time in arizona. there was an interruption in his training for several months but no reason was given for that gap. earlier today french prosecutors said the cockpit voice recorder revealed lubitz intentionally put the plane into a descent leading to the crash. according to that tape the pilot knocked on the cockpit door to get back in after leaving out but there was no response. even when the pilot began pounding on the door. the prosecutor says lubitz did not outary single word as the plane went down but passenger screams could be heard in the final seconds before impact. >> this was voluntary. this was deliberate. refused to open the cabin door. in order to let the pilot back in. i'll repeat. he refused to let the pilot back in, so he is the one who pressed the button that allowed the plane to begin descending and lose altitude. he pressed the button for a

reason that we cannot seem to understand. but we would like to analyze it by some kind of deliberate action and willingness to destroy this plane. >> i think that the victims probably only realize what had was going on in the last minute. in the data that you can listen to you can only hear cries right at the end and right before the point of impact. >> this morning miss could be seen outside the co-pilot's home in germany. we have coverage on the new developments from all angle. nbc's claudio lavagna is near the crash scene and captain john cox is an aviation analyst who worked in aviation for 30 years and also with me lester holt who was covered aviation for much of his career. we'll start with claudio at that scene. first of all, claudio, let's talk about the effort obviously to retrieve the remains and any

parts of that plane that can be recovered at this point. >> we've been told this morning tamron, that the first body parts or bodies have been airlifted from that crash site but certainly the news of the day is that revelation the shocking revelation that the co-pilot may have downed the plane voluntarily. must have come as a massive shock to families who just arrived here 15 minutes ago in seyne-les-alpes. not too far from the crash site and not far from this airfield in a makeshift chapel where they are attending a special ceremony for the victims. later they will be taking to the mountain where they will set up a makeshift memorial. we've seen some flags and many of the nationalities that were on the plane being set up there. some would just walk to the crash site from that distance and that location. others who feel like they will be transported, airlifted with

other members to go to the air field so to take a closer look on that site but certainly the families have arrived here at the crash scene. shocking shocking news. >> according to the shocking information, the information released to the press, including the detail that the voice recorder picked up the sounds of people screaming in those last seconds. it also indicated that that co-pilot according to the french prosecutor claudio, was in control and even down to his breathing could be heard and detected there. >> well indeed it seems like he really knew what he was doing. he did not say a word even to himself or the control tower. it seems like this was something he pre-planned. wasn't just out of the blue. fact that he waited for pilot to leave and the fact that he did not -- the pilot when he came back and realized that the co-pilot wasn't opening the door he used a special code to force

open that door but that special code can be overrun by the co-pilot by switching a lever so that the door can just never be open so this was a co-pilot who had everything -- he was very clear-minded. had everything planned very clearly. did not say a word and was breathing very slowly and calmly up to the very end. really shocking. >> many people are asking a, why is it that they did not lose the identity and even that of the pilot until now even down to a photograph of this co-pilot. there's a picture from social media but no official of this co-pilot or more information from this point and medical history to this break in his training from lufthansa. >> reporter: yesterday there was a question put to prosecutors and the ceos of lufthansa and germanwings, and they said this was normal procedure. this is, of course before we

heard about that development. they said that until -- they usually do not release the identity nor the nationality of the pilots until the reasons behind the crash will be made clear. i don't know yet. we don't know yet whether they are ready knew then that this was a possible scenario but, certainly, yesterday during the press conference in paris by the aviation authorities in france. obviously they did know that point and even though they said there were some voices audible, but there were days or weeks to interpret this. clearly just trying to buy time. >> let me bring in the panel that we've assembled. tom, let's start with you because there's so much questions about procedure, protocol and the screening of pilot and co-pilot and crew members for any mental health issues. let's start with procedure and

protocol. >> seems to be a difference nationally and internationally and maybe even from airline to airline. what's the clarification here? >> can i just give you a little bit of breaking news coming from our justice department team telling us that french authorities have requested the fbi to assist in this investigation. we don't know what role the fbi will play but they are now going to be asked to join the investigation, presumably probably here in the united states, but you're right as it relates to protocols. i mean we have seen in the united states since 9/11 that first all, the cockpit door, it's virtually impossible to get through that cockpit door unless you have the key pad code and unless you're let in. in the united states if one member of the flight deck crew leaves to go to the restroom for example, or go get a cup of coffee, that's perfectly normal and it happens every day, but when they do a flight attendant has to go in and kind of stand guard inside the flight deck inside the cockpit. the reason they do that is because in the event that the other pilot were to have a medical emergency while one

pilot is out in the restroom somebody needs to be there, and second of all, because they want to have somebody who can verify that it is in fact the cockpit pilot coming back to the cockpit after they use the restroom and have come back. another sed of eyes never want to leave one person alone in the cockpit, all post-neefnlt that's in the united states and we were surprised to learn that that did not happen in this case that in fact the captain left the flight deck and no -- no flight attendant went in with the co-pilot. co-pilot was left alone, and today lufthansa says that is normal protocol and procedure for lufthansa flights, and, in fact, he said i don't think you'll find many airlines in the world to follow the protocol that you have in the united states for having flight attendants come in and stand guard there, although i will tell you it's supposed to be followed for any flight inbound into the united states. in other words if a lufthansa flight is coming in from munich into the united states they should be following that

protocol. flight attendant coming into the pock kit and standing guard. we don't know if they do but you've got to wonder if that protocol had been followed in that case, would you be talking about 149 people being killed? >> lester is here and as i mentioned you've been covering aviation for many years. people are wondering how the co-pilot programmed this descent. as you know last night, many wonder was it natural causes did he slump over but now the voice recorder makes it clear he was conscious and coherent and he programmed this descent. explain that to us. >> i'll have john back me up on this but it'scism something as simple as turning a dial and hitting. but phonoand the nose-- hitting a button and the nose will come down and the descent will begin. it seems, that again, john i'll let you back me up on this that it would just be a matter of dialing it in. the plane would continue to fly in that direction until it meets the ground. >> and we also heard from

experts like john that there's also an audible warning that would alert the pilot and co-pilot to pull up or to make that. >> pull-up terrain and all of that is moot right now. we're still talking about this in terms of a plane crash. what we're really talking about is mass murder here now mass murder using an aircraft. the irony of this is that door that hardened door which they started putting in planes after 9/11 was meant to protect us, to deep us you know from harm and they fairious acts and here it was used for just that thing in a way that no one conceived. >> john i've heard conflicting reports on whether pilots or co-pilots or someone involved with the crew can override if they are locked out of the cockpit and claarfies this from plane to plane. is there a digital override and newer planes. how does this work? >> well there are several modes that the door operates. in one is on the ground when it's looked and two it's in the normal mode and in that case this is a code that can be

utilized, but if the door is placed into what is known as override, that prevuds the code from being entered at the door and it makes sure that the door in fact stays locked. now, to lester's point earlier. to get the airplane to descend into an airbus a-320, it's a matter of selecting a descent note, open descent or vertical speed. in the case of vertical speed you rotate a knob and you select a given descent rate. in this case it looks like it's 3,500 feet per minute and the airplane will maintain that until it strikes the ground. it's doing what it's commanded to do so lester you're right on point. >> we're getting in this first look at pilot. 28-year-old andreas lubitz. german newspapers reporting this is a picture of him from social media. john, to lester's point this is an issue of mass murder. we can look at issues of training and how long he had worked for this particular airline, and if he was trained,

in fact here in arizona, but it's also the question of mental health. what was this person's mental state of mind and how often are crew members especially pilots and co-pilots, screened for any potential health problem here? >> well two things come -- are relevant here. one is this is a very established and old proven training program. lufthansa has been training people this way literally for decade, and it's proven to be very, very effective, so the training program i think we're going to find to be well established and of very very high quality. the screening process for candidates entering that is very intense, very rigorous and not only that while people are in the training program they are constantly evaluated. one thing that you're asking about screening. screening comes in a variety of ways, including peer evaluation and that's something that we as

airline crews always do. you're always looking and talking and interacting with other crew members. if something doesn't seem right, it is routine that that will be reported back to a supervisor and it's often asked is -- is this person -- are they okay? they didn't seem quite right. they seem to be -- they seemed to be depressed or they seem to be distracted. they weren't up to their normal level of performance. those kinds of things are frequently evaluated, and it's one of the things that crew members look for each other. it's a form of incapacitation. so the screening that is being now brought into question because of the actions of this rogue pilot are in effect but it is not as a formalized process as it could be. >> tamron. >> go ahead, tom. >> i would just make the point that the ceo of lufthansa said

they do the psychological testing during the training process and during the hiring process, but once you're on board as a pilot as lufthansa there is no psychological screening. now, to john's point, absolutely. would you have colleagues kind of keeping an eye on you, hopefully. you would have your yearly or physical in which they would -- you know the doctor might ask you a few questions. how are you feeling these days? are you upset, are you depressed about anything? they are not doing a full in-depth psychological profile of you like when you are hired so if you have some sort of an event, life-changing event during those month or years, it's entirely possible that you would squeak through, and you know, as i was saying earlier on the air this morning, as we were covering the malaysia 370 incident and the attention has been on that captain. did he go rogue. we don't know but a lot of psychiatrists have said, you know, it's awfully hard to pin down when somebody is having a psychological breakdown. it's hard to see it on the outside in very many cases. very often people are not overtly exhibiting these symptoms.

>> right, and lester this brings a whole new level of safety questions after 9/11, as you mentioned, it became about the cockpit and now you have this incident where people are asking, not about the hours of training but the mental health of this individual. >> who is flying these planes? >> which is the same question with the malaysia air as tom pointed out. never found, found the flight simulator in the pilot's home but his background still remains a mission try. >> you walk through the airport and you see that captain with the epaulets and a trained professional, and you have the utmost trust in the people who fly. i fly over 100,000 miles a year and you have a trust. i'm a little rattled. mh-370 has stuck in my mind just a year past that. this happens. thankfully this sort of thing is rare, but it does shake you because it's one of the foundations you believe that the people in the front of that airplane are not only well-trained but -- but they have great judgment and safety is their number one, you know job, which -- which we've seen so many times and then something like this happens.

>> and it brings a new level of scrutiny, as you pointed out in our confidence in flying. >> yeah i mean -- >> let's -- >> go ahead, tom. >> let's not lose sight. let's not lose sight of a couple of things n.2014 almost 3.5 billion passengers flew on airlines worldwide on about 40 million flights safely and while this is an unbelievable tragedy and particularly in the light that it appears that this rogue pilot did this deliberately, i'm in no way minimizing that, but when you look at the aviation industry it still stands above every other means of transportation out there. >> absolutely but i think -- i think that's -- obviously we know that's true but i think after when you have such a tragedy reflecting and asking the question as pointed out by tom, should there always be two individuals inside of a cockpit? what changes and improvements can be made for example, in technology as a result of the

missing aircraft in malaysia? are there changes that need to be made and improvements so that we can find and aircraft when it does fall from the sky? >> john is absolutely right. so incredibly rare and that's what makes it so incredibly shocking. >> absolutely. >> because obviously, you know this doesn't happen. >> what are the fair questions then to be asked as we know that it doesn't happen but today we're all here. >> back to the procedures and the idea of unifying the procedures of how we secure the cockpits and who is there and how the door gets open and those sorts of things. there's so many other discussions, you know cameras in the cab pit. that idea has been floated before. a lot of privacy issues and understandable issues raiseded about that. there's a lot of technology out there that was talked about even after 9/11. is it possible to have an override where the plane can be controlled from the ground. i mean again, what happened here happened in a matter of minutes. >> right. >> i don't know if any of that would have made a difference. there's a lot of discussion to be had here. >> at the news conference and tom can pick up on it.

it was asked of lufthansa would they change the policy that would require more than one person to be inside that cockpit? do you believe that that's a necessary change? should there be an across-the-board mandate there, john? >> i think so. >> john or tom? >> i'm sorry, tom. >> no go ahead. >> i think the most important thing is to recognize it's going to facilitate a lot of discussion in the investigation and beyond it and that may very well be not the decision of lufthansa, but it may be the regulators that actually make this decision as they did in the u.s. and in north america. so the question comes in two places. do the individual airlines want to review their procedures and potentially change them and do the regulators want to mandate that? so there's actually two parts to this question about what's going to be the outgrowth of the discussions about how they want to deal with pilots that leave the flight deck in flight. >> tom, go ahead.

>> yeah. i'll go out on a lim here and say that the international pressure on lufthansa is going to be so great, i suspect they will announce a change and it will be very quickly. i can't imagine given the uproar and outrage over what happened here, and this airline is one of the most respected old-line carriers out thereto with fantastic training and they fly internationally, and i can't imagine that they are not feeling intense pressure right now to revisit that decision about flight attendants, you know standing guard in the cockpit, and i wouldn't be surprised if air france comes in and does something about it as well. >> appreciate it. thanks for joining me. john lester tom, thanks for joining me. coming up more on the investigation into the co-pilot of the germanwings flight and we'll also take a look at other flights crashed by pilots. and in yemen, saudi arabia strikes bases as yemen seems to be on the brink of civil war and

the white house says yemen is the model against of the fight against terrorism. nbc's richard engel is ahead with developments there and join the conversation online. you can find the team at "newsnation" and also find me on social media as well. we'll be right back. i love making sunday dinners. but when my back hurt, cooking all day... forget about it. tylenol was ok, but it was 6 pills a day. but aleve is just 2 pills all day. and now, i'm back! aleve. curling up in bed with a ... ...favorite book is nice. but i think women would rather

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welcome back. we continue to follow the breaking news involving germanwings flight 9525 and the investigation that continues into the pilot -- co-pilot's action that were according to french authorities a deliberate act to kill everyone on board. my colleague tom costello is standing by. he's got some new information for us. tom, what do you have? >> thank you. we were talking about whether other airlines might follow suit, follow the american lead and say that they want two people in the cockpit at all times, and i said i wouldn't be

surprised. just now agence france press is reporting norwegian air as of today is announcing it will require two people in the cockpits at all times for safety reasons. this starts tomorrow. >> and back to this information regarding the fbi, we have this statement that says the fbi has offered assistance to our french partners who are leading the investigation into the crash of the flight. we stand ready to fulfill any request so the fbi has offered its assistance in this investigation. >> yeah, and what i'm told is that the french requested that. i'm not sure exactly how that dialogue happens, but according to our justice department producer the french did request fbi assistance and so they are very much involved in this now. i suspect that this will be the role of this particular student, andreas lubitz here in the united states when he was here in arizona and perhaps elsewhere. he did pilot training here in the united states. >> thank you, tom. >> let me bring in a former ntsb investigator. greg, thank you so much for joining us.

obviously in a typical investigation we're looking at mechanical. we're looking at weather. here we are now looking into the mental health the background of this pilot which may include training in arizona here. what are the key questions you believe should be asked about this co-pilot? >> tamron, the big thing is now that this is the most subjective part of any pilot. that is, it's the soft skills and the human psyche. we have seen event like this in previous crashes. i've worked on silk air 115 in indonesia and april theegypt air 190 and mh-370 where it's suspected that the captain intentionally took the airplane down. during the training process it's very difficult. you have a student here. lufthansa has their training facility in arizona. they send their new pilot training hires here to fly and

get all of their ratings and then they go back to germany and are qualified on a particular aircraft. and while you can deal with students on a daily basis and evaluate them you're going through so many students, and the instructors aren't really trained to do psychological profiling of any of these folks. the key here is when i did silk air, one of the things that we listened for on the cockpit voice recorder was a change in character. in this particular instance it was the captain. on that particular day he was doing things that were totally out of character for him. he was saying things to the other crew members that was totally out of character when we started to do a background check, so that particular day things weren't as rote as they had been in the past. that's what tipped us off that something else was going on and i would suspect that investigators will do the same thing with the co-pilot from the cbr. >> we have investigators who listened to the recording and early on the conversation

between the pilot and co-pilot was described as calm. we don't know the exact words that wrecks changed, but it seemed the description was routine and very usual until the pilot left the cockpit itself. so obviously with the family there and the same french prosecutor indicated that the family of the pilot and co-pilot were also there at that crime scene, at the stage scene of the crash, kept separate from the family members of the victims but with the co-pilot being just 28 years old, you can imagine they are looking at his social media page which we know he has, that's where this photograph that you're looking at on the screen was taken from and it will be more than the verbal exchange in the the cockpit but what perhaps was he saying on social media and what his family can provide to investigators? >> absolutely and that's why it's going to be key to dissect the dialogue that the two pilots had. was the co-pilot suggesting hey, do you want to go to the back, and is he trying to get

the pilot, the captain in this case out of the cockpit? so they are going to be looking for little things like that that set up the scenario so that he prompts the captain to leave so that he can lock them out and do what he needs to do with the aircraft and that was reprogram and get the airplane into a descent and take it down in an area that most likely he knew consisted of high terrain, a desolate area and for whatever reason whether it was an isolated event because of personal issues in his life or was he part of a bigger plan? that's going to be really be the concern, and i think of the international aviation community we have to determine whether this is an isolated problem or something that could be more systemic. >> that's one of the heart stopping details that you point out whether or not this co-pilot planned, you know this all along and waited for an opportunity to be alone and if that was the case how long had he plotted to perhaps carry this out.

when you think that this was a short flight and the pilot at any point could have decided that he would not leave the cockpit and would have remained in there. there's so many scenarios, but the news that tom just broke to us that at least one airline is now indicating it is requiring two people to be in a cockpit at all times, do you believe now that we will see that as a mandate from especially larger carriers if not all of them? >> i would expect that tamron. when you look at the circumstances, if you think about if a flight attendant had been in the airplane and in the cockpit at the time that would have changed this co-pilot's plan. he may have been able to do some harm to some other person which would have prolonged the process of doing whatever it was that he was going to do. it also may have negated it. it would have mitigated the possibility because you now have to deal with a second person in the aircraft especially in the cockpit. they can prevent and can open up the door and allow others in so

there are a lot of ifs, and when you look at it in the grand scheme of things this wasn't something that i don't believe he showed up that day and decided to do. we talked about it with mh-370 that the captain in this particular instance who is the focus didn't just plan to go to work that day and take this airplane and fly it into the south indian ocean. there was some planning there, and that's what investigators are going to have to look at. is there some premeditation here? how far back does it go? >> thanks so much for joining us. >> now to live pictures of the french village near the crash site. family members of the victims have just arrived by bus for a memorial ceremony. the families have come from both germany and spain. we will bring you the latest developments from that memorial as well as the information we are receiving on the investigate into the co-pilot's background.

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we'll have much more on the details of germanwings flight 9525. french officials say the co-pilot brought that plane down intentionally and now another breaking story, saudi arabia and other arab countries launched air strikes to stop the advance in neighboring yemen once hailed by president obama as a model for u.s. counterterrorism efforts and a.p. quotes that egyptian officials are saying saudi arabia and egyptians will lead a ground operation against the shiite rebels in yemen. nbc's chief correspondent richard engel joins us from istanbul. let's start with this breaking news that a ground offense by saudi arabia and egypt seem imminent. >> reporter: well, it is a threat that is coming from saudi arabia that is combined with action that is already taken. there has been for the last several months an internal conflict in yemen with the iranianbacked rebel movement

taking on the u.s. and saudi saudi-backed yemeni government. the rebel movement again, backed by iran has been having the upper hand has the government on the run and then we saw a dramatic escalation in the overnight hours here in the -- in the islamic world in the middle east with saudi arabia mobilizing its armed forces, sending tens of thousands of troops to its border. a saudi official told nbc news that this operation, which is now mostly just to reinforce the border involves around 150,000 saudi ground troops and then saudi arabia began air strikes attacking rebel positions in what had been government-controlled positions, and now egypt also says it is sending warships to help secure parts of the yemeni coastline. so what had been a civil war in yemen has become a regional war that could become a real ground

war between saudi arabia and this iranian-backed militia. >> richard, thank you. got to take our audience to german chancellor angela merkel who is speaking about the latest into the investigation of flight 9525. >> who have to suffer so badly now. i thank you so very much. >> again, that was german chancellor angela merkel. obviously we missed a portion of her comments but now this investigation investigation, that most of the information will come from french prosecutors and french officials who say the pilot of the germanwings flight 9525 was brought down deliberately by the co-pilot, this after the black box and voice recorder was able to pick up the international between the pilot and co-pilot including the moments after the pilot left that cockpit and left the 28-year-old co-pilot alone.

we will continue to follow the breaking news out of the crash site as well as what we're learning about this young man, the 28-year-old's background and his training as well as his mental healthk ground. we'll be right back. you had to go deep into the cupboard. embarrassingly deep. can this mismatched mess be conquered... by a little bit of dish liquid? it can if it's dawn ultra. now even more concentrated... just one bottle has the grease cleaning power of two bottles of this other liquid. here's to the over extended family gathering. a drop of dawn and grease is gone. you can call me shallow... but, i have a wandering eye. i mean, come on. national gives me the control to choose any car in the aisle i want. i could choose you... or i could choose her if i like her more. and i do. oh, the silent treatment.

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you roam free. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance you switch to geico. it's what you do. ♪ two wheels a turnin'... ♪ in the cockpit he responded to nothing. the co-pilot did not utter a single word. there was absolute silence in the cockpit. >> we are speechless at lufthansa, at germanwings. can i only repeat what i said during the last days. we are shocked and we are concerned, and i couldn't believe that this feeling would be intensified. >> that was the ceo of lufthansa airlines and a french prosecutor discussing the new developments in the flight of germanwings 9525 now believed to be a deliberate act. the prosecutor has confirmed the

co-pilot identified at 25-year-old andreas lubitz seen in this photo verified by a german newspaper was in control as the plane began its rapid descent and apparently brought down the plane. it's revealed that the pilot left the cockpit to use the restroom and when the pilot returned and knocked on the door to get back in there was no response from the cockpit. he could later be heard pounding on the door with still no response from lubitz who remained silent inside. the audio did pick up the screams from the passengers as the plane went down in those final seconds. msnbc's francis rivera joins me now with more details surrounding other flights with similar circumstances. >> hi, tamron. these details are even more disturbing and more baffling when you've heard there have been several other instances when a pilot brought down a commercial plane intentionally. 24 american pilots have killed themselves while flying over the past two decades. let's take a look at some of the

more high-profile cases worldwide. let's start with november here. 2013 mozambique airlines flight 470. the pilot locks himself in the cockpit and doesn't allow his co-pilot back inside until moments before impact. all people on board were killed. a deliberate set of maneuvers were made with a clear intention to kranchl the pilot reportedly had merit at all problems. october 1st of 1999. egypt air flight 990 crashes half an hour after taking off from new york. the boeing 767 dropped from 36,000 feet to 19,000 feet in just a matter of 30 seconds. it crashed into the atlantic ocean, killing all 217 people on board. the investigation then revealed the pilot had repeatedly muttered an arabic phrase meaning i rely on god, and his motive according to a co-worker, revenge following accusations of sexual misconduct. his superior was on board that

flight. now to february 9th, 1982. japan airlines flight 350. it crashes into the ocean just short of the runway, and the upon approach the voice recorder captured a scuffle and yelling among the captain and co-pilots. the captain in this case survived as did 147 passengers but 24 people were killed and the airline later admitted that the captain had a psychosomatic illness two years earlier and later considered him fit to fly. that brings us to december 19th of 1997. silk air flight 185 goes down in an indonesian jungle river killing 104 people. investigators found that the cockpit voice recorder appeared to have intentionally disconnected there and that the pilot. didn't attempt to reverse the plane's nosedive and the investigation revealed that the pilot was in serious debt and had been reprimanded by management several times over the weeks before the crash. you hear the motives, and right away you want to know what the co-pilot here this germanwings plane, what his motives would be

and if there were any signs at all, like the question about the gap in his training tamron that could have prevented such a tragic outcome here. >> frances, thank you very much. coming up more coverage of today's breaking news about an aviation journalist who wrote about the disappearance of malaysian flight 370. of course, that remains unsolved. i knew it'd take some time. and her sensitive stomach didn't make things easier. it was hard to know why... the move...her food...? so we tried purina cat chow gentle... ...because it's specially formulated for easy digestion. she's loved it ever since. and as for her and ben... ...she's coming around. purina cat chow gentle. one hundred percent complete and balanced for everyday feeding of adult cats. ♪ ♪ ♪ (under loud music) this is the place. ♪ ♪ ♪ their beard salve is made from ♪ ♪ ♪ sustainable tea tree oil and kale... you, my friend, recognize when a trend has reached critical mass. yes, when others focus on one thing

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information in the black box itself not attained but at this point the voice recorder has provided the information that led to this revelation this morning. what is your first reaction to this? >> well i'm sorry we haven't gotten that other data recorder yet, but we have a lot of information that it was taken right out of that video recording, the audio recorder. my first take is i'm upset, to be honest with you. i'm very upset that something like this could possibly happen. you prepare for all kinds of things in aviation and maintain safety and doing all the right thing and when something like this comes along there was a shock, i've got to tell you. >> right now the associated press is saying that they have spoken with a few friends of andreas lubitz and described him as being happy with his job happy had had renewed his glider license, he was a member of a flight club. the 28-year-old appeared to be happy with the job that he had

at the airline at this low-cost care yeah, part of the lufthansa group here germanwings. what do we need or are the questions we need to ask here, jim, regarding mental health of those who are flying whether it be nationally or internationally? >> well, i'm very impressed with the way lufthansa runs that operation. they are very save and very sharp and very very careful about precision, and i'm sure they are going to be revealing the whole procedure about hiring and maintaining contact with there employees from this day forward even more than they have in the past. i don't know how you prepare for this. i don't know of an examination of some kind that would really reveal what they need to know. look at all the times when you have reported on something that somebody did was awful and all the people that knew that person, a very mild-mannered guy and just wonderful. >> to that point you have the associated press quoting a friend of andreas lubitz who is

having trouble believing the conclusion made by prosecutors. he's quoted as saying this friend was a flight club member saying i don't see how anyone can draw such a conclusion before the investigation is completed, and they are basing this on their relationship with andreas lubitz according, again, to the associated press report coming out just now where the reporters have had an opportunity to speak with some friends of this co-pilot. >> we don't always have signals from a person that is about to do something like this that we recognize. i mean, you know even family members that are in intimate close relationships with the person shocked to find out that they have done something really wild because we don't get the clues that we would suspect that we might be able to get in order to do this. we've got a lot to learn yet about dealing with people that are in dealing in sensitive

places and if and when we do have a person that's exposed to these kind of things that we have the tools to a disaster. they are going to be a lot of changes made i believe in aviation across the world. >> thank you so much for your time. we greatly appreciate it. up next i'll talk live with an aviation journalist whose been covering the disappearance of flight 370. we'll be right back. most of the products we all buy are transported on container ships. before a truck delivers it to your store, a container ship delivered it to that truck. here in san diego,

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the xfinity tv go app. now with live tv on the go. enjoy over wifi or on verizon wireless 4g lte. plus enjoy special savings when you purchase any new verizon wireless smartphone or tablet from comcast. visit comcast.com/wireless to learn more. more now with breaking news we're following, the crash of germanwings plane 9525 was not an accident. french officials are saying this man, 28-year-old andreas lubitz intended to destroy the plane and kill all on board. joining us now, author of the plane that wasn't there, why we haven't found mh-370. the ideas that happened to mh 370, a laundry list you go on

google everyone has some theory or speculation on what happened. this case is very different in that we have the audio recording that has led prosecutors to believe that it was this co-pilot who brought down the flight. >> right, in one level this seems much a like more clear cut case, yet there are strange aspects to this case too. it's hard to understanding what we know about this guy, just barely a day into this case he seems to have been a young friendly well adjusted guy who loved to fly. it's not clear at this point why he would do such a thing. i don't think we should rush to judgment. it looks bad for him at this point, but it's still early days. >> you know the prosecutors though in their press conference seem very certain of what was on the voice recorder. the second black box would provide data regarding altitude and some critical information.

but they seem quite certain of what played out here based on what was heard. >> they certainly do. we're hearing that kind of noise from them. bear in mind it's not up to prosecutors to make the determination as to what the cause of the crash is. that lies with a french organization called the bea, which is similar to our ntsb here. it's their job to look through the data available very carefully and try to figure out what happened so that ultimately we can prevent this kind of thing. >> your point is the larger question and this was posed earlier which was a very complex one, who's flying the plane, meaning we don't want to make this appear that all pilots should be under some level of scrutiny that they do not deserve when you look at the number of times this happens versus not. however, the pilot on mh 370, background, including why he had a flight simulator was put out there forehead lines. >> exactly. one of the leading theories behind mh 370 is that the pilot

locked out the co-pilot and went on a suicide run. there seem to be a spat of cases in which the pilots kill themselves and all people on board the plane, which is a disturbing prospect to look at. >> the safety questions being raised, do you believe they are fair at this point? >> it all comes down to whether the public feels safe getting on airplanes. everyone involved needs to work together to understand what's happening and try to prevent it happening in the future and people feel like when they get on the plane they'll get safely to their destination. >> we greatly appreciate your time. that does it for this edition of "news nation." up next, andrea mitchell's exclusive interview with former defense secretary and cia director, leon panetta. and this is a soda a day for a year. over an average adult lifetime that's 221,314 cubes of sugar. but you can help change that with a simple choice. drink more water. filtered by brita. ♪

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and i love helping first graders put their best foot forward. ask your doctor about lyrica. right now, mass murder? french prosecutors say the co-pilot was at the controls locked out the pilot, compressed the button and flew the plane into the mountain. >> i think that the victims

probably only realized what was going on really at the last minute. in the data we can listen to you can only hear cries right at the end, right before the point of impact? >> revelations that have stunned representatives at lufthansa today. >> we are speechless at lufthansa and germanwings, i can only repeat what i said in the last days we are shock and concerned in our worst nightmare we could not have imagined that such a tragedy took place within our company. >> and crises on multiple frints war in yemen and saudi arabia leads bombing raids on iran backed rebels. u.s. air strikes in iraq for first u.s. joined militias