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recovery of human remains, they're working to figure out what happened to flight 9525. after all, what was reportedly found on that flight cockpit voice recorder, is stunning. stunning new details this morning in the crash of germanwings flight 9525. according to media reports, one of the pilots was locked out of the cockpit. when the plane crashed into the side of this mountain high in the french alps. all of the 150 people on board, including school-aged children and two infants, presumed dead. "the new york times" cite as senior military official involved in examining audio evidence from the cockpit voice recorder. this official says before the plane's rapid descent, one of the pilots left the cockpit and was unable to get back in. the paper quotes this investigator as saying -- the guy outside is knocking lightly on the door and there is no answer. then he hits the door stronger no answer. there is never an answer. he says you can hear he is trying to smash the door down. the chilling report deepening the mystery of why this plane crashed. >> it means either medical emergency, which meant they couldn't get back in again, or secondly nefarious. >> the lock on the cockpit door is controlled by a lever on the pilot's dashboard. in order to lock the door someone would have to intentionally move the lever from the normal position to the locked position. the question is who. >> the settle should have been two people in the cockpit here. whatever was happening with locked doors or not locked doors, why wasn't there two people in the cockpit. >> the parent company of germanwings said they did not have any information about the "times" report but are looking into it. they're still searching for a critical piece of this puzzle the flight data recorder. and that would be able to tell them how the plane was flying what sort of commands the plane was receiving prior to the crash. now they've managed to find the case but the recorder itself is missing. the ceo of lufthansa says he believes it's highly probable they'll eventually find it. but the question obviously becomes what sort of condition will the recorder be in when and if they do. chris? >> now of course the idea of what the plane was doing is secondary to what the people who were suppose to be flying the plane were doing. the germanwings ceo will speak at 9:30 eastern time presumably about this new development. in an odd twist, lufthansa, the parent company of germanwings claims it knows nothing about a pilot being locked out of a cockpit on flight 9525. but investigators seem locked on to this. so the focus is now on the people who were supposed to be flying on the plane. cnn correspondent diana magnay is live in halter germany with that part of the story. >> well lufthansa said they don't want to participate in speculation. to a certain extent you can understand why both germanwings and lufthansa are keen not to add to any of the speculation or fuel anything before they have the verified facts in front them they can present to the grieving families of so many victims from 18 countries across the world. i want to move out of the way and show you just about ten minutes ago, there was a moment of silence held here in front of the joseph koenig gymnasium school where 16 exchange students and two teachers were lost. the children filed out of the school before 10:53, the moment when the plane lost contact with the radar and came down. they've been standing here very very solemn moment for quite a long time now, much longer in fact than one minute. the headmaster spoke to them about their grief. they have of course been counseled by psychologists, trauma counselors but we've witnessed a painful moment here as the students come to terms with their loss and as so many around the world come to terms with their loss. chris? >> thank you very much. the dignity of the dead obviously of the upmost importance. that also involves knowing what happened on that plane. let's try to figure out where we are in this investigation. we have our best here mary sciavo cnn aviation analyst and former inspector-general with the department of transportation and david soucie cnn safety analyst, was an faa safety inspector and tom fuentes, cnn law enforcement analyst, former fbi assistant director. we have the right team here. let's take a look at what we're doing here. we're trying to figure out what was the plane doing, david? what was going on with it mechanically. not now, now, it's about understanding what was heard on the voice recorder. how do you break down the questions raised? >> the questions raised right now is that if the pilot, if "new york times" report is true we have to qualify that but that the pilot had left the cockpit, the other pilot tried to evidently tried to lock him back out of the cockpit that has to be manually done. >> can that be done? and how? >> it can be done. there's a switch that you have that's controls that door. so it can be done by simply putting it in the locked position and not allowing the person to come in. there's some procedures that we'll go through as we go forward here. but nonetheless, it was an intentful move to lock that door. >> to make this clear to the team here you guys know this already. but for the rest of us here's how the airbus company explains how this door mechanism is supposed to work. listen to them in their own words. >> the captain moves the toggle switch to the lock position. the open light remains extinguished. now if we look at the code pad, the red l.e.d. is lit, confirming the door is locked. be careful, automatic door opening, the code pad and the buzzer are inhibited for five minutes. >> what he seems to be explaining let's put it over to you, mary is the person who remains in the cockpit can defeat the ability of someone outside the cockpit to get back in even if they know the code on the keypad by flicking a switch and then that would buy that person in the cockpit an additional five minutes before someone can attempt to re-enter. what does that mean to you? >> well that means, and that is something for which airlines need to have policies and procedures in place. that is why if for u.s. carriers and various other carriers around the world, if one of the pilots leaves the cockpit during the flight a flight attendant must enter the cockpit and be there as well. we don't require three pilots or four pilots on flights, but we do require someone else in the cockpit in the event that the pilot remaining in the cockpit, who hasn't left for the bathroom break or whatever somehow becomes incapacitated, there is a second person there. and those situations have happened. >> but mary is that the same rule in the u.s. and in europe. >> no. >> no. no. >> if that's not the same rule. then we don't know if anyone else was in the cockpit except the one flying the plane, that is right? >> that's right. we don't know that for sure but on the other hand, even if a member of the crew went into the cockpit, if the other pilot is going to kill 150 people including himself, then he could kill that person right away. and defeat that issue of having the second person able to let the other pilot back in. >> but do we hear anything we don't hear anything reported. >> we have a completely partial leak here. we don't know if that was the extent of the voice conversations. we don't know if there was more to that. you know, there's much that we don't know. the other fear i have is if the french plug this leak and this person can give no more information, it could be months before we hear another thing about this. because if they have the press conference today and say -- you know we're not talking about it or no comment, that's going to be it. special entry they're going to wait until they get the flight data recorder. >> i'm okay as long as they know what they're talking about. if somebody comes out and says hey, this isn't true then "the new york times" has made a huge error, i would be very slow to accuse the times of that given the level of reporting there generally. david, if this does hold and something like this did happen one of the scenarios that's being offered up by experts in the community is well maybe it was you know a catastrophic health thing and there was nobody else in the cockpit because germanwings doesn't follow the protocols we do in the u.s. as mary was just explaining. in this airbus the simple scenario of someone slumping forward, the stick as i've been told by my producer john griffin, is that the wheel is not there, the stick is not right in front. how does it work. >> it's right here where the control is if you slump forward it would have to be this. but if that happened if it was pushed forward, what happens on the airbus su make a controlled input. then you let go of it. it would take that controlled input, knowing you intended to start your descent, so it will start the descent, wherever you let go of it. it will maintain that exact flight path. if you let go of it. it's not going to many could up like this. it's going to continue in whatever you did. this would have had to be a bump and it would have had to be directly forward. because remember there was a bigno change in the flight path. it's hard for me to believe that a bump in the cockpit would have caused it to descend. the auto pilot would take over at that point. maintain the heading as well. that's a possibility it would get bumped forward, but the auto pilot maintained that direction. >> another big question mary even if everything reported is true is there no other way for the crew to communicate with the tower or anybody else about what's going on in the plane if they're not in the cockpit? >> well actually yes and no remember back to september 11th 2001. the way that the flight attendants and others in the back of the planes had to communicate, they got on some got on their cell phones and some tried the air phones which no longer exist. so there wasn't any way for them to do that. now depends on the airline itself if they have put in additional communications capacities. but it doesn't seem that way. because if someone was trying to get back into the cockpit, they would have used it. and then of course there's another thing looking back in prior crashes, not this one. but in one where the pilots were alleged to have been intent on committing suicide, one of the pilots, they turned off the cockpit voice recorder they pulled the breakers on it. that is another mystery, if that was the case why did he leave it on? >> as people in the media of going down the road of if this is an intentional act. what do we know about the pilots the names involved any affiliations. this would be late already for a group to claim credit for something like this wouldn't it be tom? >> i think in most cases you would have expected credit but maybe not. it's not always immediate when a group claims credit for this. but you know there's still much to be done and learned about the pilots the crew the passengers. everybody about that. you know i think originally most people ruled out that it was an explosion or a bomb on board. because the appearances of the pieces of debris being so small, that right away, they thought that plane hit full speed into that mountain and disintegrated. it doesn't rule out bad behavior on the part of somebody whether it's mental illness or whether it's a terrorist act or a suicide or any number of things that way. bau deliberate act nonetheless by somebody on that plane. >> you guys taught us that to the uninitiated when you hear about an explosion, you think oh it will make small pieces you guys taught us as experts that actually no they'll wind up being bigger pieces because the energy goes out, high speed, you wind up getting disintegration like we're seeing now. another question that it raises if what they're hearing on this recording is accurate who else was hearing on that plane, who else was suffering for the last long minutes while the plane is descending. >> still leaving so many more questions unanswered. we'll get back to that. we're also following breaking news out of yemen this morning, saudi arabia launching air strikes against houthi rebels with help from gulf arab allies egypt and jordan. the u.s. providing some support, but not with military action. now iran who has backed the houthi rebels is infuriated and calling for a stop to the saudi intervention cnn senior international correspondent nick paton walsh joins with us more. >> the conflict that's been dragging yemen into a spiral now which makes it even easier for al qaeda in the arabian pennsylvaniainsula who want to attack the u.s. to take base there. we've seen the houthi rebels sweep across the country and kick out of the capital, the president, whose whereabouts isn't known. reports he might be heading to saudi arabia. it's unclear right now. the decision by saudi arabia to intervene like this with 100 war planes they say with dozens from other gulf nations backing them up they say, and also egypt making it clear they're militarily involved as well. this plunges potentially yemen's internal conflict into a big wider regional problem. the u.s. is in the game they're clearly providing logistical intelligence support to the saudi-led coalition. they're fighting the houthis, the houthis are backed by saudi arabia's key enemy in the region iran. this has the potential to spiral regionally out of control and we have the u.s. very keen on a political deal with iran. the seismic changes happening across the region could impact that too. >> thanks for that report. we want to go to iraq now, the u.s. fighting to take back the iraqi city of tikrit from isis. president obama making the decision to launch air strikes, responding to a desperate call from iraqi forces on the ground. cnn's senior international correspondent, arwa damon is live with the latest. >> overnight the u.s. launching a dozen or so strikes in and around tikrit. this coming at the request, the specific request of the iraqi government. and this is a portion of the battlefield that the u.s. had largely been uninvolved in up until now. the fighting force on the ground mostly made up of shia militias volunteers most of them shia as well. the iraqi security forces present, too, yes alongside some sunni fighters but definitely this battle being led by the iranian-backed shia forces. iran very overt in its presence in the fight for tikrit as well. top commanders on the ground advising the iraqi troops all different factions of them as they are attempting to move forward. why these strikes at this critical junction? well there had been something of a pause in the battle as isis it seems regrouping itself in tikrit. digging into a point where at this junction the iraqi government felt it was critical to skt united states for those airstrikes. but the potential to cause tension as well. because the majority of the shias, the volunteer militias fighting on the ground very adamant they do not need america's involvement. >> arwa thank you so much for that we'll be talking to our experts about all of this coming up. a big "newsday" here. we have all the new developments overnight in the crash of germanwings flight 9525 our top aviation experts examine how a pilot could get locked out of the cockpit mid flight. another big story this morning, bo bergdahl facing charges, desertion and other charges, giving his first explanation of what happened. were the five taliban prisoners we swapped worth it for a deserter. sir, we're going to need you on the runway later. don't let a severe cold hold you back. get theraflu... ...with the power of three medicines to take on your worst pain and fever, cough and nasal congestion. it breaks you free from your toughest cold and flu symptoms. theraflu. serious power. when account lead craig wilson books at iaquinta.com. he gets a ready for you alert the second his room is ready. so he knows exactly when he can settle in and practice his big pitch. and when craig gets his pitch down pat, do you know what he becomes? 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"the new york times" reporting that one pilot became locked out of the cockpit. why couldn't he get back in? and what are the protocols for locking someone out of the cockpit. let's bring back in david soucie our cnn aviation analyst. it gets stranger and stranger. a half an hour into the flight one of the pilots left the cockpit. is that unusual? >> it's not unusual, it's something in a can happen. it's part of a protocol in the united states. we have a different protocol than they do at lufthansa. we have the protocol of making sure that there's no one alone in the cockpit at any time. >> we do in the united states. in europe they will allow one pilot alone. >> i don't know if it's europe in general, but i know that lufthansa was reported last night as not having that procedure. >> one pilot wants to have a drink, use the rest room, it's fine normal for him to leave half an hour into the flight. >> it's not typical, but it could happen. >> okay then our, let's look at the cockpit door lock. >> here's the, we're inside the cockpit here. after 9/11 airlines installed this. >> this system right here. the cockpit door control system and lock system. >> and it's on all planes. >> this is on all planes yes. this is something that was required after 9/11 it's something that everyone has accepted and installed from the manufacturer. >> when the pilot leaves the cockpit, does the door automatically lock behind him? >> it does. however, it stays in this normal mode. in the normal mode then there's a code that can be entered into there to unlock the door. >> when you say there's a code that can be entered, you mean here's a video that has been put out about this very airplane model. the a320 airbus. here's the flight attendant trying to get into the cockpit to bring them some refreshments. she then keys in to a keypad because she knows the secret code. >> she's keying in a request to get into the cockpit. she pushes something to say, i need to get into the cockpit. >> but i want to stop right here. is there a key pad outside the cockpit door on all planes. >> yes. >> and the pilot who left would he know the secret code? >> yes. however, it's not, you don't need a secret code to get into it. what happens is you make the request to the cockpit. if there's no response because remember if we had, if there were two pilots tlup both incapacitated, you how do you get in there? you don't give somebody the pass code because terrorists could have it and all of that. you make a request, if that request isn't responded to you pick up the phone and try calling them. >> we can assume that that's what happened if "the new york times" report was right. if the pilot who left knocked on the door was trying to get back in it wasn't working. >> would have made the request on the pad. >> on the key pad. >> and that warns, that puts a sound in the cockpit that says i want to come in. if it's not responding then that means there must have been something medical or something going on up there. what happens then is he calls, no answer. hangs up tries it again. nothing. picks it up no answer again. now, it's an emergency. now remember after this request, if he does not respond, if the pilots don't respond by locking the door so for example if they don't follow the protocol which other protocols we can't mention on air. if he doesn't follow the exact protocol then the person trying to get in then the pilot arms the switch into the locked position. >> because something amiss is happening. >> something is going on. >> but what we know from "the new york times" report again if it's accurate and the airline has not confirmed this report -- >> that's very important to point out. >> these are, we're just getting details from an unnamed senior military investigator who says that the pilot was knocking trying to get in and there was no response. >> back to the key pad, isn't that when the pilot outside can enter in the secret code and get in? >> no. what happens is that if he hasn't responded to the response for 30 minutes, and he -- >> 30 seconds. >> 30 seconds and the switch has not been armed, then the door opens. >> okay. so what happened if the accounts are true why didn't this door open? >> because it was locked. >> you think it was intentionally locked. >> it nearly had to have been. because it doesn't automatically go into the locked mode. this is a trigger switch. normally is in the normal position. if you're going to lock it you don't flip it and it stays there, you pull it down and you hold it and then it locks. then you let go of it it goes back to the normal position. although the door is locked. and the light out there shows that the door is locked. red light comes on. >> there's been a call after 9/11 for cameras in the cockpit to monitor what pilots are doing at all times. pilots have fought that. >> and there's a lot of different arguments on that the one that i think is the most -- most has the most merit let's say is the fact that it is an added expense that is not required by the pilots and doesn't think it should be. the money should be spent elsewhere and i would agree, it needs to be spent on direct streaming of information so that we're not out there like archaeologists right now, trying to find out what happened on this airplane looking for a box this big. >> you mean direct live information being fed to the tower. >> or fed to the satellite, which would feed to the ground and back to the air. >> all of these aircraft have that capability. but they don't use that. it has to be upgraded of course. because it's faster and it's more expensive. but that money would be much better spent doing that because then we would know exactly what's going on. we would have the cockpit voice recorder information, to have video versus audio. i'm not sure that really tells us a whole lot. but if you have there's 10,000 pieces of information, including on the new airplanes, this would be known right now. the older airplanes, this may not be recorded they would know whether this door was in the locked position or not. >> we sure wish we had that this morning. we will have much more on flight 9525 ahead. but first, back here at home parts of oklahoma torn apart by twisters. at least one death is being reported. we'll bring you the latest. major: here's our new trainer ensure active heart health. heart: i maximize good stuff like my potassium and phytosterols which may help lower cholesterol. new ensure active heart health supports your heart and body so you stay active and strong. ensure, take life in. denver international is one of the busiest airports in the country. we operate just like a city and that takes a lot of energy. we use natural gas throughout the airport - for heating the entire terminal generating electricity on-site and fueling hundreds of vehicles. we're very focused on reducing our environmental impact. and natural gas is a big part of that commitment. the e-class has 11 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plane crashes into the french alps. the big question -- was the plane crash intentional? and why such a slow and controlled descent? was it a medical problem? then why was the door locked from the inside? we have questions and answers ahead. saudi arabia launching airstrikes against houthi rebels in yemen with help from gulf allies jordan and egypt. knocking out houthi air defenses. the u.s. says it will provide support, but not in the form of military assistance. meanwhile, iran now condemning the saudi intervention. calling for an immediate end to the airstrikes. nuclear talks with iran coming down to the wire. secretary of state john kerry back in switzerland this morning for the final round of negotiations. the deadline for an agreement on just the framework of a deal is now five days away. britain's foreign secretary phillip hammond surrounding, sounding a warning ahead of today's talks claiming we could see a nuclear arms race in the middle east if negotiations fail. though some have warned of the same fate if they succeed. a public apology from the fraternity student at the center of that racist chant. levi petit has been expelled he says he waited to speak not out of shame, but fear. >> there are no excuses for my behavior. i never thought of myself as a racist and i never considered it a possibility. but the bottom line is if the words said in that chant were mean hateful and racist. >> parker price, the other student expelled issued a written apology. bowe bergdahl held prison anywhere afghanistan for five years is being charged with desertion. it raises new questions about the controversial prisoner exchange that brought bergdahl home last year in exchange for five taliban commanders. we're hearing bergdahl describe his time in captivity. cnn's martin savidge has that live from san antonio. martin? >> good morning, michaela. there's been no official reaction from sergeant bowe bergdahl himself regarding the charges laid out against him. he has an office job here in fort sam houston in san antonio, texas and today the army says for him it will be another typical day. >> sergele bergdahl is charged upped the uniform code of military justice -- >> this morning, sergeant bowe bergdahl awaits a possible court-martial unconfined. at the u.s. army north headquarters in san antonio, texas. bergdahl, a prisoner of war captured by the taliban in 2009 and now charged by the army with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. accused of quote shamefully abandoning his unit. >> desertion would imply he would be working with the enemy and he had a preconceived plan to go and join enemy forces. >> speaker of the house, john boehner, critical since the beginning of president obama's polarizing prisoner swap ten months ago. >> the more troubling part of this is the fact that we transferred five prisoners from gitmo in this trade. and news reports of them is already back on the battlefield. >> meanwhile, bergdahl for the first time publicly describing his brutal five years in captivity in a statement he says he was chained to a bed spread-eagle and blind-folded later chained inside a cage. one guard tried to rip his beard and hair off. he claims he was beaten with a copper cable. the sergeant also says he tried to escape 12 times. still in question though why he disappeared from his post in the summer of 2009. some from his unit say he was a deserter and a traitor. >> we found all of his stuff and when you leave all of your things like that behind your weapon and your body armor, it's pretty clear what your intentions are. >> sandra and drews said her son, darren as well as several other soldiers died while searching for bergdahl. >> whatever his motivation was, he did not consider his fellow soldiers. >> bergdahl's attorney says there's no evidence any soldier died looking for the sergeant. and is surprised by the charges. >> i think this is an example of military prosecutors getting clever about how many ways they can charge the same conduct. >> now it what comes next is an article 32 hearing, some equate it to a grand jury hearing in the civilian world to try to weigh whether there is enough sufficient evidence to move forward with a court-martial. >> we'll be getting more analysis on this later in the show. there's devastation in the midwest as a pair of tornadoes ripped through oklahoma. at least one person died wednesday and crews are still searching for other possible victims. schools closed today in tulsa and the town of moore, you'll remember that's a community all too familiar with deadly storms. for the latest let's get to meteorologist chad myers. what's the latest chad in. >> alisyn we had warm and muggy air combining with cold and dry air right along a cold front or a warm front. depending on what side of the storm you were on. seven tornado reports yesterday, three across oklahoma the rest into parts of arkansas maybe even into missouri. but the town of moore, i was in moore last year when the tornado went through it in 2013 now 2015 i don't think you can really put your mind around what the people of moore think about when they see 2003 2013 and 1999 all over the same area. all within one mile crossing over that i-35. here's what it looked like though up in tulsa about an hour before the storm went through moore. what an impressive we call this a stovepipe tornado. you have the unfortunate part is this hit a mobile home park. people there were taking cover. but not everyone got out alive. what an impressive we're so lucky that that tornado did not get into tulsa before it finally died off. another storm did reappear on the other side of tulsa and caused a little bit of damage there on the east side. but we should be far, far ahead of where we are tornadoes right now. we should be well over 130. so far as of yesterday, we were only 28. but that's seven more now we're up to 35. guys back to you. >> chad and i were there in oklahoma in 2013 and we saw how that community had to come together they are some strong faith-based people there and they need it with what they have to deal with. >> absolutely. look at the skies, those skies are so dramatic. >> that community came back but the resolve has to be consistent. we're going to take a break, we've got a lot of developments in the flight 9525. the crews still have the dignity of the dead that's their priority as they search. it's a task that involves looking through debris some pieces officials say as small as pieces of snow. how do you find anything in that kind of debris field? we have information for you ahead. ♪ turn around ♪ ♪ every now and then i get a little bit hungry ♪ ♪ and there's nothing good around ♪ ♪ turn around, barry ♪ ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ [ female announcer ] fiber one. the real question that needs to be asked is "what is it that we can do that is impactful?" what the cloud enables is computing to empower cancer researchers. it used to take two weeks to 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take the king 7 and make it 8. heck. maybe even 9. make no mistake about it. they're out there. i guarantee it. welcome to the nascar xfinity series. you this this morning, "the new york times" reporting one of the pilots on germanwings flight 9525 was locked out of the cockpit before tuesday's crash. based on data they were able to glean from the cockpit voice recorder. meanwhile investigators on the ground in the french alps are focused on a long debris field to see what they can salvage from what little is left of the plane. we want to turn to miles o'brien, our cnn aviation analyst. good morning to you, miles. let's talk about this debris field. first off, i'm curious what you or maybe what you think investigators can glean from the way this debris field is laid out. >> well one of the most important things about any debris field, michaela is the size of it. if you have an aircraft that for whatever reason breaks up in flight what you look for is you match the trajectory of the airplane with where the pieces are. what are the first pieces that fall off, that can tell you a lot about any sort of structural or mechanical failure. or if there was some foul play. which caused an explosion let's say. and which, where the bomb might have been located, we have some indication in the debris field itself. in this case you have a very concentrated debris field and evidently an aircraft that was going very fast as it hit the mountains. so believe it or not, that's actually unusual. most crashes are at lower speeds. so this makes it harder for investigators. >> well it does make it harder. we're hearing from some of the rescuers and searchers on the ground that the debris field is very very tiny debris. the biggest piece they found is about the size of a car door. and i can't help but think of what a challenge that will be for investigators that are trying to piece together what happened. we've seen before well they'll essentially reassemble parts of the plane. that can't be done here. >> no and that that is the exception. you can go back to twa flight 800 that exploded over long island sound. they were at wit's end because the cockpit voits recordvoice recorder and flight data recorder were cut off. in this case it's not going to happen. in this case it's so crucial to have the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder intact and readable. it brings me back to a point that myself and david soucie and other safety experts have been harping on. there should be some way when there is a distress situation, a nonresponsive crew to have streaming data from the aircraft. it's totally possible. totally technically possible. the airlines just don't want to pay for it without regulatory enforcement. >> it's what we've discussed each time unfortunately when there's been a crash. we know the cockpit voice recorder has been found. it's downloaded they've been accessing the information, that's how we learned one of the pilots was outside the cockpit. but the elusive flight data recorder we don't believe it's been located yet. let's talk about where this is around your image in our big wall. we can see the french alps very high terrain, very high altitude. we know the weather there can be and is often inclement. that can be a challenge not just for getting remains of the people that are there but also in terms of the investigation. your crime scene, if you will is compromised. >> well that's true and the way this investigation is headed is worth pointing out if you had to pick one of the black boxes to locate cockpit voice recorder is the more important one. if the reports are true about this scenario where one of the crew members was locked out and something deliberate occurred what you want to find out is what was going on in that cockpit as far as voices. the flight data recorder would probably indicate you had a perfectly good functioning aircraft that was flown straight into a mountain at high speed. >> but that's one of the pieces we don't have. we know these things are built to with stand a certain amount of impact. but there is a chance it could have been destroyed, the flight data recorder. do you think we're looking at another mysterious aviation mystery, like we saw with mh 370, or do you feel confident they're going to find answers? >> i think the cockpit voice recorder is going to tell us a lot and i think this will you know there's no blake box for the human being and what's going on inside the mind of a pilot or whom ever is unknown to all of us. however i think we're going to have some idea on this one. >> miles, thank you for your expertise. we'll talk to you later in the broadcast. we're going to stay on this mick a lot of new information in this investigation. but first we also have chaos in the middle east to deal with. saudi arabia is now pounding houthi targets with airstrikes in yemen, egypt and jordan are going to join the fight. iran infuriated by this. is this the beginning of a major middle 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three tools: hammer screwdriver, front loader. happiness is a drive-over mower deck. a john deere dealer can teach tractors to anybody. in the right hands, an imatch quick-hitch could probably cure most of the world's problems. that's how we run, and nothing runs like a deere. see your john deere dealer for great deere season savings on the one family subcompact tractors. in our house, we do just about everything online. and our old internet just wasn't cutting it. so i switched us from u-verse to xfinity. they have the fastest, most reliable internet. which is perfect for me, because i think everything should just work. works? works. works! works? works. works. there is breaking information about flight 9525 but there's also breaking information in the middle east. saudi arabia is now joining the fight in yemen, launching airstrikes against houthi rebels with help from allies jordan and egypt, and support from turkey. this is a new twist this morning. iran is coming out against that operation. what does this mean for the volatile region? it's not just about yemen and it's certainly about much more for the united states especially as these nuclear talks with iran are going down to the wire. let's get perspective. we have cnn global affairs loirt and managing editor of "quartz," mr. bobby goech and general mark hertling former commander general of the u.s. 7th army and command anywhere europe. this is the country and these are the different parts. bobby, take me through the complexities here. >> what you have inside going on inside yemen is a civil war and ordinarily the rest of the world wouldn't care it's a civil war taking place, there are grievances the shiite community has grievances against the majority. we shouldn't care. except for two things one is that there's a very large al qaeda presence as you see there. that orange belt. and has been for a while. this is the most dangerous al qaeda franchise. and all the other arab countries worry because there's an iranian presence. the iranians are supporting with men, materiel money, the houthis. 0 so these outsiders, if you like are bringing this conflict into a kind of geopolitical stage. what happened overnight was not just saudi arabia ten countries participated in this campaign entirely from the air. with a little naval exercise as well. the united states it would appear is offering support and intelligence. so a lot of people are suddenly interested in this tiny deeply deeply poor country that only a month ago nobody was paying any attention to. >> now everybody is paying attention to it and bobby, as you raised with good reason. general, when we look at the situation from a military perspective and why it matters so much to the u.s. you have coached us in the past saying this could become a devil's playground. it could become an open field for terrorist organizations to come, combine and organize. and put up the next map, its proximity to other areas of interest. obviously con continue tig woustin contiguous with saudi arabia. and militarily what is the challenge to secure u.s. interests. >> two factors, yes, it does become a devil's playground with the number of different forces involved. al qaeda, isis potentially, shia militias. but more importantly, the geopolitical aspect of this yemen has an 1100-mile border with saudi arabia. they are extremely concerned about the expanding influence of iran in their neighborhood. they've seen it in other countries, and they don't want that southern border in saudi arabia to be threatened by first of all a destabilized yemeni government but also by a bunch of shia rebels that are getting reinforced from iran. this is becoming not only increasingly important to saudi arabia but as they've exercised the attempt to get other gulf cooperation council members, six other members part of that one, omenhm oman is staying out of this. most of them countries with sunni populations. >> is this one of the reasons that the white house keeps saying you know these talks with iran are about nukes. but they're about a lot more too, and congress with their letter they were ignoring that. people who are just being completely open to the israeli position are ignoring that. do you believe that's legitimate? >> chris, absolutely. this is critically important. we look at the talks with iran as being part of this five-nation engagement with iran to try to get rid of nuclear weapons. what other countries in the middle east are saying is that an increasingly an increasingly important role being played by regional power and that is iran. they're very concerned. and they're watching closely. there are a lot of countries, i mean israel mr. netanyahu has captured the attention of the world by saying he's concerned about what's happening in our negotiations with iran. but i guarantee you, knowing this area very well there are many other countries that are watching what we're doing with iran and they're afraid that we're giving away the farm. >> or on the other side bobby, is it a reason to be at the table with iran? if they are funding the houthi rebels. if they are certainly when they had their last president, the most outspoken and desirous of destroying israel. if they are driving what's going on in iraq against isis isn't it good to be at the table? >> yes, it is but none of those issues are on the table. the framework off the discussion is to discuss the nukes, it's not to discuss iran's role in all of these other destabilizing things going on in the middle east. it's not there to discuss iran's support of hezbollah, their support of hamas, of she yoit militias in yemen, iraq. iran is sort of has its fingers in a lot of pies. the conversation that's taking place in switzerland is only about nukes. that is what all the other arab states are very concerned about. they're saying that what you're doing is you're offering iran a get out of jail free pass. if they just give up their nukes. you're not putting them to the test for all of these other things. you're offering them the opportunity to get their hands on more money, if all of these economic sanctions are lifted. what are they going to do with that money? they're going to turn that money against us. they're going to finance all of this activity. >> general, final beat how urgent to u.s. interests is the situation in yemen? and how urgent is the situation we're seeing develop where the iraqi militias are asking for u.s. help less and less presumably because they're getting more and more help from iraq? >> well to answer the first question yemen is critically important, it's a lynchpin not only linked to our allies the saudis but also critical to the rest of the region as we've just explained. i think you're beginning to see this will be of gathering importance in the next few days the iraqis are now coming back to us after what has happened in tikrit. they are now saying hey, we can't finish the deal without the help from the u.s. and we're increasingly now being asked for airstrikes within the tikrit area. so i think that's fading a little bit. the early proclamations of victory by the shia militias especially the ones backed by iran they realize they can't get it done without our help completely. without precision strikes, so that's going to be teetering for a while. but all of this is extremely important. and chris, what i'd say is i'm an amateur historian. this reminds me a lot of what happened in world war i, about 100 years ago, to this day, where there were small things that all contributed to a much bigger thing. we're seeing the same kind of activity now in the middle east that we saw in sarajevo it will take a small element to torch all this off. >> let's hope we learn from the lessons of the past. general hertling thank you, and bobby ghosh. in is a big story. but there's a lot of news let's get to it. one of the pilots was locked out of the cockpit, according to the "new york times." >> the security measures work too well if it protected the cockpit to keep the bad guy in and the good guys out. >> why wasn't there two people in the cockpit? saudi arabia launching airstrikes against houthi rebels. >> the decision by saudi arabia to intervene like this with 100 war planes they say. formally charge sergeant bergdahl with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. >> were the five taliban prisoners we swapped worth it for a deserter? this is "new day," with chris cuomo, alisyn camerota and michaela pereira. good morning, everyone we want to welcome our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world this is "new day." we begin with breaking news. "the new york times" reporting that one of the pilots on germanwings flight 9525 got locked out of the cockpit and can be heard trying to break back in. during the critical minutes before the plane slammed into a mountain in the french alps. >> louhow do they know? this was captured on the voice recorder as plane was descending rapidly. investigators are still trying to piece together clues in the debris. family members preparing to board a plane in barcelona and head to the crash site in france. let's begin with erin mclaughlin near the crash site in the french alps what's the latest? >> hi chris, there are more questions than answers as work continues here in the french alps. all morning choppers full of investigators have been leaving the staging area you see just behind me for the crash site. they're working to recover human remains as well as to try to figure out what happened to flight 9525 after all the reports out of what they found on the cockpit voice recorders are chilling. stunning new details this morning, in the crash of germanwings flight 9525. according to media reports, one of the pilots was locked out of the cockpit when the plane crashed into the side of this mountain high in the french alps. all of the 150 people on board, including school-aged children and two infants presumed dead. "the new york times" cite as senior military official involved in examining audio evidence from the cockpit voice recorder. this official says before the plane's rapid descent. one of the pilots left the cockpit, and was unable to get back in. the paper quotes this investigator as saying the guy outside is knocking lightly on the door, and there is no answer. and then he hits the door stronger no answer. there is never an answer. he says you can hear he is trying to smash the door down. the chilling report deepening the mystery of why this plane crashed. >> this is likely to become clearer when we have the other black box. >> the lock on the cockpit door is controlled by a lever on the pilot's dashboard. in order to lock the door someone would have to intentionally move the lever from the normal position into the locked position. the question is who. >> lufthansa, the parent company of germanwings told cnn they did not have any information about the "times" report, but are looking into it. and this morning we are getting more information about the pilots of flight 9525. according to lufthansa, the captain had 6,000 hours of flight experience. the co-pilot less experience with 630 hours. it's not clear who was the one that was locked out of the cockpit. but authorities here in france not commenting so far on those media reports. though we are expecting a press conference from the french prosecutor in marseille this hour. alisyn? >> we sure hope the press conference bringing to light some of the incredible mystery. erin thanks so much for that. lufthansa, the parent company of germanwings claims to know nothing about those reports of a pilot being locked out of the cockpit. this as more details of the pilot's experience and history come to light. so let's get to diana magnay in germany with more for us. diana? >> we do not today know much about the identities of the pilots and the co-pilot. germanwings and lufthansa both for obvious reasons being tight-lipped about their identities and nationalities, we know that both were men. the pilot had 6,000 hours of flight time behind him. he has been with germanwings since may of 2014. and prior to that had flown with lufthansa and condor. we know the co-pilot had 630 hours of flight time. behind him and had trained at the lufthansa aviation center in bremen which is where lufthansa trains most pilots the company unwilling to speculate on the arguments, the lines coming out from media reports about what went on in the cockpit. but there will be a germanwings press conference at 9:30 eastern time. back to you. >> very important press conference indeed. cnn will cover it. this is all about the dignity of those who died 150 people on board flight 9525. and now we know it went from thinking there were no americans, to two americans and now at least three americans involved. two of them have been identified by the state department as a mother and daughter from virginia. for the latest let's get to cnn's erin mcpike, live in virginia where the family lives. erin? >> chris, those two women are yvonne and emily selke. here's how their family friend erin holmes remembered them last night. >> is there anything else you want people to know about emily. >> i think what people need to know about them and what people should know about them they were two, two americans on the plane, not a mother and daughter on a plane. but two, yvonne and emily, two amazing, loving people who left behind friends and family who love and miss them a lot. >> now, yvonne was a long time government contractor for booze-allen, her daughter was a community manager just outside washington, d.c. both of their employers issued heartfelt statements about these two just yesterday. the family understandably doesn't want to talk. behave a brief written statement, i want to read part of that statement to you now. it says our entire family is deeply saddened by the losses of yvonne and emily selke. two wonderful caring people who meant so much to so many. we don't have the identity of the third american just yet. back to you. so what are we to make of all of the mysterious developments overnight? let's ask richard quest, our cnn aviation analyst and tom fuentes, our law enforcement analyst and former fbi assistant director. richard i'll start with you, we were operating under the assumption that the pilots had become incapacitated somehow. now that you've heard this "new york times" report which has not been confirmed by the airlines by an unnamed senior investigator we're told that one of the pilots it sounds like from the cockpit voice recorder got outside of the cockpit and couldn't get back in. now what's your theory? >> well the theory falls into one of two categories either a medical emergency inside which meant that the pilot who was remaining inside the cockpit was incapacitated. and the other one couldn't get back in again. because the door had been locked. either intentionally or otherwise. or a nefarious, the one inside the cockpit had locked the door and was determined to keep the other one outside. there is an override procedure. the problem with the medical territer theory which i went for initially is that is the descent. to actually initiate that smooth descent, that smooth regular descent, but to do it because had you fallen on the controls is somewhat extraordinary. >> because the plane would be -- >> it would have been -- if he had fallen on the controls and pushed the side stick forward, the descent would have been much greater than a steep, but consistent 3,000 foot a minute. >> and theoretically the plane would have been in auto pilot and that would have kept it level. >> the plane was always on auto pilot. even if you manage to change the configuration, it can remain in auto pilot. there are ways in which it would come out of auto pilot. we don't need to get into. but the gist of it is looking at "the new york times" article, as it stands it would suggest either leans more towards the nefarious option. >> okay. tom, do you agree with that theory that given what we know now, you have to it raises the specter at specter specter, spector of it being something intentional. >> i agree, i think the medical explanation requires too many other coincidences as well. that you simultaneously have somebody have a medical problem as the captain or the co-pilot leaves the cockpit. and also disengage the lock mechanism so the person can't get back in. also change the trajectory of the plane to start descending. all three at one time, i think is a pretty spectacular number of coincidences to happen. so it does sound like if the article is true you know, we don't know that yet for sure. but if it turns out to be true that somebody locked the other person out of the cockpit. and intended to crash that plane. >> richard? >> tom raises such a good point. if the article is true. and that is why i suspect in the next few hours, it's going, you know in the old days they wouldn't bother to tell you, they would say wait for the report. but if this cat is now out of the bag, and we don't know then they're going to have to address it sooner rather than later. >> why? doesn't did become a criminal investigation, if in fact this was intentional, it becomes a criminal investigation and then they don't release any information after that. >> the police even in criminal investigations will have to give you some basic facts. the man was shot the man fell off the roof the man, whatever happened. this becomes a completely different environment. if this story is true we are dealing with a case that the like of which we've never seen before. yes, there's silk air and egypt air. and in both of those cases the reports said one thing and everybody else said something else. or that there were two conflicting views. but in this case for a major european carrier to have had something like this happen -- this is out of all league. >> tom, do we know anything so far about the pilots and their background? and how will investigators go about figuring out their mindset? >> well the investigators will be talking to everybody that knows them talked to them. the emails that they sent. any social media. often if someone is suicidal they'll stop caring for themselves they'll stop grooming themselves correctly in the preceding two or three days give up caring how they look or how they act. there are some signs of that. but you know i'd like to crate or correct the misperception, the criminal investigation or the possibility of terrorism or crime or suicide is something that the authorities start with right at the beginning. they don't wait until other things are ruled out. because other things might not be ruled out for months or even years. so that goes on simultaneously until the facts determine that it shouldn't be. then they can rule it out and say okay for sure now we know this was a mechanical problem. but they can't wait to start the criminal investigation until that's a certainty. >> richard there seems to be a discrepancy, not a discrepancy, a big difference between the amount of experience the pilot had and the co-pilot had. one had 6,000 hours of flight experience and the other had 600 hours of flight experience. does that mean anything? >> it means nothing. everybody has to start somewhere. and you would expect to see a junior you would expect to see a very junior -- and it is 650 hours, the lower end of expectations but everybody starts somewhere. a very junior first officer sitting next to a senior more experienced captain. and as the first officer is raising up his number of hours. i'm not concerned by that disparity. but it is a junior first officer. working for a low-cost carrier. which is exactly what you see in aviation these days. they get their experience because they're paid less in low-cost carriers. >> last it would sure be helpful to find the flight data recorder. now that the voice recorder has come out and apparently reportedly shows this conversation or attempt at a conversation between one of the pilgts and pilots and the other one who was unresponsive. if the data recorder could get information, wouldn't that hold the clues? >> completely first of all we would need to know much more about what's on the cockpit voice recorder. we've been given a snippet. we need to know what was before after and in the middle. the flight data recorder will tell us how the descent was initiated. >> will it tell fuss the cockpit was locked? >> that i do not know. i'll be quite up front about it. i don't know if the parameters of the cockpit door are part of the a320. >> i mean intentionally locked by the way. richard quest, tom fuentes, thanks so much for helping us navigate through this mystery. we'll check back in with you. we want to turn to breaking developments out of yemen, saudi arabia launching air strikes against houthi rebels with help from gulf arab allies egypt and jordan. u.s. is also providing some support. iran is demanding a stop of the saudi action. cnn senior international correspondent nick paton walsh joins with us more. >> michaela the chaos has been engulfing yemen for months has take an dramatic turn for the worse. on a regional scale, in just the last few hours. the houthi rebels who are predominantly shia backed by iran have swept across the country. they kicked the president out of sanaa, the capital, he fled to the south, to aden. there are reports he may have fled the country. the saudis have taken upon themselves to militarily intervene, worried about a pro iranian group taking control of a country along their southern borders. their airstrikes involve 100 war planes three or four nations in the gulf suggestions the egyptians may militarily be involved as well. it's a stark moment there are suggestions civilian casualties from the strikes and there are the united states providing intelligence and even targeting information we understand towards their key ally saudi arabia. this does potentially drag saudi into a proxy war with the houthi pro-iranian group in yemen right now. it has a severe consequence for what's happening in the middle east. the shia-sunni conflict we see so much in the middle east. yemen enswirled in chaos, is a key hotbed of al qaeda who have worn to attack the united states and potentially isis as well. a very troubling development for the region as a whole. >> so many tentacles reaching out of the situation in yemen. certainly for the right to where nick is now in afghanistan. what do we know about the u.s. situation right now? they are going to get involved in the fight to retake tikrit from isis. president obama says the u.s. will launch air strikes there in an effort to aid iraqi forces. we have cnn senior international correspondent arwa damon live in baghdad with the latest. arwa? >> and chris, those airstrikes have begun. a dozen or so launched overnight, these happened at the request of the iraqi government tikrit a battlefield that america has by and large stayed out of. why? because the flight is being led by the predominantly shia force made up of militias volunteers sure there are iraqi security forces there. but the iranian-backed force at the forefront. this request coming specifically from the iraqi government due to we are being told the dynamics on the ground. receipt ats that that fighting force faced as they tried to recapture tikrit from isis. finding the isis fighters deeply entrenched within buildings and the iraqi air force capabilities lacking when it comes to a precision air strikes that are needed to allow the ground troops to advance. this however, does further complicate an already very murky situation, because you do have iranian advisers on the ground. iranian military commanders fighting alongside, advising those iraqi troops as they advance, as well. now you have american air strikes taking place, apparently the u.s. has received a promise from the iraqis that the sensitive intelligence being used will not be shared with the iranians but there is the potential to even further complicate and enhance tensions on the ground at this stage. because that predominantly shia iranian-backed militia has said it does not want or need u.s. support. >> arwa thanks so much for that update. so many things happening around the world. >> that's actual lay good development there. because arwa is right, because of the iranian influence there had been less request for u.s. help. that's dangerous to the relationship. now with the renewed airstrikes that emboldens the u.s. position there. still stik around for more on that. much more ahead on the stunning reports that one of the pilots on flight 95 that was locked out of the cockpit as the plane went down in the french alps three americans were on board that doomed flight. we'll speak to a good friend of one of those victims next. we're going to go inside a flight simulator to see what such a terrifying descent into the mountains would look like from the plane. in my world, wall isn't a street. return on investment isn't the only return i'm looking forward to. for some every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. our commitment to current and former military members and their families is without equal. start investing with as little as fifty dollars. now? 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"the new york times" reports that one of the pilots was locked out of the cockpit. this is a deadly blow for the families that lost loved ones on the flight. shawn wilson is a friend and business colleague of emily selke. one of the americans who lost her life aboard that flight. first of all, shawn, thank you for being here. i know this is difficult, but we desperately wanted to talk to you about one of these people that were on the plane. and they're not just a statistic. this is somebody that was known and loved and part of a community and part of a workplace, she was your work colleague, correct? >> she was, absolutely. she started working with us in 2014 the beginning of the year it's been an amazing year and a half so far. >> she works at a community manager at in alexandria virginia who you did you learn the news? >> well i mean it truly brings to light the power of social media. one of our team member who is worked closely every single day, mary leslie was able to bring it to britney and my attention, yesterday morning that she saw the information on social media on emily's facebook page. and so it was a difficult way to learn about such a tragedy. but it really does show the power of social media. >> a difficult way. but then again, i don't know how you can ever receive this news well. talk to me about your office? obviously a small office you often become like family to one another. she was a new-ish employee worked there for about a year and a half. who you did you all manage to get together around this news? i imagine the boss had something to say, what did he say to you? >> well obviously this is something that you can never prepare for. as you said we are a small office. right there in alexandria. there are three team members and i being the regional manager. we worked closely on a daily basis together. on a billgger scale, we have 18 locations in the d.c. metro area alone. >> so a lot of people knew her? >> a lot of people knew her, she made a big impression even though she didn't always deal with everybody on a daily basis. >> do you know what took emily and her mom yvonne to europe? >> they were on a personal trip. >> they were midway through their travels? or do you know anything about their itinerary? >> i don't know their itinerary. i do believe they were almost halfway through the trip. >> you know i was thinking about the fact that there's really no manual or set way or perfect way to handle this kind of news and handle the loss of somebody so young taken in such an instance in such a devastating and violent fashion. talk to me about how you're processing this. because it's hard to reckon with is it not? >> it very. you hear about these things on the news, unfortunately more regularly than we would ever hope for. but it it finally is real and you actually know somebody that this has happened to. and i think for us it was all about making sure that we come together as a family not only within our team members at car workplaces but also the community that we establish with our clients. and the outpouring of love has been amazing. and we just want to remember emily for everything that she offered to us and every person and life that she touched on a daily basis. >> go ahead and tell me a little bit about your friend. >> she literally was the light in the room. one of the things when i talked with britney and mary leslie in great detail yesterday about how wonderful she was, was the idea that we literally laughed every single day. she was amazing at creating personal relationships, not only with her team members, but also with the community that we have at car workplaces within her center. and i think that you know she came to us to grow with us. but we have grown with her as well. so she taught us many many things. but most importantly, just that life is short, so why not smile and laugh and make the most of it. >> it sounds like we lost a little bit more light in the world with her passing. let me ask you are you watching the news or do you find you can't bear it? >> i will watch only a couple minutes and then i just have to turn it off. it's something where you want to get the information, but at the same time creates even more real so for me it's been about staying focused on the true mission, which is commemorating emily and her life. and as these pieces continue to unfold we will just continue to memorialize her and the great person that she was. >> not to be maudlin, i imagine it feels very empty when you walk by her desk and see it's unoccupied. >> the outpouring we have received from clients has been amazing. >> i'm so glad. >> they're grieving as well. >> and again, this is this is one face an american face her mother yvonne was lost in the tragedy. there was another american that was lost. we know in total 150 people lost their lives on that flight in the french alps in this flight. so the story has been repeated sadly in many locations, 15 different nations, thank you, shawn for doing this it's brave and it's difficult, i hope this will help you mourn your friend. >> thank you for having me. finding out who they were finding out what happened on that plane, part of maintaining the dignity of the dead. so what exactly do we know about what happened inside the cockpit of flight 9525? it has been reported things that were heard, things that were said and that information is raising questions. some make sense, some don't. we have answers ahead. when salesman alan ames books his room at laquinta.com, he gets a ready for you alert the second his room is ready. so he knows exactly when he can check in and power up before his big meeting. and when alan gets all powered up, ya know what happens? i think the numbers speak for themselves. i'm sold! he's a selling machine! put it there. and there, and there, and there. la quinta inns and suites is ready for you, so you'll be ready for business. the ready for you alert, only at laquinta.com! la quinta! 40% of the streetlights in detroit, at one point, did not work. you had some blocks and you had major thoroughfares and corridors that were just totally pitch black. those things had to change. we wanted to restore our lighting system in the city. you can have the greatest dreams in the world, but unless you can finance those dreams, it doesn't happen. at the time that the bankruptcy filing was done, the public lighting authority had a hard time of finding a bank. citi did not run away from the table like some other bankers did. citi had the strength to help us go to the credit markets and raise the money. it's a brighter day in detroit. people can see better when they're out doing their tasks, young people are moving back in town the kids are feeling safer while they walk to school. and folks are making investments and the community is moving forward. 40% of the lights were out, but they're not out for long.they're coming back. welcome back we'll get back to our breaking coverage on flight 9525 in a moment. but first a look at our other headlines. utter devastation in oklahoma after a pair of tornadoes ripped through the state. one person was killed and 15 others injured in a trailer park near tulsa. a tornado also touching down in moore, leaving cars flipped and debris littering the streets. schools in tulsa and moore forced to close today because of the devastation. >> just two years ago they dealt with so much there. and secretary of state john kerry in switzerland this morning for the final round of nuclear negotiations with iran. the talks heading down to the wire. the deadline for an agreement on the framework of a deal just five days away. so far, both sides reporting progress after the last round with some big gaps remaining. now britain's foreign secretary, phillip hammond is warning we could see a nuclear arms race in the middle east if the negotiations fail. although some have warned of the same path if they succeed. indiana's governor is set to sign into law a controversial measure that would effectively let businesses ses turn away gay and lesbian customers in the name of religious freedom. the lawmakers say the bill is meant to have religious beliefs, but the critics are urging the governor to reconsider his stance and veto that legislation. now to the stunning new developments in the crash of flight 9525. one of the pilots reportedly locked out of the cockpit and heard on the plane's voice recorder trying to break down the door to get back in. this was just moments before the plane went down in the french alps. the story was first reported by "the new york times." it opens countless theories about what might have happened. we are talking about this all morning long how could the pilot have been locked out? didn't he know the code? did the code not let him back into the cockpit? so many questions this morning and we have lots of analysis. >> first thing we need to do is confirm the reporting. all respect to "the new york times," but there will be a presser that's coming up momentarily from a french prosecutor in marseille, who has been kind of leading information for the media about what's going on. we're going to monitor that. as soon as there's any relevant information it will be in french but as soon as there's any relevant information about what happened and is heard on the cockpit recorder we are going to bring it to you. alisyn that's the main thing, we have to know if it's true. if your starting point is flawed everything else is flawed. >> we're looking forward to that press conference which we'll bring do you live as soon as we can have it. so we know what the information is that's out there from the "new york times" if we're going to keep that as the starting point, let's figure out what questions it raises which ones make sense and which don't. we have cnn aviation analyst miles o'brien. miles, you're a journalist and a science reporter and an analyst. so we can combine you all in one like a tasty cake of information. if we accept "the new york times" premise that this is what they hear on this tape and it is as it's been laid out, one pilot leaves tries to get back in nothing is heard. he gets more and more panicked he starts banging on the door. the plane crashes, all in the span of let's say eight to ten minutes, what is the first and immediate question for you? >> well it's chris, unfortunately unintended consequences isn't did? these doors were reinforced and the locks were put in such as they are, post 9/11 to try to save lives and it turns out it can be turned in the other direction potentially. one of the things that is a simple way to try to avert something like this is a procedure which is used by u.s. airlines which is not used the world over which is when one of the pilots needs to leave the cockpit to do whatever he or she may need to do another crew member a flight attendant will come into the cockpit and spend that time with the other pilot. so that there's never anybody alone in the cockpit. >> we've become familiar with that we also see now on airplanes how sometimes they take the drink cart and somebody stands behind it we've heard from experts now from you, that that's a u.s. rule we don't know if it's followed in other european and asian companies. but do we know? do we know what the protocol is for germanwings? >> i don't know what absolutely for certain. i have read that this is not the case. it's not universally adopted the world over and it's a good procedure. you know the reinforced door can be turned around. it's a two-edged sword, unfortunately. and if there's -- ultimately as i always say, chris, you like to think you want to be able to trust the guy driving the bus. but that's not always going to be the case. and so when there's any one individual with that much authority and control, you have to pause and think about ways let's put it this way, aviation is always about redundancy. >> right. you always want more than one way to handle a situation. we get it, that's what you mean by redundancy. you're a pilot also so this was either intentional distress or accidental distress. that was going on in the cockpit if the premise is right. from "the new york times," that this guy was trying to get back in and could not. if it were intentional distress that means that the pilot according to what we understand about how this plane works, would have to intentionally lock the door so the pilot outside could not get in. even if he were to use the key pad code there would be a window of five minutes when the door was locked that the key pad would not allow him to re-enter which would mean he would have had to unlocked the door and relock it within the five-minute span to avoid anyone coming back in what does that mean to you? >> well yeah i mean it just to boil it down there's a system here in case the crew is incapacitated. you want to be able to get in. and that's what this is all about. but as long as somebody on the other side of the door is when somebody says hey, i want to get in pushes a button or doesn't respond appropriately, that door will remain locked. so if there was, there was some sort of deliberate act here something nefarious, it certainly easy to keep the door locked. and that's the flaw here. >> but okay. so even if you want to take that as the supposition, when you think of somebody intentionally wanting to crash a plane why would it take eight minutes? why would it be such a controlled descent this way? isn't that confounding? >> if you look this has happened before we can think of egypt air 990, there was a crash, the silk air crash a few years ago, crash in mozambique. similar scenarios, almost identical in some in the mozambique case where a crew member was locked out. it happen as lot faster generally. if your intent is suicide, you push on the wheel and you go down quickly in theory. again this is something where we're getting into an area beyond aviation this is psychology. >> and also look if you were if theron were a member of an organization usually you would hear sooner rather than later, about their taking claim for such a horrible thing in a perverse way. if there were an accident if there were a medical catastrophe that went on then you have the idea of again, how did the plane sustain this particular route. which seemed to suggest intentionality by a pilot. is that accurate? >> well yes. if that's sole crew member was in fact incapacitated, left behind there, the remaining pilot should have been able to get in. based on the way the system works. so it takes an active response on the other side in order to maintain it being locked. so i would discount that theory. one way or another, that person on the other side wanted that door to remain locked. >> we're going to be monitoring the press conference that's going to be held by the french prosecutor as information comes out to validate this premise, we will deliver it to you, miles, thank you very much. another questions being asked about this is what about people's cell phones? they are the were in the alps you need proximity to a cell tower for those calls to work. that press conference is happening live. we're monitoring it for developments all of this mysterious information coming out this morning. we have more ahead on the crash of 9525. we're going to use an airbus flight simulator to see how a pilot could get locked out of the plane's cockpit. major: here's our new trainer ensure active heart health. heart: i maximize good stuff like my potassium and phytosterols which may help lower cholesterol. new ensure active heart health supports your heart and body so you stay active and strong. ensure, take life in. (mom) when our little girl was born we got a subaru. it's where she said her first word. (little girl) no! saw her first day of school. (little girl) bye bye! made a best friend forever. the back seat of my subaru is where she grew up. what? (announcer) the 2015 subaru forester (girl) what? (announcer) built to be there for your family. love. it's what makes a subaru a subaru. in our house, we do just about everything online. and our old internet just wasn't cutting it. so i switched us from u-verse to xfinity. they have the fastest, most reliable internet. which is perfect for me, because i think everything should just work. works? works. works! works? works. works. regardless of the circumstances, whatever those circumstances may turn out to be. we still get an american soldier back if he's held in captivity. period. full stop. we don't condition that. >> nearly a year after bowe bergdahl was dpreeed from the taliban in a prisoner swap charges are being filed against him for desertion. now we're getting a firsthand description of what bergdahl says his life was like during those five years in captivity. let's get reaction from two people watching these developments very closely. josh corder served with bergdahl in afghanistan and evan beuto was bergdahl's team leader and with him the night he disappeared. gentlemen, thanks so much for being here. sergeant corder let me start with you, what were your thoughts when you heard that bowe bergdahl was going to be charged with desertion? >> it was relief. at the time we weren't exactly sure what was going on because they said they were going to charge him with something. and then they basically postponed that. so i wasn't really sure what was happening. to hear that the desertion charges were going forward was very much a relief. >> sergeant beuto what about you, you were with him the night he disappeared. did you always believe he had deserted? >> yes. i knew from the moment he left that he walked away on his own accord. and everyone on the base at that time knew the same thing. >> how did you know that? >> how were you so certain of that? >> it was just a culmination of everything that had happened prior to him deserting. and then when we woke up that morning and he wasn't there, it was just the gut feeling we had. we knew that that had happened and it was just shortly after that that we confirmed that by talking to some children who were outside the wire who told us that they saw him walking away. >> sergeant korder what about what president obama said there. where he said regardless of the circumstances, we bring american soldiers home. end of story. do you feel that way? >> in this situation, i do not. somebody who has deserted on their own fruition walked away made that conscious choice leave behind his fellow soldiers and even his country, and walk away and just at that point it's like well he's not the same kind of soldier that he was. he should not count in that category any more. especially when it comes to trading five taliban commanders for him. it's just not worth that. >> sergeant buetow if you could stand by for a second we have breaking news on the crash of 9525. stand by. chris? >> we have been monitoring the press conference that's a prosecutor from marseille, france he's been giving out information about the investigation into what happened with flight 9525. here's what we know. it was the co-pilot who remained in the cockpit and the main pilot, the senior pilot was locked out of the cockpit. they believe by the co-pilot. why? because of what "the new york times" reported that it was heard on the dockcockpit recorder as reported. the co-pilot locked the door so the main pilot could not get in and increased the rate of descent from the cockpit they believe intentionally. why? they also say they hear on the recording, consistent breathing from that co-pilot no mention of anybody else being in there with him. which was part of the speculation about u.s. policy that they have to have more than one person in the cockpit at a time. here we're not hearing that. and we're hearing again, there was constant and consistent breathing all the way until the point that the recording cut off. now, let's dip in for a second and see what we hear and we'll translate. >> translator: professional i don't know if of the co-pilot who was a german nationality. i have given and i want to tell thaw i've given all this information to the 200 or 250 victims, the families families of the victims. in another room in this airport. of course i am ready to answer any questions. yes? i can't answer your question. i think i've let you understood that i received some information too late. when you, what do we know about the casual answers of the co-pilot? for me that means it's a short exchange. the, there's a briefing and we would have hope for a dialogue. and it shouldn't just be a casual response or casual answers. in the plural. do you have any other information on the pilot? well no no. hang on hang on. i remind you it's 48 hours since the crash. and it's in the middle of the night that i got this information. and i would remind you that as of this morning, we are currently doing some research and pursuing our investigation to understand the environment of that co-pilot. did the co-pilot say anything when he was on his own? no. no. just his breathing. apparently he was breathing normally. he didn't say a word. from the moment that the captain or chief pilot left the cockpit. e captain would've done it because he must have realized what was going on. and if he'd been able to open this door and i'd remind you he's armored, the captain would've done it. are you talking suicide? i'm not using the word because i don't know. all i'm saying is that given the information that i have at this moment today, maybe in a few days i'll have more information. but today i can only tell you that deliberately he made possible a loss of altitude for the aircraft, which is not totally abnormal, 1,000 meters a minute roughly. it's quite legitimate. but he had no reason to do so. he had no reason to stop his captain from returning to the cockpit. that's already quite a lot. he had no reason not to answer the air traffic control which was telling him about loss of altitude. he had no reason to refuse to put in a code, which would make it a priority aircraft compared to all other aircraft in the area. that's a lot. what about the possibility of feeling unwell? for the moment i'm repeating it, it's only 48 hours. it does seem that he was breathing normally. it's not the breathing of somebody who is having a stroke or heart attack. and he doesn't say one word. not one word. i repeated, absolute silence. so what about the alarms? would everybody onboard be aware of what was going on? the passengers and so on. it's difficult to answer your question. but within the victims' families i was asked the same question. i reckon that the victims only became aware of what was going on at the very last moment. let me finish. because on the tape the sound that we're hearing, the screams are only in the very last moments before impact. forgive me it's a somewhat sordid detail. i've answered. i've answered but only the very last moments. could you -- well, in english, maybe. i can -- so you're saying, what can one hear in the cockpit are you asking? in the cockpit, he gave no response at all, not one word. if i understand your question. in the cockpit, it was absolute silence. all right. okay. >> we're going to keep monitoring this press conference. we're just waiting for translation to pick back up. let's bring in david and richard quest to go through what we've got. and so far, which is a lot. here is the headline. the reporting of the "new york times" that the captain, the main pilot here was locked out of the cockpit is true. according to that man, the prosecutor the french prosecutor's leading the investigation for french authorities. it was the co-pilot that remained inside. there is no indication he was with anyone else. they believe the co-pilot was alone in the cockpit. he believes that was intentional. he believes the co-pilot intentionally increased the pitch and rate of speed of the aircraft. he has reported that the co-pilot said nothing despite all the urgency and warnings from the captain on the outside as he was trying to break in. he also reported that there were screams heard but only in the final moments before the crash. those are the main facts. allison, what else? >> let's bring in -- >> do we have translation back? okay. let's dip back in and hear more. >> german national i don't know but german national full stop, and he's not on a list of terrorists if that's what you're meaning. not at all. so there's no other way of opening the door? no. the new legislation following the 11th of september terrorist attacks impose a double system for locking the doors to avoid anybody being able to access the cockpit to then take over the aircraft. and that mechanism means that the person inside has to allow even if there's a code it's an i.d. code either with a camera system where the person presents themselves and recognized that you have to activate a button so as to be able to open the door. well, it depends on the aircraft. i think only the most modern aircraft. this aircraft is 1991 about 24 25 years old. one question at a time, please. no once one leaves the cockpit, the door is automatically blocked. 's what i was saying. that's not a real dialogue. where beforehand it was a normal dialogue. i told you, maybe a bit well pleasantries and courteous and whatever. but when the captain speaks about the briefing the checklist of everything that has to be done, the responses are casual short, short. well maybe the word i used you don't like it. well they were short. there was no real exchange. might there be panic on the part of the co-pilot? is he breathing more deeply? so far as i know there's no camera within the cockpit to film the co-pilot. but we don't get the feeling that there was any particular panic because the breathing remains steady. how can you tell from his breathing that he was conscious? well the breathing was not faltering. it was normal human, normal breathing. apparently, anyway. you said at the beginning of the conference. no. involuntary manslaughter at the beginning i started -- let me, hang on. i started an inquiry at the beginning, it was a possible accident. so i started an investigation on the basis of involuntary manslaughter in the plural for many people. but this morning i said there's a deliberate action. i'm going to go into greater depth before i change the title of my investigation. but at the moment involuntary homicide or manslaughter. well the town in germany, i don't know. but we're looking at those environmental circumstances. we're looking at the co-pilot. we've only known this a few hours. so do you have any information on the co-pilots? we're starting. information on the co-pilot will mainly come to us from the german legal authorities because it was a german working for a german company living in germany. so here the person is not known, and apparently, i have no answers so far. i expect to have something later today or tomorrow and i'm waiting for the official response from the german legal authorities. the german chancellor angela merkel, committed herself as did the spanish prime minister they committed themselves before the french president to give mutual assistance asap. when the captain leaves the cockpit, does he ask his co-pilot to start descent procedures? no i'd remind you, this aircraft was in automatic control. and he leaves saying i'm leaving controls in your hand. and i imagine as i said, he was going to satisfy a normal need. well the going, you don't start your descent too long because the descent started. and it is not door-to-door. it may be not p.c., but do we know the religion of the co-pilot? >> i've given you his nationality, i don't know his religion. i've told you when i have such information, i'll give it but i don't think it'll be necessarily need to look in that direction. >> you can't give his, who he was? the co-pilot? >> i've already given it to the victims' families. his name with andres lupitz was his name. could a loss of consciousness led to the altitude maneuver? >> no the buttons to lever that you turn. you turn several times according to how much altitude you want to lose. well if his head was to hit it maybe it'll move by a quarter of a turn. he won't do anything. he won't turn it 15 times. i would remind you, he went from 10,000 to 12,000 meters down to 2,000. so he went from what we 380 to 80 or 90 if i'm not mistaken. 380, which is 30,000 feet to 6,000 feet. so we can conclude that in all circumstances, it's deliberate. at the moment i consider it to be deliberate first of all, refusing entry to the cockpit. second maneuvering the lever for loss of altitude. not so much but it is 1,000 meters a minute, as if he was landing. we're above the mountains, aren't we? and there's no other airport which could receive an airbus 320 anywhere near. there was no one in the cockpit when the captain went out? >> no. the second black box has to do with all recordings dealing with the flight. pressure temperature, so on, parameters. these, this will be added information. and it may allow us to know there was no other cause involved. having got this information a bit late during the night. yeah that's why i'm a bit angry about it. are you going to -- well my principle. when i'm dealing with a difficult investigation like this one, i focus on the investigation itself. we can subsequently see if there were any leaks. it's not the leaks which interest me. what interests me are the causes of this accident. there were 500 who are active on this. the asa of the air transport. were controlling the security of this site which i'd remind you is extremely difficult to access. only by cable from a helicopter and it's difficult because each of the investigators have to be on the site with rock climbing shoe gear because the ground is -- tends to disintegrate. it's a very difficult disaster area. i'm not in the head of the co-pilot. i can't answer your question. i'm simply -- well i believe we have a duty to be transparent as the transport minister has just said. and those families, which were receiving to try to understand what's going on and subsequently to go and reflect, and on the place where in three languages french german and spanish was set up yesterday. i think there was a duty to be transparent. and i wanted to do it because i believe that the victims deserve the public prosecutor giving them explanation on what has been going on. to date. the families have been informed with respect to all the information i've given you is the same. how did they react? they asked many questions. on international regulations, on -- was it normal for the captain to leave the cockpit? well, they asked many questions. what legal consequences might there be for the airline? >> well i'm not at that stage for the legal consequences to the airline. we have a dossier, which we've had for 48 hours. i'm now giving you our investigation as it is and it's already quite quick. we found the black box, we've made use of it, maybe with some delay. in my view, maybe a bit too long. because i expected to get it earlier in the afternoon. and now, we're going to continue our investigation. we're not going to stop with what we've got today. we've got to find the second black box, we've got to continue to get the victims' bodies away. and i also want the file on the aircraft maintenance. it had full maintenance in 2013 and some maintenance the day before. and i had to do all of the control that's my duty to carry out. maybe there'll be further. there'll be some other inquiry. and in due course i'll have to call on two investigating magistrates to continue to determine what is the truth on this. but as i'm speaking to you now, the truth that we seem to see during the night is considerable progress in terms of discovering what happened. can you give us maybe the profile of the co-pilot? well let me tell you. all i know at the moment is that he was fully qualified to pilot the aircraft on his own. he had all the certificates and he was equipped to do it. well the captain had 10,000 hours of flight ten years, much more experience after all, that's why he's the captain. and the other one had been working for a few months only with 100 hours of flight on that aircraft or type of aircraft. but that's all i know at the moment. but i hope to discover more. i don't remember his age. 30s 40s, forgive me. i should have checked, but i don't have it. among the victims' families was the other family of the co-pilot? no they came -- they had a different path to follow. i explained to them how dna -- well i propose if they so wish when they're in the chapel of rest specialized teams from the teams, he's in charge of the identification. he'll be available for mothers and fathers, maybe brothers and sisters to give their dna to accelerate the dna comparisons with what we discovered or find. families those who came by plane should go back tonight. but i fear there may be some delay. well the airbus is quite a large aircraft. it's an a-320. it's a big aircraft. so passengers are not right next to the cockpit door. so we hear some screams only at the end. that's what i told you. the screams are in the last instance. and i'd remind you that the death was instantaneous because the aircraft at 700 kilometers an hour going into the mountain, well, you've seen the pictures. look i've said before i've only had this information since the middle of the night. i'm going to think upon it with my colleagues on possible changes to make to the description of the investigation. in the coming hours, we haven't done it at the moment. i don't know. i don't have an answer to your question. the two families of the captain and co-pilot have arrived. but they haven't been put with the other families. they've been separately. i won't say any more on that. well i know it's been mentioned in the media, as i'm speaking to you now in my view there is nothing to suggest a terrorist attack. let's be clear on that. because from the beginning, everybody's talking terrorism. as of now, now, with all the investigation that i'm aware of there is nothing to allow us to say that it was a terrorist attack. but we'll see the circumstances of that person. it's the french working closely with the legal and police authorities of germany. made many requests, just before i came to see you, the head of the asr was trying to get data. if i had it, i'd give it to you. what about the germany liaison officers? well there are significant contacts with our german counterparts. that's all i can say. as usual, well normally someone committing suicide does it on their own. that's why i don't talk about suicide. when you're responsible for 150 people behind you, i don't call that a suicide. that's why i didn't use the word. but, indeed one might ask one's self quite a question. i understand. or co-pilot with the air traffic controllers. no contact. there were many calls from the marseilles traffic controllers. but there was no answer whatsoever, no answer to their many calls. changing the transponder code, no answer. the loss of altitude, no response. i have the age of the co-pilot, i didn't have it before, he was 28. 28. his first name andres loubitz, 28. lubitz sorry if i got it wrong earlier. lubitz. in your view did the b.a. have this information? i don't know. i only got this late last night, and also in the middle of the night. so this i was made gradually aware of this. and it's only this morning i got the last item of information to be specific. so it takes time. so i'm not criticizing anyone. but i regret sincerely and forcefully the fact that i, as head of the investigation didn't get such information in realtime. that's why i said somewhat late i would like to get this in realtime because i want to save time on the investigation. it's just a regret. the rest it doesn't matter, it's your problem more than mine. i haven't personally heard the sound recording. but i have the minutes, minute by minute. it was translated, of course. no. i didn't do this. i'm repeating myself. i've only become aware of this. i understand your impatience. wishing to progress. but i have legal and procedural rules to follow. and at the moment i think that in 48 hours, we've done pretty well. will they be questioned by the french? one day, of course. but i imagine before they'll be questioned by the german authorities. we'll see when i finish with you. can you say a bit more about the families' questions? how did you feel? >> well the families were in shock because they just heard what happened. they found it difficult to believe. i tried to give them answers, it took at least an hour hour and a quarter. i tried to answer as best i could. some questions were too technical having to do with international civil aviation rules which i couldn't answer. but for the rest i answered them as i'm answering you. well was there a question in terms of the legal aspect with respect to the airline? there was one question but it's a bit early. there's apparently an individual mistake or action that is the company legally responsible? i don't know, that can be dealt with later. it seems that the questions are wrapping up. we're going to continue to monitor this press conference. if there's any more relevant information going on or dialogue we'll get back to it. however, here is your headline. it is no longer speculation according to investigators that's a french prosecutor leading the investigation into what happened with flight 9525. it is believed by investigators that the captain was locked out of the cockpit by the co-pilot and that the co-pilot deliberately caused this airplane to crash. it is not being called suicide. it is not being called terrorism. but it's also not being called an accident or something that was medically involved or induced. why? because the prosecutor says the man was heard breathing, the co-pilot the entire time but was nonresponsive and he had to do something to lock the door, to keep the captain out. so we now have a lot of information to work with here. what were the headlines and the big ticket items for both of you. i'll start with you, david. >> the fact he not only had to do the locking mechanism consciously and aware, he had to dial in and change his rate of descent. that's two different movements, yet he's unresponsive to the other activities? that's clue key for me. >> richard? >> what we heard is the key to what this has been about. he locked the door once the captain had left. if you listen to what the prosecutor said he locked the door once the captain had left. he then activated the dissent, activated it in a way that would require several movements. the prosecutor said it took several clicks of the button to activate and he then said and did nothing. not a word no response silence. but he's breathing. nothing to say -- >> and that's so shocking. if there's any room to think there might have been an emergency or something unplanned unplanned but you'd hear him not say a word. hear him not say a word but he's heard breathing normally. that's the other questions asked, david. perhaps, was he having a heart attack or some sort of problem, but heard having steady, normal breath. >> which is strange, too. look at what he's doing. he's endangering the lives of 150 people. how can you just sit there and calmly breathe and not -- >> a little bit of a gray area on that. you know give the prosecutor his due, he's putting out a lot of information. but the idea of him saying what the breathing means about the person -- >> what he said what he said was the breathing did not sound like he was having a medical emergency. it wasn't labored. there was no other -- >> didn't sound like a stroke he said. >> no extra noises. >> sanjay was talking about that last night. >> but also very interesting. and it is absolutely grisly to talk about, but the fact that it wasn't until the very end that they heard screams. the very very end. >> who screams? >> the passengers. >> the passengers. >> did he say passengers? >> he sort of did. what he said was, people have asked if the passengers onboard knew what was happening. and all i can tell you is if they did, it wasn't until the very end. because only in the last few moments of this flight do you hear screams. >> and i'll tell you what that also tells me is that there must have been horrific because they weren't screams -- you're talking about the cockpit voice recorders and the microphones picking up screams in the cabin. behind the locked -- >> if that's what he meant. >> behind the locked door. >> by context, i think you're right. i think that is what he meant. and what would've prompted that just in the experience of flying flying you wouldn't have known you were in imminent danger until you get below the peaks which is about where they would have been. >> we were discussing early on. the guy was banging on the door. >> right. so my thought was -- >> the door's right there. >> we were told it happened. so you look at the debris field. and the debris field is -- the plane was pulverized. so it happened instantaneously, and we believe there was no suffering. yet, if a pilot is banging on the door of a cockpit, that is going to grab your attention, especially in an only two-hour flight one in the middle of the day. this is not an overnight. not a red eye. >> right. >> but i'm guessing what we're talking about when the prosecutor talks about screaming, we're talking about ferocious large screaming by a lot of number of people that would've managed to penetrate through and be picked up on the cockpit -- >> that's a good point, actually. to get through that security. >> you're right. you're talking about, you know dozens of people that may have been at that point in extreme -- >> all right. for these victims' families people can figure that part out on their own. there's a lot of unknowns worth pursuing here. we'll leave the screams and the processing. you can get that for yourself. >> here was another astonishing portion of this press conference. he said they could hear the audio from the beginning of the flight. when the co-pilot and pilot are speaking to each other. and it's just the usual sort of mundane exchanges of what they're going to do. however, there was something notable. when the pilot begins talking about the checklist they have to go through for what will happen when landing, the co-pilot he said is less engaged and is giving shorter answers. and it was notable to the prosecutor that something had shifted. >> is that protocol? short answers? if you're going through a checklist. >> the prosecutor's implying of course that since the first officer knew the plane wasn't going to get to its destination, why bother giving any answers? >> it was something decided. >> i don't read a lot into that. i spent thousands of hours observing pilots doing their job. that's typical. that checklist is for something you will go over again on your descent checklist. it's not necessarily odd that happened. i think he's stretching that. >> one point of distinction, though between, let's say us and this prosecutor. sometimes you'll say, you're speculating, getting ahead of the proof. that's for you to decide. that's what investigators do. so for -- to hear this prosecutor from france saying this is what i think the breathing meant, this is what i think about this. it is speculative because that's how they move investigations forward. now, this co-pilot the prosecutor kept saying hey, i just got this information late last night. they know the name of the co-pilot. he's a german german national working for a german company, he said i don't know i'll get back to you. again, he said i just learned this information. he said he was 28 years old. said he had 600 hours and that became important to david. >> it did. >> the rules in europe and this airline, not what we're used to here in terms of how many people have to be in a cockpit and who is allowed to be a co-pilot. >> following colgon air in 2010 the rules were changed. just in july of 2013 as of that point, you have to have an air transport pilot rating. before that, you just had to have a commercial rating. so in the united states now, i'm not saying that this has anything to do with the accident because apparently experience isn't what's being in question here. but, however, it was important to note that there's no international standard for this. points out that each country have their own standards within a very limited standard. but those standards are not consistent across the united states. that's what i think the latened causes of these things are. where are the rules? >> it's interesting, too, and the prosecutor mentioned the fact that you know the french are investigating, but they're also participating with the german authorities and will be up to the german authorities to give more context into who this individual a german national 28 years old, you mentioned who worked for a german company and lived in germany. but is it unprecedented they would wait 48 hours to release this information? we remember in all of the other airline disasters we've covered together quickly identified the pilots and there was a lot of focus on them. >> they've done this because the cat's out of the bag. and the nature of what has happened. i mean this is this is so extraordinary. a 28-year-old co-pilot inexperienced, but seemingly a member of a flying club in germany where they have glowing reports of him who has been -- who i'm just getting some information now has been recognized who is -- the faa recognized him, with inclusion in the certificate data. >> so he has his commercial license. doesn't have his air transport pilot license and that's a different -- >> and what on earth would lead this young co-pilot first officer, to commit this heinous act. that we have got absolutely -- >> investigator says i'm not using the word suicide. >> right. >> but his reasoning for that was a little unusual. he didn't say it because -- because he didn't just kill himself. but we have murder/suicides all the time. he also wouldn't use the word terrorism. he says i have no information to point at that. >> right. but he also said as of yet. did you notice that? >> yeah. he just got the information. >> you're saying it's a deliberate attempt to destroy the aircraft? >> and he says forgive me reading -- he says when you're responsible for 150 people behind you, you don't call it suicide. >> can we get back to the cockpit and it being locked? and if you can ever override that? because he addressed it a little bit. so the co-pilot was inside and the door was locked. but there is that key pad. why couldn't the pilot override the lock? >> because once the pilot inside pushes it to the locked position -- >> pushes the lever. >> disables the ability to use that pad for five minutes. it's an important period of time. >> it is because it was an eight-minute long descent. >> nobody's going to be standing outside thinking you know oh it's locked i've only got to wait five minutes before i can get in. and even if you do the mechanism of telling you the five minutes is up is a little light that goes out. so what happens is taking what we heard from the prosecutor. this is not speculation, this is taking what we heard from the prosecutor. the captain leaves the flight deck. the co-pilot locks the door with the pedestal button. the captain, we believe, there is now no way that anybody can re-enter that cockpit for a minimum of -- maximum of five minutes. during that period. >> i want to point out before we go into this we get a lot of heat because are we divulging secrets. secrets come out. they do. so what's important to recognize here is these safety systems are fail safe safety systems and procedures. so when we talk about these things we're not divulging secrets. >> there are things kept secret, correct? >> not necessarily. the design is to ensure it cannot physically happen. >> the key thing missing in this entire saga is why a second person wasn't required to go into the cockpit when the captain left. >> that is the protocol. >> in the u.s. and it is not. and i've talked to european pilots this morning. and they make it quite clear that in their airline, it is not the protocol for a second -- to the usual protocol. oxygen to the headphones to be on radio and all that sort of stuff. but it is not the protocol to go a second person. >> well how would a flight attendant being in the cockpit have helped anyway? >> well, arguably she could've opened the door. she could've opened the door first of all. >> in there with that person. less likely -- every single suicide attempt. >> thanks for that. >> plenty of women would've done plenty of things to stop it -- >> but the idea is that they would have potentially interrupted a plot -- >> a, he may not have done it b, the flight attendant could've opened the door or stopped. you're right, the person in the cockpit wouldn't have necessarily known he was about to start a descent. >> i think there's a transcending point here and that is that all of these countries are different. why? if i jump in an airplane here why am i less safe going to europe than i am there? because these procedures aren't there. or maybe they have procedures that we don't have in the united states as well. so i'm not faulting them. i'm saying that is a systemic problem. this is something that there is no national international authority to set regulations like the faa does and the european associations do. there is no that. what we do is come up with this safety management system that's a set of chains. each country can say i want this link this link this link. >> it's not uniform. >> that's part of the frustration. the other part is we'll keep discussing throughout the morning. this system is designed to keep people out of the cockpit. it's not designed to keep someone from staying in the cockpit. so you know this was a little bit of being frustrated by your own efforts. there's a lot of information here. it's a good time for a reset here on "new day." we certainly have breaking news. it is no longer about speculation here. we just heard from a french prosecutor that yes, the captain of the plane was locked out of the cockpit on flight 9525. it was done by the co-pilot. it was intentional. he intentionally locked the door. i'm saying he because it was a he. 28-year-old andreas lubitz. what was his religion? not known. may not be pc but yes, we're looking into it. we don't know yet. the prosecutor said from france this is where we're getting this official information from the investigation said they just learned late last night about this. and a couple of other headlines, and then we'll get to the ground on it. so there was not just an intentional locking out by the co-pilot there was a deliberate act to begin the descent of the plane at an increased rate. that is coming from the investigation. they say this is intentional. is it terrorism? is it a suicide mission. the prosecutors said not ready to go there yet. in this investigation. we have somebody on the ground in france monitoring the press conference. what are the other take aways? >> that's right. the prosecutor in marseilles saying it was a, quote, deliberate attempt to destroy the aircraft by the co-pilot. and said there were two main reasons for the conclusion that investigators had drawn, and the first being that 28-year-old lubitz locking the captain out of the cockpit. and the loss of altitude and knowing he said that there was no other airport that could receive an airbus a-320. and he also said rather tragically that he had to give this information today to the families. some 400 people according to local media reports. families and friends arrived in marseilles. they were charters brought in on chartered flights from barcelona. they had an hour and a half briefing with the prosecutor and delivered this news and answered their questions. i can only imagine how horrifying and shocking this must have been for them. >> okay. thanks so much for that. we want to go to cnn's carl penhaul. he was in that astonishing press conference for the prosecutor announced all the new findings in marseilles for us. carl tell us what the feeling was inside that press conference. >> reporter: good morning. an absolute bombshell. a very frank and very open and very damning press conference that has left a lot of the journalists packed into this small press room open mouthed. they are absolutely staggered by what they have heard from france's prosecutor. and that is namely that the prosecutor believes based on listening to the cockpit voice recorder that it was the co-pilot who took action and deliberately crashed the plane into the mountainside. he said the prosecutor described the sequence of events and said for the first 20 minutes of the flight, the pilot and co-pilot sat together in the cockpit. their conversation was cordial and professional. he said the mood changed a little when the pilot started to brief the co-pilot on arrival. at that point, the prosecutor said that the co-pilot fell a little silent and his responses were very briefed to the pilot. shortly after that the pilot left the cockpit. we don't know for what reason. and at that point, as he leaves the cockpit, the door behind him, the armored door of the cockpit locks automatically. and following that the co-pilot took control, took manual control of the aircraft and pushed the aircraft into a steep descent, crashing it eight minutes later into the side of the mountainside after the pilot's response. well he tried to return to the cockpit and on the cockpit voice recorder the prosecutor said you can hear him trying to gain access via the video intercom system. when there's no response from the, quote, co-pilot the pilot begins to knock on the door and begins to hammer on the door. and instants before the moment of the crash, the pilot tries to kick in the cockpit door but to no avail. at that point, as well the prosecutor says you can hear passengers beginning to scream. it was only in the last moment that they knew they were going to crash. back to you. >> oh carl it is bone chilling to hear these details that were just revealed at this press conference. we want to bring in our cnn aviation analysts. >> just listening to carl penhaul there and listening to the description and the prosecutor said. we don't know if the captain, the pilot outside tried to use the override procedure. it wouldn't have worked if the door was locked. >> for five minutes. >> for five minutes. but we don't know. >> the prosecutor didn't talk about that. >> he didn't. he didn't. he just said, and as carl reported, the pilot -- the co-pilot and the first officer locked the door. that could mean he closed the door pushed it. but we don't know whether a procedure was started. >> the prosecutor said so many fascinating things. one of them he does not believe that the co-pilot inside was somehow incapacitated. and the reason they can hear audible breathing, which he says doesn't change. it wasn't the breathing, as he said as someone having a heart attack. >> and he did deliberate things. locked the doors and started to control the plane. >> let's examine that a little bit. locking the door there's another possibility, which richard brought up. which is that maybe he didn't maybe the pilot didn't use the override procedure properly and thereby couldn't get through the door. the co-pilot then would react in a certain way. because the procedure wasn't followed, the normal the process would be to lock the door. so that's the procedure. that's the question. >> why is he not saying anything? i'm just saying. those two details. the other possibility about the descent. even though he's assuming you had this -- the descent was dialed in. i'm not certain about that because the descent is not exact. there are changes. if he had dialed it in it would be exactly. >> what's the other possibility? >> in the airbus if you command the descent, so you put the control forward to the point where you start that descent, and then simply let go. the aircraft will continue that descent. it doesn't come back up and go normally. it continues on that descent until a counteracting control. >> somebody could've leaned on it. >> pushed on it. >> i think what we have here is the prosecutor who has -- choosing my words carefully. the prosecutor has in the last 48 hours had to learn an enormous amount about the min minutia minutia. >> used a fancy phrase to describe what he doesn't know. he said a prioria at one point, from what is before. i'm telling you what i know from what happened not from what he's addvanced in the investigations. >> he's drawing conclusions, which is dangerous. >> the upshot it's deliberate. >> again and again and again. he uses the word deliberate. >> how could he be wrong? let's look at that. >> we're speculating, of course we need to do this. >> we should test it. >> i'm willing to speculate. >> the only other option i'm suggesting let's take this assumption and i'm not saying this is what i think happened. if the pilot was incapacitated and the co-pilot tries to get in the door was either pushed into the lock position because he wasn't following the proper procedure by the co-pilot or didn't know what the procedure was to try to get in. >> it was the pilot outside. >> let's say this co-pilot was incapacitated. the pilot leaves tries to get back in can't get back in. co-pilot is sitting up in the front. he passes out or he leans forward. we've had two cases, or one case, for sure of an epileptic seizure that wasn't recognized at that in which the co-pilot said hey, they're coming to get us and was freaking out about things. if something like that happened or narcolepsy would've passed out. the control is right here - leaning forward would've input the descent. now you've initiated that descent. if your hand falls off of it it will continue that descent, which is -- he indicative of is happening. not necessarily the auto-pilot. >> from what you see on the graph, the information we got about the rate of descent, does it look like it could have been a single move? >> remember the move once you've made it it holds. it's not like a car wheel where when you turn it and as you turn it -- >> right, but haven't you been saying there have been variations. >> the variations -- >> and who locked the door? >> it locks automatically. >> if the pilot who exited wasn't -- we talked to two pilots not familiar with this process currently flying right now. >> that's only if the co-pilot locked the door. >> here's the procedure. you push the pound button, we're not divulgeing secrets there. there's an alarm that goes off for 30 seconds. during that 30 seconds, if there's no response, the procedure is to call the cockpit. but after that 30 seconds if there's no response, the door automatically opens. >> we're being precise in the phrase locking the door. >> exactly. >> what we mean here there's two distinct points. first of all, there's the cockpit door being closed. in that situation, it's -- for want of a better phrase it's normal. you can't get in unless it's open. >> there's no door handle. >> right. >> so if the door's closed, the normal phase. the pilot inside that can't lock it by flicking the switch. once you flick the switch you cannot use the override procedures on the outside. >> i get it. so you're saying -- you're saying what allison was suggesting early this morning, which is if that door closed -- >> closed. >> it's locked and you need to use. >> it's closed. >> the key pad to get in if the person inside doesn't let you in. >> correct. >> if he were incapacitated, then he wouldn't be able to let you in, you'd have to know the code and procedure. >> got it. >> that assumes this was some type of medical situation. >> and the only reason we bring that up he's so definite. >> right. >> there are chances it was not intentional. >> if the guy got really sick really fast, though. if he -- if the captain leaves the door closes. if the first officer inside pushes the button to lock it, it's no longer closed, it's lock ed -- >> trying to figure out an explanation, when you look at the profile. none of it makes sense. >> none of it. >> he's german born works for a german company, lives in german. his name is andreas lubitz. he was 28 years old. he had 100 hours flight on that -- >> very little. >> but he was on that airbus. >> 630 hours is very inexperienced. >> trying to rationalize the suicidal behavior is futile. columbine shooting all of these other tragedies that have happened were from normal people normal kids who seem to have a normal life and for the most part, there's a few that -- so it's hard for me to say well he was normal up until this point. well all of these psychotic breaks are normal up to a point. >> we don't know enough about him. but nothing at first blush that would explain what happened at 38,000 feet. >> to give that prosecutor his due, he is saying he believes in transparency. he is saying i haven't learned this until a few hours ago. he's got a whole team of investigators in on this. and he hasn't had a lot of time to learn the minutia of flight. but he's had a lifetime to learn how to be an investigator. i'm sure they're digging deeply and mightily into this guy's life. and the suggestion of it having been an medical emergency. >> it's moving away. >> is not as easy a road followed as it was -- >> yeah. there are other possibilities. so don't rule them out. >> sure. you were right to do it. >> what the prosecutor says and, again, forgive me reading straight off the -- but this is where the information is coming from. co-pilot took advantage of the captain leaving the cockpit. now, that is the clarity of the situation. that leads us to assume this was a deliberate attempt, not a medical emergency to crash the aircraft. we'll have to it way, obviously, now for further details, but the prosecutor. and i don't call it suicide when you have 150 people sitting behind you. the prosecutor has clearly nailed his colors to the mast. >> we want to go now to carl penhaul. he was in this remarkable press conference where all of this was revealed. and has more information for us now. carl what have you learned? >> yeah absolutely. just bouncing off a couple of points that richard was making. and possibly if richard says the prosecutor is getting up to speed with a lot of technicalities of the plane. he by his own admission also has not listened to the cockpit voice recorder but he has seen a full transcription and translations from the german he said. but in the words of the prosecutor i don't know if this clarifies it for the experts anymore. but at one point in the press conference he said the co-pilot took manual control of the levers. and he said the co-pilot dialed in a descent going from 38,000 feet to approximately 6,000 feet. and then in a question and answer session of the press conference, the prosecutor said or described the door as locking automatically. didn't specify whether the co-pilot had pushed a button or whether some other mechanism was used. but he did use the expression the door the cockpit door had locked automatically. now, in terms of the investigations against the co-pilot the prosecutor said that the french or the investigations against the co-pilot in questioning his family the prosecutor did say that the co-pilot's family had arrived in marseilles this morning. but to his knowledge, the family had now departed. he said that undoubtedly the german authorities would question the families. he said french shorts could request permission to investigate and question the co-pilot family back to you guys. >> yes, richard? >> he said thank you caller that was useful. i heard him say the door was locked automatically. i didn't understand what he meant likeby that. >> here's the point, people are watching us and saying well locked is locked. not when it comes to airplanes. when we hair well the door was locked that doesn't mean something as simple as it sounds right? >> the door is also shut and you just can't get in might, as well be locked. we also have with us justin green, he is a commercial pilot himself and also an aviation attorney. gentlemen, we figured we'd just sort of talk about this actual compounding to any of us outside in the passenger cabin. is this standard on all airplanes? the idea of a key pad and a lock inside the -- >> after 9/11 this was attacked from the manufacturer's point of view, not just the airlines. have control over the entire fleet, whether it's worldwide or not doesn't matter if you're in russia brazil or italy. >> not just an individual airline. >> okay. outside, you'd have the key pad. we've been talking about this a great deal. and inside. this or either one of you. between the pilot and co-pilot, right in that console? >> right. >> here is what would happen. let's say the door is in a normal position. if the pilot then decides to lock it outside, that overrides the ability to put in that secret code correct? >> that's right. >> for five minutes. >> it's actually like a padlock you put on your door. >> okay. >> you can open your door with a key. if someone inside actually secures the door from inside, the person can't get in. >> quick point of order, it's locked from the outside, can the person inside say no it's okay to come in now. >> the pilot inside can always unlock it and let the pilot -- >> and push the lock. >> this is not an easy thing to bump you have to lift it and move it. >> those are up around the top of that toggle. >> it has to be. between those two bars and pulling it down and it's a momentary switch. >> it's not going to be externally. so then next so the five minutes goes by. then you have 30 seconds to put in your secret code. who has that code? >> the pilot and the air crew. so the pilot and the co-pilot? >> some airlines other airlines the procedure, we said the equipment is the same. >> but the procedures -- >> might vary. >> but often times, at least one flight attendant would have the number? >> 30 seconds, do they change this regularly? the code? is it per flight? >> we're not going to talk about that. >> fair enough. that's a point we wanted to make. we don't want to reveal everything. when this code is put in if it's done correctly, there's a buzzer inside the cockpit, correct? >> there is. >> and it buzzes justin. >> that's correct. >> is there a light that goes off, as well? >> no the buzzer will tell the pilot someone wants to come in. and the pilot will be able to see a screen who's outside the cockpit. >> in a way -- >> not in this one. >> in a way, it's like an identifier a doorbell. hey, i'm outside, i want in. >> loud and long doorbell. >> to that point. >> it's going, the most annoying sound in the world. >> okay. to that point, with the cockpit voice recorder have picked it up? >> absolutely. >> and on lest i the system isn't that alien, it's just coming into an apartment building. if you have a key, you can get in if you have the code you can get in here but the person that can always lock you out. >> light goes off, buzzer goes off, you can't ignore it apparently you k the pilot has a choice lock or unlock, lock which speaks to intent again. does that repeat the process of five minutes, put your code in? >> yes. >> add that together you've got the five-minute wait. you can put the code back in that's 30 seconds. restarts at 5:30. >> but there's not a stopwatch that's going down in front. you have to keep track of the five minutes. >> the light will go off. >> that's the only indication. >> does any of this data now that we know how this all works, given the information that you've had, does it change sort of justin we know what you're feeling. does this change how you're feeling about what happened here? >> the system is designed to protect everything. if the pilot inside the cockpit has a medical emergency, five minutes later, outside pilot can get in. >> right. >> the only thing it doesn't protect against is when the criminal is in the cockpit. when the person in the cockpit is the person who is trying to take down the airplane that person can always switch that to lock. five minutes later, when this red light goes off and they can use the key pad again, hits block again and the person -- >> but again not looking as though it was a medical emergency because there was a point of not unlocking again. so then once the alarm code has gone off or the code is put in the alarm goes off inside the cockpit, the pilot says yeah come on in that door opens for five seconds. that's really quickly. opened and unlocked for five seconds giving whoever's outside, the pilot or flight attendant the opportunity to go in. >> if you back up to why this is happening. it's because they've already attempted procedurely three different times to get ahold of someone in the cockpit and it was unresponsive. in this case they didn't have that much time. they would have taken 15 or 20 minutes to check three times. but in this case they had ten minutes, 9.4 minutes or something like that. in that period of time you can imagine the draunlmatics of trying to get into the cockpit. there's another possibility. if the pilot trying to get back in did not follow procedure, then the procedure for the remaining pilot in the cockpit would be to push lock. >> to push lock. >> we're making an assumption that the one inside wasn't following procedure. but let's pretend. >> right. >> the pilot outside. >> actually the one into the cockpit would have been following procedure. if the one outside forgot how to get in or didn't screw it up wrong. and then the pilot would say, hey, this may be something else. he's going to lock it because that's what you do. >> that doesn't explain the time difference and the descent. so -- >> and the nonresponsiveness. >> isn't there also a spy hole in the door? could you not get up? >> no you're alone in the cockpit. >> one quick point and we'll wrap this up. is any of this data transmitted to on the aircraft back to air traffic control on the data recorder at all? >> probably not in this airplane. and i think what's important to note before you close is that this scenario a pilot actually taking down an airplane is something that people have considered. and procedures have been put in place. and the big question i think, richard said it before why wasn't the flight attendant in the cockpit with the pilot? >> apparently not a procedure they followed there. justin, thanks so much. we're going to keep you both around. stay with us. back over to you. there's so much to discuss beyond the mechanics of what went on in the cockpit. the prosecutor had a fascinating press conference earlier and a lot came out of it. the prosecutor chris, said something interesting, which to his ears there's nothing to suggest this was a terror attack. and the reason he's concluded that because lubitz the co-pilot in the cockpit, was not on any terror list. >> he said it was very important to act on the information he had. that said he is making some conclusions at this point. he didn't say it was terrorist. he didn't say it was suicide. that was because he believes it isn't a suicide when you kill other people. that was like a point of his personal preference for words. >> but the terror thing is about important point because everyone worries about that. and at the moment he's saying there's no -- >> but right now the french prosecutor in his opinion has confirmed that this was ha deliberate action by the co-pilot to lock the captain out of the cockpit. let's bring in david and richard here. >> i think what you've just said chris, sums it up. we can sit around this table for ages and pass the difference of doors open were locks released was whatever, but the core point is what you've just said. we leave this morning with the prosecutor having told us that the co-pilot initiated the descent, he activated the descent, at the same time as having ensured the door was locked. >> another reason that's so important is because there had been speculation that the pilots had become incapacitated. we were working on that theory for the past 24 years, and the rural route does not believe that. and the reason why because the audio on the voice recorder picks up the co-pilot who is still in the cockpit breathing normally. >> and the other one, the captain, desperately trying to get back in. >> right. >> i'm curious to know how he knows that -- and to use his words, that they dialed -- he dialed in the descent. we haven't had the data recorder. i can only assume it's from the noise of the click. >> i'm not sure that you know -- i'm not sure it's a click. >> he's pushing the -- >> that's right. just because someone's breathing normally doesn't mean they didn't -- they're not unconscious. >> i'd have a hard time breathing normally when there's somebody trying to tear down the door. >> unless you're unconscious. >> you're right. that's a good point. >> we want to bring in tom fuentes joining our panel, as well. we're listening to what has been told to the prosecutors told the media. but also interesting, tom, that he has told the families and what's an interesting point there, the families of the pilot and co-pilot are being kept separate from the families of the victims and an important thing to see happen right now. >> sure. for their own safety mikaela. they have somebody to blame specifically. it's not, you know an act of god or a mechanical thing that couldn't have been foreseen. if this was deliberately done we're talking mass murder. on the point of calm and calmly breathing the person in the cockpit was. we've often seen in a case. once a person decides to end it all, however they decide to do it there's often times a serenity and a peacefulness that comes over them that they're totally relaxed, totally calm and two about their business of engineering the death. >> that is a shocking thing to consider. >> so wait, let's fit that in, tom. >> the prosecutor is speaking with a lot of confidence here. you know investigations on this level. he may not know about flying but he knows how to investigate crimes. this guy is a long time veteran. and he seems pretty sure this was an intentional action. the breathing being calm creates questions, though, for us, right? because well what if he's breathing and nonresponsive because he's incapacitated? and what if the captain didn't know how to get back in? then could it still have been somewhat of an accident? but you're saying you've seen cases where someone when they're about to do something this horrible isn't intuitively the way we would think in a panic. is that right? >> that's absolutely true. and also in the case of where it's mental illness and not an act of terrorism, you can see that also. that there's just sometimes people are tormented and have a severe mental problem or something. now, you wouldn't expect that in this case because you would think that someone with that level of responsibility would have demonstrated instability to coworkers and to family members, other people and they wouldn't get to the position of being in the cockpit of a plane like this. but you never know. some people have demons that are haunting them that other people don't see around them until it's too late. >> all right, tom, thank you very much. there's a lot of information coming in right now. it's a good time for us here on "new day" on cnn to reset and tell you what we know. thanks for staying with us with this special extended edition of "new day." we have breaking developments in the flight 9525. here's what we know. french prosecutors say the co-pilot named andreas lubitz 28 years old, deliberately activated the descent of the plane before it slammed into the french alps. this came after the captain, the main pilot was locked out of the cockpit by the co-pilot in the minutes before the impact. >> now, the cockpit voice recorder reveals devastating details suggesting that passengers did know that something terrible was going wrong. but they knew it only briefly. there was screaming captured in the moments right before the impact. the prosecutor saying he believes the crash was deliberate but not classifying this as a terrorist attack. nic robertson live at the staging area in the french alps. what do we know, nic? >> well what the prosecutor has told us all now has also told the families of the victims. and they'll be arriving here which is the closest location they're going to be taken to today in the next couple of hours. closest location for crash site. what the prosecutor has said he considers andreas lubitz to have acted intentionally to put the plane into descent. put it to descend at 1,000 meters, that's 3,000 feet a minute. he intentionally continued to keep the door of the cockpit closed and shut and locked stopping the pilot getting in. and he tells us also some very alarming. and these will be the difficult details that the

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