regarding this flash and they, from this point on, have always said that this is a mechanical issue is what they re investigating. but if it was a bomb or if there was an explosion at all, that evidence will be on the aircraft, on the pieces of the aircraft. there will be a residue there. they will be testing for that as well. also another crucial piece of evidence in all of this, the flight data recorders. two of them have been recovered from the scene. i guess now we have to wait for those data recorders to be downloaded and then analyzed. is there a time frame on that at this point? so far officials haven t given us a time frame. they tell us a patience is required at this point. don t expect any results in the next coming hours or possibly days. it could be a while before they get through this data. and there is a lot of data here. they re not just going over the voice cockpit recorder which records the pilot s talking but
military on the ground and in the air did not follow the strict rules of engagement and in fact, the cockpit recorder up in that ac-130 gunship would record not only the conversations but there was also there are also visual images of the actual strikes that took place. those images would be able to tell investigators if in fact there was any gunfire coming from the doctors without borders hospital. but more importantly, there were discussions among the crew members, there was some uncertainty about whether they had the actual authority to launch that strike and in fact, a question was raised is this even legal. despite that they went ahead and launched the air strike anyway. thanks so much. we want to bring in kevin baron, executive editor of defense one. good to have you with us. let s start with the taliban and the communications of last year where the taliban said we believe the war in afghanistan will come to an end when all foreign invaders pull out of
did they not do it? there is no evidence on the cockpit recorder of the noise you would have heard as they would have tried to do it? but again, we don t know how he locked them out? there is a whole load of issues we ll never know about this. unfortunately, the core fact remains, that a very sick man was allowed to fly an aircraft and that will be the subject of the investigation going forward. and of course i should have said not just suicide but mass murder as well. would anybody on board have been able to feel as all either the pilot or the passengers that he was testing these things out? no. and this is the reason. when he set the auto pilot altitude to 100, the plane was already descending. it doesn t matter if you asked it to descend to 1,000 or 100
the week leading up to the crash, german prosecutors said he studied medical treems various ways and possible methods of committing suicide, and cockpit doors and their security me showers. evidence of how he did it but why still a mystery. now, french officials say they have been able to recover dna for 150 people. still no ids as of now as they have not matched the dna to the samples they were able to take from family members. they are not going to release the bodies or body parts until they finish this investigation. willie? all right nbc s katie tur in cologne, germany, this morning. you think about the horror of the passengers but also for that pilot who, if you listen to the cockpit recorder was banging on the door then he went to an ax to try to get through. desperate. him, the one man who could save the plane helpless.
least did the copilot answer? we re putting it on-screen now. the captain says for god s sake open the door. no response from inside the cabin. right? the cockpit? reporter: no. that s what french investigators confirmed last week that all they heard inside the voice cockpit recorder from the cockpit was just steady breathing for that last final minutes, that eight-minute descent inside the mountainside. bild reporting that you can hear a lot more than that. you can also hear as you said the cockpit, or the captain banging on the cockpit door and the passengers screaming. initial think they thought maybe just at the end. sound like there was at least a few minutes where people realized that the plane was going down and that the pilot couldn t the captain could not get back into the cabin. the cockpit. excuse me. katy thank you so very much reporting from germany. develops news on intense talks going on on iran s nuclear program. down to the wire in switzerland. just 39 hours