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investigators have recovered the black boss and doing extensive analysis at a lab in paris. >> from the -- the pilot mentioned that he wants to return. >> david: family members mourn the side of the crash. earlier this week investigators discovered that jack's group from the plane the same piece found in air flight 261 flight back in 2,000 but investigators continue to focus on similarities between flight 302 and the error crash in indonesia on october 29th. both planes boeing 737 max eight in both crashed minutes into their journey. data from the air flight indicated the pilots tried to override a safety system maneuvering characteristic augmentation system.
in france germany and spain are looking through all sources of intelligence and cross-referencing the passenger manifest to see if there is anyone of interest that the u.s. is aware of who may have been on that flight flight 9525 according to two law enforcement officials i have been speaking with. what we have learned is so far, preliminarily in the process of running these names through data bases, it hasn't turned up anything that stands out or anything linking these passengers to criminal activity. we know that this process is ongoing and officials say the bottom line there's just not clarity right now as to what caused this crash. but the fbi wants to make sure that it's nothing other than just a simple accident especially considering the fact that there were three americans on board. the u.s. has a keen interest finding out exactly what happened here. the fbi we should note has offered full assistance and is still standing by in the event. the french authorities who are leading the investigation formally ask for their help. that has not happened yet, i'm told.
what happened here. >> the flight data recorder they need that for the complete picture. miles, captain, thanks so much for being with us. coming up the victims of this crash came from around the world, including a mother and her daughter from virginia. they were traveling together. today that young woman's father too distraught to talk. we are now learning about them and the other victims.
containing the valuable information is wrapped in thermal insulation. they are designed to withstand impacts 3,400 times the force of gravity, can survive flames up to 2,000 degrees for an hour and can withstand extreme cold. investigators won't say if they heard voices in the cockpit up until the moment of impact. what they're doing right now is analyzing the audio to determine what sounds they hear who is speaking. as far as the debris field, investigators say the size of the field suggests that the plane broke up on impact and not midair. they can look at the size of the pieces and how wide the field is and make that determination. >> rene thanks so much. we'll have more about the debris field and the audio coming up. but first, the fbi is looking into possible criminal activity related to the crash of flight 9525. cnn's pamela brown has been in touch with her sources. you have breaking news. >> it's still very much a mystery as to what happened but i can tell you fbi agents based
some of those answers are starting to come from the plane's cockpit voice recorder. this is the strongest clue investigators have in their hands. the exterior of germanwings flight 9525's cockpit voice recorder looks damaged but french authorities revealed today they have had some success. >> we are very glad that the first flight recorder has been retrieved yesterday and the french authority confirmed just a few hours ago that one of the audio streams is readable. >> reporter: the cockpit voice recorder captured audio up to the moment of impact. it will provide critical information like whether the pilots were talking in the minutes leading up to the crash. what were they saying and what else was happening in the cockpit. >> they're prepared to work with whatever they've got to get the information. it's more than just voice. they can hear what switches are being thrown and what buttons are being pushed. they can tell a lot about what's going on in the cockpit from
director of safety for the coalition of airline pilot associations. miles, let me start with you. you saw tom's demonstration there. does this fit into any of those theories? this sort of falls somewhere in the middle there. it was this gradual ten-minute decline but fairly consistent decline. >> yeah. it's kind of an outlier based on what we just heard. in the first two cases that he spoke of swiss air and air alaska the crews had long communications with air traffic control talking about their problems troubleshooting. in both cases, the ultimate investigation was that they spent a little too much time troubleshooting, both of them should have gotten on the ground faster. in any case there was a lot of communication. in the case of helios there was subtle decompression. the crew became incapacitated and it flew its flight on auto pilot pretty much as they had programmed it in. there were fighter jets which came beside it and they were able to determine that was the cause. the crew was incapacitated.
afghanistan when bergdahl vanished. the world lead. still so much wreckage from a crash that killed 150 people but as recovery teams collect shreds of debris slung across the alps investigators now have an audio file from inside the cockpit. what if anything did the pilots say that could help officials decipher just why this plane went down? and families of the victims still trying to deal with the staggering loss. so many futures cut short, including that of three americans. so who were they and who did they leave behind? welcome to "the lead." i'm john berman in for jake today. major stories breaking this afternoon. we are following new developments on that doomed jet that went down over the french alps but we begin today with breaking news in our national lead. just minutes ago, the army announced that bowe bergdahl the army soldier who spent five years in taliban captivity, will now face charges of desertion.
a real privacy that they want to maintain. but i was able to talk to a relative and they released a statement telling us our entire family is deeply saddened by the losses of yvonne and emily selke, two wonderful caring amazing people who meant so much to so many. this remote crash site high in the french alps has now become an epicenter of international grief. today, we are learning more about the three americans, two from virginia who lost their lives here. emily selke and her mother yvonne who was a 22-year veteran of the government contracting company booze allen hamilton. emily was an alumni of a sorority. on its facebook page the chapter posted as a person and friend emily always put others before herself and cared deeply for all those in her life. >> we can also confirm that a third u.s. citizen was on board the flight but are not releasing the name at this time out of respect for the family.
flight. the helios flight. this went down after the crew was overcome and they had a case of dramatic decompression. they basically ran out of oxygen and everyone passed out on board according to the investigators. what happened in that case the plane flew for quite some time on auto pilot. in the end there was a heroic effort by one flight attendant who roused long enough to try to fly the plane but really couldn't do anything with it. the end result was that last 15 minutes, look at that pattern. it's quite different. in this case the pattern is the plane basically running out of fuel still on auto pilot drifting down and crashing too, with all lives lost. you can see three different flights, all with the same result in the end, a terrible terrible crash. but very different patterns as to how it occurred. >> tom foreman, fascinating history right there. i appreciate it. want to bring in our panel of experts to discuss these theories. aviation analyst miles o'brien is with us. john gadzinski is former
on board slowly descended to their doom. it could be just a matter of hours now before investigators get their first real listen at the pilots' final words. today, recovery teams dropped to the crash site from helicopters that were flying overhead. officials caution now that the process of mapping the debris and piecing together this puzzle is just a huge undertaking. now teams have begun the daunting and heartbreaking task of identifying the victims' bodies. the state department confirmed just a couple hours ago that three americans were on the plane when it crashed. want to get to cnn aviation correspondent rene marsh. so many new developments today, including we heard from the company. >> reporter: right. just a short time ago, lufthansa's ceo says they are struggling to understand how an airplane that was in perfect technical condition with two experienced pilots was involved in such a terrible accident. tonight, investigators are closer to answering some of the many unanswered questions.