Pulaski

Or plumb in toilet in the back of the cockpit, and have their meals, and a microwave, inside the cockpit too - in other words the pilots are sequestered for the entire flight.
Where would they keep it? ..... Under the doormat, or a nearby flowerpot?

MsElui

the only good thing about the slow descent - is that they believe the passengers were unaware for that whole 8 minutes until very close to the end. Before people thought they had gone through 8 minutes of sheer terror which was a total nightmare for the families etc.

Pulaski

So the passengers wouldn't be alarmed by one of the pilots hammering on the outside of the cockpit door loudly enough to be heard on the cockpit voice recorder? It sounds like a nice sentiment, to make the families of the victims feel better, but I don't believe that scenario is realistic.

Nutek

I do feel for that pilot. Desperate wouldn't begin to cover it.

MsElui

i think that is what alerted them in the end. the descent started very close to the time the pilot left and was gradual. the pilot needed some time to do whatever he went to do and then maybe chat to the stewards etc. then knock quietly and wait, then have another go because they may not have heard the first time, and wait. and then start to get louder. Until the point the pilot 'realized' the non response of the copilot and the gradual descent were linked he may have been very calm and not wound up the passengers. From the description the screaming and the loud banging were very close to the actual end point - and of course the passengers further away would have taken longer to start to notice and therefore less stress too.

in any case any delay would be preferable to a long dive with a clear expectation of trouble the whole way.

markonline1

You could look at it that way (although 4000 ft/min isn't gradual). Or you could look at it another way in that if the plane had been put into a dive, everyone would pretty soon pass out from the G (unless of course anyone was unlucky enough to have decided to travel that day in their G suit). Pulaski is probably right. The 320 is only a little plane, it wouldn't have taken long for people to realize their was a problem up front. Just because people didn't start screaming until the end doesn't mean people weren't scared for a lot longer.

scrubbedexpat099

Friend of mine flys these, for reasons I can not remember he was telling me about the door system, I was surprised they did not have a camera instead there is a peephole in the door for the pilot to look through, normally of course they tap in the number and it opens after a delay unless it is blocked.

sir_eccles

Underneath the toploader.

Jerseygirl

I would have if he'd just taken his own life...but to take all those people with him is unspeakable.

It was reported this morning that screams from the passengers can also be heard on the flight recorder. The screams would have soon reached all the way to the passengers sitting in the back of the plane. Even if that was in the last minute or so...it must have felt like a lifetime.

A few years ago my daughter and SIL were flying into Toronto from Newark...similar thing happened. One of the pilots got locked out of the cockpit and was banging and shouting on the door. Understandable she said she was terrified.

Yorkieabroad

I thought Nutek was talking about the pilot that was locked out..?

Pulaski

I thought so too.

Michael

+1

I'm sure that is what he meant since as the pilot, he is responsible for the safety of all the passengers and was probably down on himself for allowing that to happen or not realizing that would happen.

Yorkieabroad

And on a purely personal level, he was probably the first (other than the copilot), to realize that if he didn't get into the cockpit, he was going to die...

Jerseygirl

I thought it odd Mr N would feel sorry for the murdering b******.

Apologies Mr N.

Nutek

I was.