Germanwings twist

I do not post regularly but am disturbed by the recent twist in the Germanwings investigation, notably the dramatic change in focus from aircraft to pilot . I noted early on that this was a French investigation into an A320, the manufacture of which is managed out of Toulouse.  Also there have been several posts elsewhere indicating that flight software is common throughout the Airbus fleet.

Yesterday, 25th March, there were online reports that the black box audio recording contained the sound of ‘cracks’, here: 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3012053/Andreas-Lubitz-Germanwings-flight-9525-French-alps-crash-French-alps-Germanwings-plane-crash-Airbus-A320-Barcelonnette.html 

Did a crack in the aircraft’s windscreen cause the tragedy?
Claims that the Airbus crashed after the pilots’ windscreen broke, causing a sudden drop in oxygen, surfaced online yesterday. An anonymous user alleged on the Aviation Herald website that the black box voice recorder recovered from the wreckage contained the sounds of ‘cracks’ in the cockpit.

The user wrote: ‘It seems structural failure (windshield? not determined yet). It was quick… sound of cracks, but crew initiated emergency descent by autopilot and then they weren’t heard any more. Autopilot was on during whole descent, but disconnected automatically shortly before impact.’

Then today 26th March we have a complete reversal of the interpretation of the data in the audio with:

Remi Jouty said ……’we’ve only just managed to extract this file with usable sounds and voices’….. ‘I can’t say if the pilots are talking.’ Last night … investigators able to recover audio indicating that one of the plane’s CO-PILOTS had been locked out of the cockpit. The NYT said the CO-PILOT can be heard attempting to smash his way in during the doomed flight’s final minutes….’

In the same article it was noted that it could not be determined if it was the captain or the first officer who left the cockpit. But today they firmly announce it was the pilot who was locked out.

Admittedly the sources here are questionable to begin with but it seems really convenient that this story now moves the focus away from the aged A320 entirely, especially in light of the fact that no real investigation is practical since the largest piece left of the plane is minute. 

There are some really clever people out there so I am hoping they will attempt to throw more light on this. I would like to see the audio file published so that we can hear the attempts at entry ourselves and I wonder why no attempts at communication were made either by the pilot or passengers during the lengthy descent using their mobiles.