dude checked out way before the flight even pushed back, so it likely was planned. However, i doubt investigators will recover any evidence of it as i assumed he kept it to himself.
as for the timing, it was roughly 25-30 mins after departure, so at a relatively low stressful stage of flight. Take-off up until cruise and descent till landing are the most stressful stages of flight and requires all of the crew's undivided attention. So the captain was totally fine and legally allowed to leave his position for the bathroom and i'm thinking the first-officer even recommended he do so (hence the sound of the chair moving back). It was at this point that the first-officer locked the door and initiated the descent.
i'm not sure how it is on boeing, but on airbus, the lever is located on the lower section of the panel on the captains side. Three switch lever: unlock, norm and lock. If in the norm position, once a person leaves the cockpit, they will be able to re-enter it using an access code or another method. However, if in "lock", there is no way anyone is getting inside...code, the other method or not.
@Exiled Martian @Blackrogue @Serious @Liu Kang @BonafideDefacto
more so for rogue if your based outta NBO as this took place in africa....there was a more recent accident in 2013 involving a pilot suicide. TM-470.
We can now see the flip side of the same measures implemented to protect us from terrorists post 9-11.
what i see happening in the future:
- Sterile Cockpit Rules being revamped. Completely. Having an extra crew member in the flight deck once another leaves being mandatory and crew being trained on what to do in the event such as this unfortunate one happens
- Live (real time transmission recording) camera's in the cockpit
- Remote flight monitoring and pilot override (sorta like how they operate drones)
the affect? pilots becoming less important, perhaps pay being slashed or even worst, the career being completely replaced (highly unlikely).
in any case, it really will now be about seeking a balance between safety and security. Airlines will be carefully watching how this investigation unfolds and I see major changes in the industry happening after this.
this was on American Airlines btw.
I mean it was bad enough he came out for orange juice but he pour it himself from the jug like we were at a diner and if that wasn't insulting enough he did all of this while having a conversation with the flight attendants with the door wide open.
dude that took advantage of that opportunity. It would've been 
for you breh
Pilots on National Carriers are human too and the same thing could happen.
) and that one pilot was locked out I knew it had to be intentional. I'm convinced the same happened with the still missing Malaysian Airlines plane before it was shot down. Only three ways they tend to generally go down; pilot error, intent from the pilots or pilot to crash it or shot down by the military/government for security reasons. As it was a controlled descent, those people knew they were going to die just before, goddamn
. They're saying he was 100% fit to fly, so unless something comes out later he just said "fukk it" and then decided to crash it
to the victims.
