We have heard all kinds of rumours and reasons for the crashes of the past 12 months. Heck, some planes have even straight up disappeared without so much as a trace. This report though, if it is to be believed, will raise some serious alarms in the European aviation industry regarding the Flight 4U9525 crash.

A newspaper is reporting that one of the pilots can be heard to leave the cockpit on the black box audio recording retrieved from the cockpit. He then returns and is unable to enter the cockpit. This from TIME:

“The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door and there is no answer,” The New York Times quotes an unidentified investigator as saying. “And then he hits the door stronger and no answer. There is never an answer.”

Eventually, the newspaper quotes the investigator as saying: “You can hear he is trying to smash the door down.”

It is regulation in U.S. aviation to never leave one pilot alone in the cockpit, with any pilot leaving being replaced by a flight attendant until their return. The report has raised concern as it remains a mystery as to why the first half of the flight passed without incident before inexplicably plunging from the altitude of 38 000 feet into the French Alps.

There is also some confusion about the second black box carried on board. TIME again:

French President Francois Hollande said the casing of the flight data recorder had been found in the scattered debris, but was missing the memory card that captures 25 hours’ worth of information on the position and condition of almost every major part in a plane. Jouty refused to confirm the discovery.

French officials said terrorism appeared unlikely and Germany’s top security official said there was no evidence of foul play.

The plot thickens. Here’s hoping they can find out exactly what happened on board and help the families of the victims with some form of closure.

[source:time]