It’s also entirely possible that there was a sensor malfunction that caused the flight computer to put the aircraft into a controlled descent. They had reached their cruising altitude and the autopilot was most likely engaged. Without the flight data recorder it is impossible to know for sure, though. Jumping to the conclusion that this was an intentional act to down the aircraft seems very premature, given what is known. Then again, France has a vested interest in this being anything but another Airbus sensor failure related crash. At least two previous Airbus crashes have been attributed to sensors reporting false data to the fligth computer. One was a pitot tube that froze up and gave false airspeed information. The other was an angle of attack indicator which sent bogus data to the flight computer because it had been damaged by water that got in the sensor when the aircraft was washed. It later froze when the aircraft reached an altitude where the ambient temerpature was below freezing. In both incidences the flight computer lowered the nose. A low time pilot may very well have become disoriented and panicked when he realized he didn’t have control of the aircraft, even with the autopilot turned off. I know several pilots typed in the Airbus A320 and none of them like it because of the tendency of the flight computer to “adjust” the flight parameters, even with the autopilot off.
They have audio recording of the other pilot calmly knocking on the door to get back in, then knocking less calmly, then trying to break the door down, while the other pilot was conscious and moving in the cockpit.
It wasn't mechanical anything.
Although I've surely never studied aeronautics it does seem possible that mechanical failure was the cause.And yes,it could be argued that the French might be tempted to shift blame away from the aircraft.But OTOH,there either *is*,or *is not* evidence on the flight recorder of one of the pilots having,somehow,been locked out of the cockpit.If true that fact,along with the crash itself,would argue in favor of a deliberate act by the pilot who remained in the cockpit.
It would be interesting to me if the evidence found was shared with the US or Japan...neither of which would have any real motive to hinder the investigation in order to protect Airbus.
“It’s also entirely possible that there was a sensor malfunction that caused the flight computer to put the aircraft into a controlled descent.”
Give it a rest dude. The flight recorder says it was pilot commanded decent and the audio shows the other guy was pounding on the door. The way that door is designed the guy inside had to deliberately deny entry to the other pilot. Bu default it would not do it. 600 hours of flight is not ‘low time’ and he had several minutes to either figure it out or let the other guy it. There is no possible way your scenario happened.
Sorry, but your hypothesis of malfunction would include aural cockpit warnings...there were NONE.