PILOT SHUT OUT
Pounded on door to cockpit in crash
THE MYSTERY surrounding the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash deepened Wednesday as investigators discovered one pilot got locked out of the cockpit prior to the jet’s deadly descent, according to reports.
The plane was cruising at 38,000 feet before its troubles began and it ultimately crashed into a mountain.
Remi Jouty, head of the French agency investigating the crash, said the last message from the cockpit was a routine request to continue on route.
But a senior military official involved in the investigation told The New York Times one of the two pilots had left the cockpit and was then locked out.
“The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door and there is no answer,” the investigator said. “And then he hits the door stronger and no answer. There is never an answer.”
The audio was culled from one of the plane’s battered black boxes — actually a mangled orange voice recorder — from the cockpit of the Barcelona-to-Dusseldorf flight.
“You can hear he is trying to smash the door down,” the investigator told The Times.
It’s unclear why the pilot left the cockpit or what transpired inside. Possibilities range from a medical emergency to an intentional act.
A Lufthansa spokesman said regulations since 9/11 require that cockpit doors cannot be opened from the outside. The airline has not released any names of the crew.
Investigators said the plane flew in a straight line directly into the mountain in the French Alps at an altitude of 6,000 feet after descending slowly for eight eerie minutes. They were still searching for the flight’s data recorder.
Meanwhile, more details about the doomed passengers were released Wednesday. A Virginia mom and her adult daughter traveling together through Europe were among the three Americans killed in the mysterious crash.
Yvonne Selke, a Pentagon contractor from Nokesville, and her daughter Emily were among the 150 people aboard the plane when it went down in the remote region of France, the State Department confirmed on Wednesday.
Emily Selke, a 2013 graduate of Drexel University in Pennsylvania, was recalled fondly by her distraught sorority sisters.
“As a person and friend, Emily always put others before herself and cared deeply for all those in her life,” the Gamma Sigma Sigma sorority said in a statement.
A distraught Raymond Selke released a short statement about the loss of his wife and daughter.
“Our entire family is deeply saddened by the losses of Yvonne and Emily Selke,” he said in short statement. “Two wonderful, caring, amazing people who meant so much to so many.”
U.S. authorities did not release the third American victim’s name pending family notification.