Germanwings Flight 9525 Probe: Only One Pilot Was In Cockpit During Crash - NY Times

Update: French authorities now believe that the Germanwings Airbus was deliberately crashed by the lone pilot in the cockpit. Prosecutor Brice Robin didn't say if the act was terrorism-related.)

The New York Times has a live update on the investigation which can be viewed via this link: http://www.nytimes.com/live/updates-on-the-germanwings-crash-investigation/

An investigator of the Germanwings flight 9525 that crashed in the French Alps revealed to the New York Times that one of the pilots left the cockpit but wasn't let back in by the other pilot based on the evidence gathered from the cockpit voice recorder.

Germanwings Flight 9525
Image source: By SEBASTIEN MORTIER via Wikimedia Commons

The New York Times quoted the source, an unidentified senior military official involved in the investigation, saying: “The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door and there is no answer. And then he hits the door stronger and no answer. There is never an answer.” 

The source also said: “You can hear he is trying to smash the door down.”

The revelation adds more mystery to the ongoing crash investigation conducted by French authorities. Investigators have already tracked the the ill-fated A320's flight path and sudden descent as it was crossing into France.

Germanwings flight 9525 took off at around 10 a.m. Barcelona time. Pilots reported the plane was on course at around 10:30 AM but minutes later, the plane inexplicably began to descend with the last reported altitude at of 6,175 feet according to Rémi Jouty, the director of the French Bureau of Investigations and Analyses.

This latest development have added more questions than answers as to the cause of the crash that killed 150 passengers and crew. Aviation authorities are now also looking into the safety record of Airbus aircraft. 

In 2009, an Air France Airbus A330 flight from Brazil crashed into the Atlantic Ocean killing 228 people. Investigator blamed frozen aircraft sensors for giving pilots erroneous data as the cause of the crash. Another recent accident involving Airbus jets was last December's Air Asia flight 8501 which dove into the Java sea. Not one of the 162 passenger and crew survived.