks for the friendship of the people of this region and in France,” wrote Merkel in a book of condolence.

 Grieving relatives were also gathering near the crash site, where a counselling unit has been established.