Doesn't the cabin crew and pilots have a code that allows them to enter from outside the cockpit? Why would he knock and slam on the door?

Remember that this is a leak. So there will much more information available when the official report is published.

With Airbus envelope protection it is not that easy to bring down the plane.

Um....Unless they come up with a system that figures out the difference between landing and heading for a CFIT, and one that refuses to let the aircraft come within x distance of the ground if it decides it wont be landing, its a piece of cake to fly such an aircraft into the ground. All you gotta do is point it and it will go there. The envelope protection only works against loss of control due to aerodynamic conditions (read stall).

Maybe they need to introduce voice recognition for the door lock sensors.

Voice would probably not work very well due to the background noise of an aircraft in flight. But some other form of biometric like fingerprint or retinal scan could be feasible.

 

One way or another, either being able to totally lock out people or being able to override a lockout, you will still be exposed to an unwanted entry or lockout. There was an incident a few years ago where a captain of an aircraft experienced a psychological event and went crazy in flight. The FO got him out of the cockpit and locked him out. What if he had no way to keep him out of the cockpit at that point? One way or another a total lockout or total entry override will leave the aircraft exposed to something. People will cry for a way to enter cockpits because of this. After the next terrorist attack, they will cry for ways to keep people out of cockpits again.

Its official; french detectives state that the co-pilot most likely crashed the plane on purpose.

Um....Unless they come up with a system that figures out the difference between landing and heading for a CFIT, and one that refuses to let the aircraft come within x distance of the ground if it decides it wont be landing, its a piece of cake to fly such an aircraft into the ground. All you gotta do is point it and it will go there. The envelope protection only works against loss of control due to aerodynamic conditions (read stall).

There is already a system developed for the F-16 that takes over automatically and flies the aircraft away from the ground if an imminent cfit is detected. Of course, all a suicidal pilot would have to do would be to shut off all the engines to override it...

Close but not quite. Its called Terrain Following Radar, or in more recent times, DTS(Digital terrain System). The pilot still has to put it in that mode. But he can still fly the aircraft into the ground if he messes up or chooses to do so. Ill correct my previous post on one point as I should know better than to have made such a statement...EGPWS systems do disable warnings if you are in proximity to a runway. But to automatically take control of the aircraft and fly it away from terrain...I would be hesitant to fly in an airliner with such a piece of equipment unless it can be totally locked out. If it were to get some bee in its bonnet and refuse to let an aircraft land....and if it can be totally locked out then it isn't going to stop someone from flying an aircraft into the ground deliberately.

15 clicks and started descent,

This seems to be official news and was just live.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32063587

 

"The co-pilot of the Germanwings plane that crashed into the French Alps on Tuesday appeared to want to "destroy the plane", French officials said.

 

Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin, citing information from the "black box" voice recorder, said the co-pilot was alone in the cockpit.

He intentionally started a descent while the pilot was locked out.

 

Mr Robin said there was "absolute silence in the cockpit" as the pilot fought to re-enter it.

The co-pilot, now named as Andreas Lubitz, was alive until the final impact, the prosecutors added."

Close but not quite. Its called Terrain Following Radar, or in more recent times, DTS(Digital terrain System). The pilot still has to put it in that mode. But he can still fly the aircraft into the ground if he messes up or chooses to do so. Ill correct my previous post on one point as I should know better than to have made such a statement...EGPWS systems do disable warnings if you are in proximity to a runway. But to automatically take control of the aircraft and fly it away from terrain...I would be hesitant to fly in an airliner with such a piece of equipment unless it can be totally locked out. If it were to get some bee in its bonnet and refuse to let an aircraft land....and if it can be totally locked out then it isn't going to stop someone from flying an aircraft into the ground deliberately.

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123425398

 

I agree GCAS would be problematic in a true forced landing emergency situation. And if it can be overriden or just have all engines shutdown, it would be pointless to have for suicide prevention. But forcing this on the airlines will allow the politicians to make it look like they have done something.

It is way too early to reach any conclusion on what definitively happened, yet CNN and all major news are already jumping on the "Deliberate" wagon based on a very quick and basic analysis of the damaged flight recorder.

Don't know why I'm that surprised, CNN has a history of pouring gasoline on a fire before anyone even struck the match.

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123425398

I stand corrected . Interesting stuff.

With the Malaysian airlines flight and now this, its something that needs to be addressed. Maybe a 3rd crew member as an observer ?

It is way too early to reach any conclusion on what definitively happened, yet CNN and all major news are already jumping on the "Deliberate" wagon based on a very quick and basic analysis of the damaged flight recorder.

Don't know why I'm that surprised, CNN has a history of pouring gasoline on a fire before anyone even struck the match.

 

This is now coming from the investigators, not the news channels speculating.

Wow shocked that this is looking like a CFIT undertaken by the F/O. :(

 

...hard to plan around that.  CRM dictates that the PIC and F/O must trust and rely on eachother implicitly.

 

Report from The Guardian:-

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/mar/26/germanwings-plane-crash-investigation-press-conference-live-updates-4u9525

It is way too early to reach any conclusion on what definitively happened, yet CNN and all major news are already jumping on the "Deliberate" wagon based on a very quick and basic analysis of the damaged flight recorder.

Don't know why I'm that surprised, CNN has a history of pouring gasoline on a fire before anyone even struck the match.

No it is now from official sources, the co-pilot locked the captain out, deliberately put the plane in a dive, and was breathing normally throughout. Indicating no sudden heart or respiratory problem. Other than the breathing sounds, there was silence in the cockpit.