Pilot in German airbus crash ‘locked out of cockpit’

Investigator quoted as saying pilot can be heard ‘trying to smash down door’

Debris from the Germanwings Airbus A320 airplane that crashed in the French Alps. Photograph: Fabrice Balsamo/Gendarmerie Nationale via The New York Times
Debris from the Germanwings Airbus A320 airplane that crashed in the French Alps. Photograph: Fabrice Balsamo/Gendarmerie Nationale via The New York Times

One of the pilots on the German Airbus plane that crashed in the French Alps, killing everyone onboard, left the cockpit and was unable to return before the plane went down, the New York Times reported, citing evidence from a cockpit voice recorder.

“The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door and there is no answer,” an unnamed investigator said. “And then he hits the door stronger and no answer. There is never an answer.”

“You can hear he is trying to smash the door down,” the investigator added.

Reuters