Page 124 - 320 News Today

So he was new at it. he had about 630 hours of flight time behind the controls of the air bus 320. lets fast forward to the timeline before the crash. the cockpit recorder, sean paints a very eerie picture. we know that during the pre-flight prep and as the aircraft was climbing there was normal conversation between lubitz and the captain amiable conversation. the captain went out to go to the bathroom, he was apparently locked out. at first he started knocking loudly but at that point it became...

The descent of the plane. the prosecutor said, this action could only have been voluntary. and then later, the captain is heard pleading to get back into the cockpit, but the co-pilot, heard breathing normally until the plane crashes, does not react. you can hear the commanding pilot ask for access to the cockpit several times, the prosecutor says. he identifies himself, but the co-pilot does not provide any answer. it should be noted that the airbus 320 mechanism for the cockpit door allowed so...

Since the revelation of the pilot of germanwings flight 9525 can be heard banging hard on the door people are asking why he could not find a way to smash through into the cockpit. the answer since 9/11 cockpit doors and locks have been reinforced. for a demonstration, we sent stephanie elam to the airport in victorville. >> reporter: we are inside a cockpit similar to the a hiech-320. we have a cockpit door here. it is a slim door. we have the peep hole. i want to take you outside and introduce ...

System will not allow the airbus 320 to go under that. so, i mean, this was methodical. and had he not -- had the captain not left, he may have chosen another flight at a later date. >> so heres another question about this. and maybe this is a dumb question, but ill ask anyway. im a little unclear how based on the streaming data plus the vocal recordings, they can be sure who is the pilot and who is the co-pilot in this scenario. >> well, they probably know the voices of the two. so, you know --...

Hours experience on this particular airplane, he was 27 years old, two years of experience with lufthansa, that he was basically an infant when it comes to experience and he was left, allowed to be left alone in that cockpit. >> i can tell you, natalie, im a pilot with about 2,500 hours of experience. as i think back to my days of having 500 or 600 hours, the idea of me being set loose alone with an airbus a-320 is a frightening thought to me. thats not enough qualification time and experience t...

On collision course with the french alps. dropping 32,000 feet in just 8 minutes. at the end of the black box recording sudden and chilling screams from the passengers on board. >> you only hear the screams literally on the last moment of the recording. >> 10:40 a.m. total mayhem. french air traffic control loses contact as the air bus 320 slams into the french alps. pulverizing the fuselage and all 120 passengers. >> the the prosecutor said you could hear the co-pilot breathing right into the m...

Perfectly good. they performed exactly what they were supposed to. they have lots of redundancies its whether or not in this instance there was a pilot or co-pilot who just wanted to kill people. >> rick? >> oh im sorry. i thought you were talking to d.j. still. >> no, to you. these a-320 is a great plane. >> the a-320 is an excellent plane. i think everybody is putting the cart before the horse on this whole accident. this pilot number one, only had 630 hours he was in that cockpit alone. lets ...

Crash of germanwings 9525 no longer considered an accident. as you know french officials say the planes voice recorder shows the co-pilot flew the airbus a 320 into the alps on purpose killing everyone on board while the cockpit was locked out, banging on the door trying to get back in and the passengers screaming. that revelation came on the same day that relatives and friends of some of the victims arrived in france at an area near the crash site. our nic robertson joins us now. today, i cant ...

The entire time the 10 minutes after the co-pilot apparently according to the prosecutor those almost 10 minutes when he started bringing the plane down he did not say a single word in response to people trying to get into that cockpit. >> now, the a-320 has about a two hour loop on that voice recorder and they had taken off about 45 minutes or so earlier. so there should be a lot of information, a lot of chatter, a lot of conversation with air traffic controllers, a lot of conversation between ...

Speaking, theres been -- the procedure over the years is that airline pilots evaluate each other. who best than the person youre sitting next to for a long flight to determine if there might be something awry, some sort of mental health instability problem? and this vetting process has actually worked pretty well over the years. but when you have somebody in that position of responsibility with so little experience and so little vetting, you open yourself up to risk. collectively speaking, who k...