Passenger plane carrying 142 passengers has crashed in the French Alps

[Pantone363]

BBC link

OK. That makes sense

I have just seen an update on the bbc that the authorities believe the pilot was locked out of the cockpit ??

Yes, I saw that as well :( It now seems to me that there is more likelihood of the pilot still in the cockpit having intentionally done something :(

I'm sure I'll be flamed but something didn't seem to ring true even before this mornings sad developments. The route the plane took didn't seem to be the usual one.

RIP to all the passengers.

The name of the pilot and copilot haven't been released. I think we all know what this must mean...

The French aren't putting out anything officially (and report on BBC stresses that everything which emerged overnight is based on a leak and no-one knows if it is accurate).

French had said they weren't going to issue statments until analysis complete, as they do not want partial and possibly inaccurate information floating around. (It probably makes investigators jobs harder, as the timings become media driven, rather than investigation driven).

If (huge if) it is suicide by pilot, there's no urgent need in terms of protecting the public, to know today rather than in whatever time a proper investigation would take (including into background of individuals).

"The name of the pilot and copilot haven't been released. I think we all know what this must mean..."

No. What do you mean? I haven't seen that the names of the cabin crew have been released either. Nor many of the passengers.

I don't believe any names have been released have they?

Senatus I think it means that we don't need to know.

It doesn't have to be something planned. The pilot in the cockpit may have had a heart attack... but we don't know so it's not right to start speculating.

It sounds like what has been said so far is not 'official' and I really hope there is some other explanation. I don't know how you would cope with losing your child or other family member because of one person's desire to die. An accident, a malfunction, even pilot error you can work through and arrive at an explanation and prevention but pilot suicide is inexplicable to me. :(

The remaining pilot hasn't had a heart attack. The plane had a controlled descent, it was flown until it went into the mountain. I hope the passengers didn't realise what was happening :(

I also find very strange that the pilots' name have not been released. They usually are and typically even pictures of them are shown. Strange and worrying.

And the worst thing is the passengers did certainly realize what was happening. The plane took 8 minutes to crash. The black box revealed the pilot locked outside was trying to break the door down.
I can't think of the fear and despair of all the persons on board. Very distressing. I am so sad.

It is somehow even more terrible if it were done on purpose.

They also don't know which of the two were locked out, do they?

Heart-breaking news.

candy sadly i think the passengers did know what was happening. The plane was descending for 8 minutes and apparently the pilot was making a desperate effort to get back in so they would know.

It just doesnt bear thinking about. I was in floods of tears about it last night, the baby who died with their mum was only a couple of months younger than DS2. I cant imagine how the mum must have felt. And the schoolchildren too. This tragedy has really got to me

x posts gordon

latest from BBC News

Utterly utterly tragic. It has all but been confirmed it was suicide

It is now being reported that French prosecutors are saying the co-pilot deliberately started the descent. I hope they aren't running ahead of the investigation.

Contrary to candykane's comment it is perfectly possible for the aircraft to make a relatively controlled descent when the pilot has had a heart attack. Some aircraft are designed so that if the pilot pushes forward on the control stick with enough pressure altitude hold will disengage and the autopilot will instead hold the pitch at whatever it is when the pilot releases the control stick. This can result in a steady descent with fairly constant speed and direction, which is what has happened here. However, I don't know if this is a feature of this particular aircraft.

When I had DS1 in 2001 after 9/11 I fretted about the type of world I had brought my baby into. I've had two more children since and the feeling has grown as bad things seem to be happening all of the time. The rise of the Internet and social media plus the appearingly increased sexualisation of girls was bad enough but now it's terrorism, scary plane crashes, etc.

Take care everyone. Cuddle your loved ones. .

Justuse, it is tragic, but plane crashes aren't happening more often. They are actually happening leas often but we hear about it more. In the past news was very limited - space in a newspaper, time on a tv news slot. Often we would perhaps hear two or three sources for one story. Now I can go to google news and every article all around the world on a topic is accessible to me. Tens and hundreds of sources. There are no space constraints because it is online. News channels run 24 hours and we expect instant updates as soon as something is known.

I don't think that it helps that we know so much.

Why would anyone having a heart attack lock the door in two separate ways. It is looking very much like it was deliberate. :(

I know you're right, BertieBotts. I'm just feeling emotional with personal stuff plus DD isn't well at all and I'm not getting any sleep so I'm feeling it.

I understand prh but the BBC article says that he was alive up to the point of impact and wanted to 'destroy the plane'.

RIP

I think a cockpit door is designed so that it isn't easily opened from the outside during flight (to prevent hostage situations, I guess). People tend to knock/use intercom to get in - at least, that's my observation in years of flying.

They have released the name now...

prh Apparently, he pressed a button to start the descent. That doesn't go well with the theory of heart attack.

Wondering what went on in his mind. Apparently, it's not a terrorist attack, and only an absolute egomaniac nutcase would decide to take his life, and drag 149 people along with him...