. 2:00 a.m. in the french alps where recover crews began the grim work of airlifting the remains of 150 people. we have some stunning breaking news that could completely change our view of what happened. reporting in the "new york times," citing a senior military official and forensic evidence the airbus a320 voice recorder that one pilot had left the flight deck prior to the crash

and was unable to get back in. at the time was quoting the official an investigator saying quote the guy outside is knocking lightly on the door and there's no answer. and then he hits the door stronger and no answer. there is never an answer. you can hear he is trying to smash the door down. again the "new york times" reporting, lufthansa is not commenting on it. we haven't been able to verify the times reporting. joining us is david sucy, richard quest and dr. sanjay gupta. there's two main ideas behind this if the "new york times" report cigarette correct, according to what this investigator said based on the flight voice recorder that there's something nefarious the pilot wanting to bring the plane down or some sort of medical emergency. does the medical explanation make sense to you if there was a

medical emergency would there be some sound of that? >> that's what i would wonder. how sensitive the audio recording from inside the cockpit would be. if somebody were to have a medical emergency to suddenly incapacitate -- >> heart attack or brain aneurism. >> typically with these things people might have some period of distress, might even be a short period of time, just even a few seconds possibly, someone suddenly experiences pain from a ruptured aneurysm in the brain, chest pain that's a heart attack. the idea somebody would have some sound as a result of that even yell out or try to make it known seems like something that might happen. the idea that somebody would go from speaking smoothly to shortly thereafter being suddenly incapacitated, just unable to make any noise whatsoever is it possible? yes. it seems a little less likely,

though, to not have some sort of evidence of this, if there's a sensitive enough audio. >> and richard quest, we don't know the details of why this one pilot would have left the cockpit, but it's very possible just something as simple as needing to go the bathroom. >> it's a short flight from barcelona to dusseldorf. they were in the safest part where nothing happens except you northern the systems. if you're going to go the bathroom in an hour and a half, two hour flight that's the time you do it before you get busy before you start having to do your descent in very busy airspace. >> do all airlines have that same protocol. >> it's different. it's indicative what happens in the international world as far as aviation goes. these standards are standards and practices are set by ako.

however as they are implemented in each state they can pick and choose. >> in united states you would not have or at least according if they were following rules you would not have a pilot alone in the cockpit if the other pilot got up to go the bathroom. >> that's a given in the united states. i can tell you i've flown it enough times in europe a variety of airlines you see the captain coming out to go to the toilet or get coffee or whatever and you do not see a flight attendant going in. the reason i mention it is because i remember sitting there thinking i hope the pilot doesn't have a heart attack since he's the only one in the cockpit. >> because our viewers who are just jning us, let's review the kind of the options -- explain the options as you see them, richard? >> the openings are, with tonight's development, with tonight's development you really come down to what caused firstly the pilot to leave the cockpit and secondly him not to be

allowed back in again when he starts banging on the door. and related to that the issue of what starts the descent. because you got -- >> also does the descent begin before the pilot leaves the cockpit. >> very unlikely. >> he's in a descent he wouldn't have taken that time. >> they would talk about why they are starting a descent. you're about to go the bathroom and see the other chance starting 3,000-foot descent you might comment. you would know about it. >> two options really are nefarious explanation, person who was at the controls, we don't know if it was the pilot or co-pilot. >> just turns the auto pilot to command the descent of 3,000 feet a minute or just a side stick forward to set a descent rate of 3,000 feet. >> stop answering radio calls as the co-pilot is banging on the

door to let him back in. doesn't respond. >> on the other hand, i defer to the good doctor here. you have a medical emergency, a major medical emergency. >> just to be clear, what you're saying if someone had a medical emergency could the plane have done what dit if someone was incapacitated? >> what happened was it could be that in this aircraft if you push it forward just a little bit on this control stick and let it go it will go back to the neutral position but the aircraft will continue in the commanded forward. it could have been bumped forward. it continued. however to be able to do that directly forward without nudging it left or right at all is pretty unlikely. >> if someone stormed forward on the control -- that would not have occurred? >> literally just there. you got an arm rest that supports the arm.

>> not something that you have to maintain in the forward position. you put it in the forward important, let it go and it will continue. >> you push it forward and you release it and it starts the actual -- >> the other thing we don't know is did somebody else get into the cockpit when one of the pilots left, the "times" is not giving any detail or the person basing this doesn't have any details whether there was any other sound. there's no indication that somebody else gained access to the cockpit while one of the pilots was out. >> peter was making a very good point earlier when he said when the bea made its statement -- it's the french investigating authority, the french equivalent of the ntsb that will be responsible. they were very careful in what they said. he didn't take any questions about the cockpit voice recorder. all he said is there was one channel, there was a voice that was heard. there were voices on it

therefore they could confirm and it went all the way up to the accident. but he didn't go any further in that respect. >> why not? why wouldn't he if the idea is to be ran the parent and give information. >> because if it is criminal, if this was a criminal act then it's a criminal investigation there by you cannot release any information about that in your investigation. so as an accident investigator in charge, when we find out it's criminal either the fbi, cia somebody takes that over at that point and then we take a second seat. >> the other thing, the flight data recorder itself has not been found. voice recorder has been found. data has not been found. that will certainly fill in a lot of the missing pieces about exactly how the descent was actually entered, how it began, whether it was a number of checklist of things that had to be done, whether it was a stick that was hit. >> you'll hear on the fdr, you'll find out what moments were made. you might even -- i don't know

the parameters, the door might have been locked. you'll find out an entire digital picture of what was happening. >> i want to go to peter or tom foreman who are standing by in washington. tom? >> hi, peter. this is the switch in question. explain what we're looking at right here. >> this is the cockpit door switch that we've been discussing. and here it's got a toggle switch. it has three positions. unlock. normal and lock. in the normal position you can enter the cockpit door. in the locked position, you cannot get through it. it has to be flipped up to unlocked first and then dropped back down to normal. >> i assume this is an indicator light of some sort. >> yes. when it's locked. >> now, in this -- we talk about all the thing that are recorded in the flight data recorder, we talk about these recorders in here. would the position of that

switch be recording, would changes to that switch be recorded. >> that's an interesting question. on the later aircraft i'm sure that the answer is yes. this is an early aircraft that's obviously been retrofitted to meet the new standards after 9/11. after 9/11 there was extensive research done and new protocols developed on how to protect the cockpit, how pilots were to respond to a potential hijacking. i can't say way surance that in an older aircraft like this that these procedures, that these positions would be reflected in the data recorder. i'm not sure. >> do you have any idea what the standard procedure would be on this if one pilot left the cockpit? >> well, i don't know. i think david could probably speak more authoritatively on that. david? >> what do you make of that? >> first i want to point out all the airbus 320 captains out

there is saying it's not an airbus 320. they are installing equipment. it's been moved to accommodate a printer. that's not the standard configuration. i want to point that out first of all. we're fining out right now whether that's a practice or not and how they handle the switch. i don't know. >> what's so important about that to you? >> because if it's supposed to be kept in the normal position, let's say the pilot, one of the pilots exited the cockpit. the door is closed. >> locks automatically. >> locks automatically but in the normal position the pilot can enter the aircraft. >> using a code. >> using a code and another method. if it's in the locked position, intentionally put into that locked position he couldn't exit and there by have to knock on the door and be consistent with that. but that still raises the question was it intentionally

put in locked or procedurally. still doesn't answer the question whether it was intent on the remaining pilot or not. >> certainly doesn't deal with tissue of why wasn't there a second person in the cockpit. even if the procedure normally is to leave it in normal. that's just down right dangerous. >> we have to take a quick break. we'll continue this conversation. a lot more details we need to work through. sergeant bowe bergdahl charged with desertion, possibly facing life in military prison, sharing details for the first time we're hearing in his own words about his own captain activiivity. i'll talk to his attorney in this hour.

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. the cockpit door on germandwings reporting now in "new york times," excuse me 25 that one of the two pilots was locked out. cnn has not independently confirmed the report. lufthansa has not commented on it. tom? >> peter, let me ask you about this. is this the single key way you can lock a cockpit door? >> that's the way the pilots inside can secure the door. >> a manual lock. >> that was discussed. after 9/11 there was a series of working groups about first of all, changing procedures on how pilots respond to a potential hijacking and secondly how do you armor and secure the cockpit from any intrusion. >> you said that even when they started going with this system, there was discussion about should there be an air marshal

who has a secret code. >> they talk about we should give a random member of the flight crew, cabin crew an ability to enter the cockpit. but then they decided that was just from a security standpoint, you couldn't guarantee the outsiders wouldn't learn that. they settled on this procedure in which you have, you know, the door is armored. you won't get through it. you have procedures that the pilots take to fly the airplane in a different way if there's a hijacking attempted. and you have the lock which you cannot penetrate. >> let me ask. if that's the case, when we look at the wreckage we have out here of the plane. if they find portions of the door there, they find portion of the locking mechanism will they be able to tell from that more information about the force used to try to get through the door, anything like that? >> with this kind of destruction, tom, i couldn't speculate. but they could find -- you could

find a portion of the door with the, with the bolt activated. and if it was in the activated position they would say boy that door was locked and it would confirm what is being speculated now in the "new york times". >> it's very much your belief that even if people in a concerted effort try to smash through the door couldn't get it done >> not in ten minutes no,. these doors they've done a very good job in making them impenetrable. >> thank you. obviously the finding of the data recorder will be critical, a lot of questions will be answered. do you know once they fine it how quickly that information would be made public? >> you're talking about the flight data recorder? >> yes. >> the flight data recorder is more available than the voice recorder because there's more clues, more interpersonal. flight data recorder does come

out and gives us the information as far as the airflow, the air speed and altitude. >> also what movements the pilot actually made with the equipment. >> knowing the bea and how -- >> the french agency. >> the french ntsb and how they did the reporting for air france 447, what we would expect is a series of press conferences where they might release this but also any report. in 447 they did a full throttle interim report which went into a lot of this detail. >> looking at the medical angle perhaps there was a medical emergency. we looked at more nefarious possibility of mass murder by the pilot, bringing the plane down intentionally locking the door. but if there was a medical emergency and before you mentioned it would be brain or heart in terms of immediate medical emergency that might incapacitate somebody would

there be much warning of something like that if one is going to be having a heart attack in five minutes, ten minutes, you know, are you sweating profusely? are there warning signs? >> i think that would be the more likely scenario. is it possible someone could go from feeling absolutely fine, having a normal conversation, absolutely no signs of distress to suddenly being incapacitated, unable to speak, possible. not many details here. maybe more details will be coming. maybe some of these details are not knowable ever. i want to know was there some past medical history as a starting clue. were there any signs ever distress? did their breathing change? did their voice, have any kind of sound of pain, for example, if someone has a ruptured aneurysm. same sort of thing can happen with chest pain. doesn't have to. obviously we're speculating but if you had to play the odds you

would think there's some sort of sign if there were sensitive enough recorder there my understanding they have a microphone right on the mouth. >> that goes to my question. the recorder is sensitive enough to pick up labored breathing. >> to find out if somebody is breathing. can you tell if they are breathing. any kind much these sounds would be part of that. would you think they would have been mentioned by the source that said hey we knew he was knocking on the door. if he heard that as well -- >> the other question in terms of medical check ups for pilots, how routine are they? >> in a commercial flight and i would have to check to see if lufthansa has the same one but the u.s. you're doing continual routine checkups. >> if you have somebody running on a treadmill six months ago doesn't mean they can't drop daddy of a heart attack. >> you did develop medical problems. people can have heart attacks

out of blue. they could have had a normal exam in the previous few weeks. again not as likely but could happen. >> pilots dropping dead in the cockpit is not unknown. there's been a few cases here in the united states in the last couple of years where the pilot had a heart attack. they do have biannual checkups. it's very extensive. kidney stones. you can't fly with those. >> but to david soucie's point, if you believe a medical emergency occurred there's a number of situations which lined up to create this to happen that the pilot would leave the cockpit at exactly the time and that the door would be put in this locked position automatically or go to this locked position and this descent, the pilot would then at that moment when they are all alone happen to have a medical emergency that's so incapacitated them and they hit

this stick that perfectly so that the plane went down without any deviation. >> as an investigator that doesn't feel good. >> i guess maybe i got -- i'm more reluctant to go to the gravity of the thought of the nefarious option because of what it says about humanity and what somebody is prepared to do. >> i think it's important to point out this is based on "new york times" reporting as far as we know single source, an investigator who apparently has access to the voice data recorder has heard and described to the "new york times" what's on it. we have not been able to independently confirm this. i think that's a very important point. this is a single source, the reason we're reporting on it is because it does so dramatically change the calculus, change the way of thinking about what happened to this plane no matter the reason for the silence of the person at the controls of the plane. we have to take a short break.

we'll continue to follow this throughout this hour. any other late developments throughout the night. but the human dimension to all of this and it's so important as richard said to focus on this. 150 lives lost. many of them young live. kids returning from an exchange program, from a small town in germany. small town struggling to absorb what it lost. 16 high school student, two young teachers returning from that trip to spain. plus the opera singer and the young mom, her partner and baby traveling with her. i'll talk to her close friend, an opera singer. ♪ you can call me shallow...

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tonight's breaking news "new york times" reporting one of the pilots of germandwings flight was locked out of the cockpit. cnn has not independently confirmed this report. however, lufthansa has just weighed in. what are you hearing, fred? >> reporter: i just got off the phone with a spokesperson for lufthansa based in frankfurt at the headquarters of lufthansa. he said we have -- this is a quote, we have no information from the bodies investigating the incident to the bea and bfu, the french version of the ntsb and the german version of the ntsb that would corroborate the report in the "new york times". we'll follow up on the matter. these were -- that was the only statement that he was willing to

give at this point in time. that of course is by no means a denial. they said from the two bodies they are working very closely with, in particular the french investigating body but also the one from the germans, they spent specialists to the crash site as well. they say from those two bodies they have gotten no information telling them that one of the pilots might have been locked out of the cockpit. but they say they will look into this matter and get back to us once they have more. certainly they are looking into that's well. they are watching very, very closely what's being said. evaluating that report in the "new york times" as well and it does raise a lot of questions especially as i'm standing here in the place where so many people were killed in that incident. >> we also learn that tomorrow the airline is bringing people to the scene or as close as possible to it. is it likely that families will take up lufthansa's offer and fly to close to the crash site?

>> reporter: you know, i spoke to a lot of people here in town. this is a close knit community. many people know those who were affected especially the parents of the 16 school children. the sense we're get cigarette a lot will take up that offer. two reasons for that. on the one hand people want information. they want to know what happened to their children. what happened to their loved ones and they want to be sure that the investigation that's being run there on the ground is one that's going to lead to something. they want to be sure that everything is being done get information. butlis think there's a second element to it. i think a lot of them are looking for some form of closure. i've spoken to so many people today who said that they simply can't believe this is true. they still feel that these people will walk back into their lives at some point. for many of them, it will be something where they can get a little bit of closure. obviously being at that place where something so horrible thoops their loved ones will be very painful experience but in the long run might help them.

that's something i talked to a psychologist. they have a lot of emergency psychologists. he said that as well it's very important for a lot of people to visit the place where these horrible incidents happened. >> do we know much more about the pilots flying in the aircraft? >> reporter: it's interesting because that was also the second thing that i talked to the lufthansa spokesperson about as well and somebody at lufthansa commented as well. there isn't very much. they haven't put out a name. the on i had thing they commented on was the actual captain of the flight. this is someone who has a lot of experience, who has ten years experience flying this model, the a320 and who has about 6,000 hours of flight experience. so certainly someone who knows how to deal with this aircraft, who has flown many times on this aircraft. we also have to keep in mind that the pilots of the a320 as many any aircraft within the lufthansa fleet they are fairly close knit community themselves.

they know each other. that's why some of the pilots of germandwings didn't want to fly after this incident happened because they were so traumatized. there's very little information available who was piloting the aircraft not the captain but what co-pilot. we know almost nothing about the co-pilot except the ceo of germandwings saying both of these pilots were lufthansa pilots. he made that statement knowing many people in germany asking did this airline crash because it was a budget airline. he wanted to tell people these are full fledge lufthansa pilots and people knew what they were doing. >> i appreciate that. the opera world lost 2005 their own in the crash of this aircraft. they just completed a run of the classic opera in barcelona.

tonight we're learning more about miss radner whose career was flourishing. ♪ her partner and baby were traveling with her. in a statement new york's metropolitan opera called her a gifted artist who touched the lives of many. her friend joins me tonight. i'm so sorry for your loss. what can you tell us about maria? what was she like >> she was truly one of the most beautiful joyful incredible souls that i've ever had the honor of knowing. she was incredible. she had this beautiful voice that everybody knows about but then she had this incredible personality and so loving and kind and had an amazing sense of

humor. and i'm very lucky. >> i under she made her debut at the metropolitan opera back in 2012. that's where you met her? >> yes. we met the first dave rehearsal there. >> there's some pictures of you spending time in new york city, of maria in times square. did she like new york? did she like the snus >> she loved new york. she loved diner breakfasts were one of her favorite things. she loved everything about new york. she loved broadway. she loved lincoln center. she was completely and utterly taken away with it. >> what was she like as a performer because i'm fascinated by the power you have to have as an opera singer to get your voice past the, through the orchestra, there's not microphones, to have yourself heard in these enormous auditoriums. >> that's very true. she was -- we can always talk about the beauty of her voice

because it was stunningly beautiful. i think that is pretty universally acknowledged. what made her incredibly special at least for me as a performer was that she always had something to say and she always said every single word meant something to her. every single note meant something. she was a consummate musician and artist, and that voice will be very, very missed. >> when was the last time you saw her? >> before the new year. she and her partner and her baby came to visit me when i was working. they were driving through. so we met each other. >> is there anything else you want information know about her? >> i would love everybody to

know just how beautiful of a person she was. how much she loved music. how grateful she was to be able to perform for a living. how proud she was of her son and how much she loved him and her par near and her family and her friends. she was really -- she was just full of love and light and every good thing in the world. >> heidi, thank you so much for taking time to talk to us. >> thank you. >> full of love and life. just ahead on the same day that sergeant bowe bergdahl is charged with desertion we're hearing about his five years in captivity in his own words. i'll speak with someone who served with him next.

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don't miss furious 7, in theaters april 3rd. for the first time we're getting a description of sergeant bowe bergdahl's five years in captivity in his own word. his lawyer released a document in which he describes being chained to a bed for three

months spread eagle suffering physical abuse and illness and trying to escape. that description was released on the same day that bergdahl was charged with desertion for leaving his post in 2009 before being captured and held by the taliban. here's part of today's announcement of the charges. >> sergeant bergdahl is charged under the uniform code of military justice with one count of article 85 desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty and one count of article 99, misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command unit or place. >> as we've been reporting today sergeant bergdahl was charged with desertion for leaving his post in afghanistan before he was captured and held for five years. his attorney included a graphic description of the abuse he suffered. i spoke with him a short time ago. what do you make first of all

these charges now against your client? >> well, you know, people have been talking about desertion from before he was liberated from captivity so that's not a surprise. the misbehavior before the enemy was a surprise. you know, i think this is an example of military prosecutors getting clever about how many ways they can charge the same conduct. >> what is misbehavior before the enemy. i haven't heard that before. the potential sentence for is that life. >> yeah. it's a very serious offense. but it's an offense that frankly i don't think i can remember any prosecutions for. i've only been doing this since 1969 so what do i know? i don't offhand remember any cases where that's been trotted out. it covers a multitude of sins like throwing away your rifle and things like that.

>> have you spoken to sergeant bergdahl since the charges were released? i'm wondering what his reaction to them was. >> well, in fact, the way i found out that he was being charged was he called me because we had no prior notice that this was going to happen. after i spoke with him and he is philosophical about this, he's a long time to ponder the process since his return from afghanistan. you know, he takes it one step at a time. he's a very impressive guy. >> you've released a statement from sergeant bergdahl and it's really the first time we heard directly from him in writing about his captivity, what he went through, beating, the number of escapes pep said he tried to escape apartment least 12 times. recaptured. serious illnesses. untreated wound. his captivity sounds truly horrific. does he believe and part of

releasing that it should preclude him from a court martial? >> well, i'm not going to speak, you know i'm not going tell you what he personally beliefs thaus that's invading the attorney-client privilege. i'll tell you what i think. obviously those kind of factors bear on what is the proper disposition of this matter and i think that you would have to have a heart of stone not to take these really dreadful circumstances into account. and i expect and anticipate that those who make the ultimate decision here whether it should go trial on what ground, how it should be resolved or whether it should not two trial and be handled some other way they will take that into account. if they didn't i would be very puzzled. >> in your writing, in your note to them you note i believe in one military document they basically just kind of describe his captivity in one line sort of saying he was held from this date to this date. do you believe that they so far

have taken that into consideration? the circumstances under which he was held? >> all i can do, anderson, is say i was surprised that such short shrift was given to nearly five years of captivity that sergeant bergdahl was fortunate enough to be rescued from. and frankly i thought it was very important that the american public start to have some sense of what he actually went through because so far we've been sort of barraged with hostility and vilification from a variety of directions and, you know, it's very easy to throw stones but it's a little more difficult if you got some facts out there that allow you to at least begin to get a sense of what this human being, our fellow citizen and member of the u.s. army went through for nearly five years. >> you talk about the vitriol

against him. you're concerned about his safety. even now off base he's actually has to be accompanied by two soldiers at all times off base and you believe that's for his own safety so other people don't do something to him, is that correct? >> that's what i'm informed. and, you know, i do monitor the web and i read some of the really awful things that people feel comfortable saying typically had they are not using their real names. i do want to say this if you don't mind. i'm kind of a first amendment guy. i really, really believe in free speech. i think it's one of the jewels in the crown of our, you know, governmental system, our social system. so, you know, if people want to be that way, god bless them. on the other hand, i think that once people have a better sense of bo bergdahl the human being, what he went through, what his

motivations were, i think many of those people may find themselves regretting some of the things they say. >> i appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you, anderson. >> cnn global affairs analyst david rhode has a unique perspective. he was held for seven months after being kidnapped by the taliban. he talked about how to bring bo bergdahl home after his captivity. he joins me with a major in the new york army national guard jag corps. major, let me start with you. just in terms of what happens next legally this doesn't even have to necessarily get to a court martial. >> no. what's happened to this point is the commanding general who sits as what we call military convening authority has

conferred these charges to an article 32 investigating officer. the article 32 officer will begin a preliminary hearing. during the course of that hearing sergeant bergdahl, his attorney, they will be present, have a right to question witnesses, right to present evidence on sergeant bergdahl's behalf if they so choose. at the conclusion of that hearing the investigating officer will make recommendations again to the commanding general who will make the ultimate decision taos whether he wants to push forward with the court martial. the commanding general has a tremendous amount of discretion. he sits sort of like a civilian district attorney in deciding whether he wants to use prosecutorial discretion -- >> they could say look he did desert, we believe he did desert but he has suffered tremendously in five years captivity. we are going to, you know, give him a discharge. dock his pay. we'll reduce him in rank. they've wide discretion.

>> they have wide discretion. i'm somewhat concerned that if that was going to be done one would think that it would probably to be done already as opposed to sending this forward the article 32 hearing which usually telegraphs the case may be heading towards a court martial process. course there's the possibility of plea bargaining like in a civil criminal justice system. >> david you read the statement that bowe bergdahl wrote. it's horrific to read what he went through. he was held for five years. you were held under different circumstances by the taliban for seven months. what was your reaction when you read what he went through was. >> harrowing, horrific, same reaction you had. it's credible to me. he talks about trying to escape repeatedly, roughly a dozen times. he actually got away twice. in one case he was captured very quickly within ten, 15 minutes. a second case and we heard this from the taliban. he was free for nine days.

he was wandering around, didn't know where he was. he said he was so weak he eventually sort of collapsed and was recaptured. it's tragic that he was out for nine days yet could not find his way to safety. >> i know, david, you communicated with the family. did they expect these charges? >> they did not. they don't want to comment at this point. they are worried about the military judicial process but they had no warning at all about what would happen. there's one interesting nugget in the document. the big question which is why did bowe bergdahl leave his base. >> i obviously asked him that as well and he refused to answer that in our interview. >> that's the real thing. his fellow soldiers wants to know. the public want to know why did he do this. he has to be held accountable. there was a reference he was allowed into the army with a waiver. that hasn't come out publicly and friends of bowe bergdahl

said when he was in the coast guard before he joined the army he was discharged from the coast guard for psychological reasons. so there's an institutional question for the army here why did they allow this young man in the army, why did he get a waiver and did he have psychological issues that made him unfit for the coast guard? >> thank you so much. more on our breaking news. a new report in the "new york times" that the pilot on the germandwings flight was locked out before it went down.

some of the loved ones who who lost loved ones will be flown from dusseldorf to barcelona and they will arrive with some of the chilling details that one tof the pilots may have been locked out of the flight deck because he was either locked out or possibly a medical crisis. this is one of the items that "the new york times" is repor g reporting, but lufthansa has not been reconfirming. and so richard quest, where do you stand now on what you believe is happening? >>le well, there is a mechanism, and i won't go through the details, with be through is a mechanism which by which if you

go back to the picture of the door, if it is a normal way, there is a way outside that you can initiate an entry procedure, and thereby if the person inside, you can get in, because they won't do anything, and if they want to stop you, they will switch to lock, so there is a way in which the person inside of the cockpit can get in. >> unless the person inside puts it to lock. >> yes, and that leads us to nefarious, and so if it were normal, unless the person outside --? so you are saying if one of the pilots leaves the pilot or the co-pilot at the kcontrols would have automatically put it in the normal position. >> yes, it should have been in the normal. >> and we don't know the procedures of the normal procedures of the lock or the what exactly the equipment of this particular 320, 24-year-old had on it p but as a principle,

and the jenle ral principle, an d derson, there is a mechanism of an. >> and david soucie, where the information goes now, the data recorder is crucial? >> yes, at this point, i would not expect anymore information to come out, because at this point, they are thinking it is nefarious. >> and they don't want it to come out publicly? >> yes, they are going to be shutting the doors right now to determine if it is criminal activity or not. >> richard? >> i am just, you know, the sources e-mailing me, and one person e-mailing me saying that i have been an industry person for 40-odd-year, and i'm certain that there is an emergency access by the keypad and that would not bel valid if it had been in lock, a nd tnd that loc mechanism is designed to -- and you know, say that you decided to force to get the emergency access, and the captain knows inside, and he locks the door. >> and still, obviously, a lot

of questions, and this is "the new york times" reporting, and again, it changes the, our understanding of what happened in the final minutes of the craft, and just a chilling image painted by this source according to "the new york times" that one of the pilots started to quietly knocking in the door trying to quietly get back into the cockpit, and no response and the plane is descenting, and the pilot trying to bang louder, and trying to force into the cockpit, and is unable to do that and the plane goes down. david soucie and richard quest, thank you. >> and breaking news a possible tornado ripping through a mobile home community in oklahoma, and we will have the latest from the scene.

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lots more happening, and rap di kay is here. >> there is one at least unconfirmed tornado happening. and tornadoes ripping through oklahoma and at least one mobile home park is destroyed. >> and now, there is extensive fighting in tikrit, iraq. yemen's president has fled the country as rebel forces have captured the port city of aden where the port city has been p captured last month. also, there has been a air base that rebel forces had captured

days ago. and also, an e e evacuated bus has been swal e lowed up by a sinkhole, and look at this, carried away by raging waters. this is captured by someone who had escaped that bus just in time. >> incredible. randi. thank you very much. that does it for us. "cnn tonight" starts right now. this is cnn breaking u news. the breaking news is evidence that one of the pilots on the doomed planes was locked out of the cockpit at the time of the crash. i'm don lemon and thank you for i'm don lemon and thank you for joining us. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com this is what the new york times is reporting this evening, investigators found evidence on the voice recorder that one of the pilots left the cockpit before the plane began to descend, but he could not get back into the cockpit, and the plane recorder captures the pilot trying to desperately smash down the door, but what is