One of the pilots of the Germanwings Airbus A320 that crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday was locked out of the cockpit, according to early analysis of the cockpit voice recorder. Sources close to the investigation said the pilot made desperate attempts to re-enter the cockpit, including knocking and trying to smash the door down, but received no response.
A German state prosecutor confirmed the reports but did not specify which pilot was locked out. The aircraft, flying from Barcelona to Düsseldorf, crashed with 150 people on board, all of whom died. Relatives of the victims are expected to visit the crash site on Thursday.
The cockpit voice recorder data revealed an alarm indicating proximity to the ground shortly before impact. Investigators have extracted usable data but caution that full analysis may take weeks or months. The flight data recorder has not yet been recovered.
Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings, confirmed that the co-pilot joined the airline in September 2013 with 630 flying hours, while the captain had over 6,000 hours of experience. The airline declined to comment on the cockpit door reports but stated that its cockpit protocols comply with German aviation safety rules.
The incident has raised questions about cockpit security procedures. While some airlines enforce a 'rule of two' requiring a crew member to replace a pilot leaving the cockpit, this is not standard practice for Lufthansa. The crash echoes a 2013 incident involving a Mozambican Airlines flight where the pilot is believed to have locked himself in the cockpit and deliberately crashed the plane.
