And the plot thickens…

Well, we all know ‘something’ was found at the pilot who crashed the A320’s home, but sources aren’t saying what just yet, so who even knows what was going on in his head.

In the meantime, though, it needs to be looked at why the other pilot could not get back into the cockpit.

It’s obvious this co-pilot took advantage of the commander’s absence. Could he have known he would leave? It is too early to say.

What is interesting is that in the US, if a co-pilot leaves the cockpit, a flight attendant has to go into the cockpit so that the other pilot is not left alone. This is not regulation in Europe, although after this specific crash it seems things might change. 

Post 9/11, regulations were put into place “to reinforce cockpit doors and increase security on planes” (understandably).

Pilots (and, presumably, flight crew members) used to be able to break through cockpit doors if necessary, but newer, reinforced cockpit doors prevent that. The cockpit voice recorder on flight 9525 revealed that the captain of the plane tried to break into the cockpit with no success.

Some planes are equipped with better mechanics than others:

There’s a keypad near the cockpit door that can notify cockpit crew of a request for entry or open the door if the pilots are incapacitated. But there is also a switch that allows a pilot inside to override the keypad outside and keep the door locked. The flight crew is supposed to be able to gain access to the cockpit by using a special code they enter on a keypad. The pilot then gets a warning in the cockpit that the door is about to be unlocked.

Whilst it is still unclear which system was on the Germanwings plane, it is quite clear that the co-pilot was able to lock out the other pilot.

[Source: Business Insider]