rene marsh is our aviation correspondent. she joins us with that side of the forstory, tell us more. >> reporter: i spoke with the ntsb. they're saying at this point they're waiting to find out are there any parts on board this plane that were u.s. made. of course they're also going to want to know if any u.s. passengers were on board. if that is the case of course the ntsb's role would be enhanced here. at this point they are talking to the bea, which is essentially the equivalent of the ntsb. the french equivalent of the ntsb to try and get that information. the ntsb saying they are awaiting and ready to help if need be. you're looking at some images of the airbus a-320. the safety record for this particular aircraft is extremely good. the same goes for the airline, luftanza. at this point it is a mystery as to what could have gone wrong. as you know carol, the takeoff and landing are the critical points of flight where the majority of times you will see a crash. not at cruising altitude at 35,000 feet where this aircraft w

and now, we are joined by david soucie and faa inspector rene marsh, and faa correspondent as well aslots seen by doctors that are approved by airlines rene? >> in the united states or germany? germany? >> according to fred pleitgen who i talked to a short time ago, it is not necessary that the co-pilot would have seen a doctor that was part of a insurance program, the company, that would be much more of a public insurance program? >> what we do know is that first-off, when it comes to the hiring process, yes, in order to get the medical certificate, the faa makes it clear what the requirements are as far as medical testing and we know that once you are hired, and you become a pilot depending on the age, every 6 to 12 month, you are required to go in to get a medical physical check to essentially make sure that you are still physically able to do the job. during the medical checkup, the doctor will ask various questions to gauge if you are not only physically sound, but also mentally sound, and again, as we have been saying, anderson, this is really the honor system here in which you

rene marsh has been working her sources on this. she joins us momentarily, but first, how this tragedy unfolded. >> reporter: 10:01 a.m. local time german wings 9525 takes off from barcelona after a 26 minute delay. flies over the mediterranean and starts to climb. around 10:27, hits cruising altitude after 38,000 feet. just about three minutes later, right around the time 599525 is back overland in france something goes wrong. loses altitude quickly, a span of about 8 minutes, drops nearly 27,000 feet to 11,400 feet. it's now deep into the french alps. >> you just don't descend. as a pilot, you have to request the descent, have to request to change altitudes. since we know they didn't do that because air traffic control did not know, had not communicated with them that they were talking to air traffic control, they could have told them about any problem they had on board. so whatever caused any problem was unable to communicate or have no time to communicate. >> as the plane goes further into the mountains, it continues to lose alt

rene marsh is in washington checking into this. she has new information to share. ot off the phone with the french equivalent of ntsb. it does appear to be badly damaged on the outside but at this point that does not mean that they will not be able to get valuable information off of the cockpit voice recorders. what's happening as we speak right now is the team is working to open the orange casing that you're looking at because inside of the orange casing are motherboards that hold this critical information and data. so they are in the process of opening that up right now. if everything is okay and all goes well and there's no damage i'm told the bea will be able to download this information today. however, if there is damage then that complicates things and now that could be a two to three-day process. as far as at the investigation site what we know now is that bea investigators are taking photographs and mapping the debris field. they are not retrieving any pieces of the plane just yet. what they want to do is identify pieces of the plane, parts of the cockpit, p

we'll start with cnn aviation correspondent rene marsh. rene, such a mystery about what happened to the u.s. planeplane. the u.s. says it's likely not terrorism, but what do we know? >> what we know actually makes the crash even more perplexing. this airbus a-320 has an impeccable maintenance record. it received a maintenance check yesterday and the pilot had been applying with the airline for more than ten years. what could have gone wrong? critical could answering that will be the debris and the black boxes. tonight this is the challenge pg rocky terrain first responders and investigators are navigating, germanwings flight 9525 with 150 people went down in the snowy french alps with peaks as high as 10,000 feet. what seemed like a routine flight from barcelona to dusseldorf turned deadly. it took off at 10:01 local time. tracking site showed the plane climbed to a cruising altitude of 38,000 feet but only stayed there for about three minutes before starting an unplanned descent. >> it seems to me that it was still a controlled descent. >>

we're going to go to rene marsh in a second.to go to les abend for a second to give us insight into what tom just showed us. >> the altitude is one thing. it did start a descent. the descent to me did not seem radical until that one point that we've discussed a little bit earlier with reference to it being at 10,000 feet but that could have been the lack of dada. what's curious to me is decrease in air speed. if tom is correct and that data decreased about 100 miles per hour from 500 to 400, that could be an engine failure which means the airplane obviously only is on one engine but they had to go slower because they only had the one engine. >> if there was engine failure, you wouldn't have time to issue a distress call? >> if it was just a run of the mill engine failure, there should have been time at 38,000 feet which makes me curious again. this is a lot of conflicting data from all sorts of sources so we don't really know. it's hard to say at this point in time. engine failure is something we train for all the time. you won'

cnn's rene marsh has more from washington. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol.alking about weeks apart, metro-north in new york and then weeks later in california a metro link train and then this situation involving an amtrak train just yesterday. sadly, the situation looks like this. there are thousands of accidents a year and hundreds of deaths and, carol, overwhelmingly the number of fatalities they are happening at these rail crossings. >> so what are officials doing to ensure the rails are safe? >> reporter: there is technology out there. there is technology for example, that prevents the cars from crumpling. we found that at play in the california incident. that's been known to save lives. there's also technology called positive train control. that would not have helped in this situation we saw yesterday, but it would help in a situation where maybe a train is going too fast or the conductor isn't paying attention, maybe the conductor fell asleep or is texting. we've seen situations like that in the past so positive train control has the ability to automat

my colleague, rene marsh, joins us now with those details. rene, what can you tell us?> pam, we now know the identities of the two americans on board this plane. we know that it is yvonne selke and her daughter, emily selke, both of virginia. emily selke was a student at drexel university. the university has confirmed to cnn they are aware of her death. we also know that the sorority she was a member of, gamma sigma sigma, they have posted on their facebook page paying their respects, calling her, she beautifies what their alumni stands for and they give a long, long posting to her memory. we also know that emily selke worked as a car workplace here the washington, d.c. a spokesperson there confirming that she did work there. but this is the headline. we now know the identities of these two americans, a mother and a daughter, yvonne selke and emily selke. cnn has been in contact with raymond selke, he is the father and the husband of the two victims here. he tells us that he will be issuing a family statement later on today but tells cnn he is just broken up and just to

our aviation and government regulation correspondent rene marsh is at dulles with much more. it's amazing when you see cell phone video like this playing out on a plane but it sounds like a terrifying ordeal upon takeoff, renee. >> reporter: absolutely, kate. i mean, we're talking about united flight 1075 on its way from here, dulles, to denver, when this all played out. you just saw the video there. we know passengers jumped in and they were able to restrain them. we also have audio from this flight and you can hear the moment when the pilots make that emergency call to air traffic control to describe this violent passenger. take a listen. >> we're declaring an emergency due to a passenger disturbance. he ran forward toward the cockpit and he is being restrained by other passengers. the cockpit is secure and we would just like to return to the airport and have the authorities meet us. >> reporter: we do know that plane was able to land safely here. turned right back around here at dulles and law enforcement officials were able to remove this man from the aircraft and he was t

cnn aviation and government regulation correspondent rene marsh following this story. it sort of is baffling. how did this happen? >> reporter: absolutely. i can tell you that this watchdog group isn't happy about this. the department of homeland security office of inspector general is sounding the alarm because they say this felon and former domestic terror group member was given expedited screening at a u.s. airport last summer. it's a less stringent screening process usually reserved for low-risk passengers. you get to keep your shoes on and your coat on. laptop can stay in the bag. the report says that the traveler who was involved in numerous criminal activistties some involved explosives and murder this person was allowed that expedited screening. how did this happen? you can apply for pre-check or you're randomly picked for pre-check. in this particular case he was randomly picked based on biographical information he provided to the airline and tsa also ran his name through data bases like the no-fly list. his name did not appear on those lists. the tsa is being

cnn aviation correspondent rene marsh joining me with the latest. >> reporter: randi, not only was this caught on video, but you're about to hear audio the moment the pilots make the emergency call to air traffic control to talk about this violent passenger who's on board. >> declaring an emergency due to a passenger disturbance. >> reporter: breaking overnight, a frightening scene aboard a denver bound jet liner. >> he ran forward towards the cockpit and he is being restrained by other passengers. >> reporter: this passenger was screaming and tried to rush the cockpit, but passengers on board subdued him shortly after takeoff. >> i'm sorry. >> don't move david. you're okay. we're going to get you off this plane, buddy. >> reporter: united airlines flight 1074 heading from the washington d.c. area around 10:40 p.m. when the incident forced the pilot to turn around. >> the cook pitckpit is secure and we would like to return to the airport and have the authorities meet him. >> reporter: flight 1074 returned to the airport following takeoff on monday evening after a passenger failed to com

joining me now rene marsh with the american angle here. rene talk to me about this mother and this daughter and now this third american. >> so brooke that is the news and the headlines that just came out of the state department that there were indeed three americans on board this night. we know the identities of two, the first yvonne selky and her daughter emily. they're both from virginia 45 minutes outside of washington, d.c. we are learning more biographical information about these two. we know that emily selky is a student at drexel university the university confirming to cnn that they are aware of the death. also her sorority there, she was a member of gamma, sigma, sigma. they also paid their respects to her via facebook. we do know that she worked emily worked at a company by the name of car works here in washington, d.c. she worked as a community manager and we know her mother works for the consulting firm booze allen. so that's what we know about those two. cnn has been in contact with richard selky who is the father and the husban

joining me from washington rene marsh, cnn reporter and government regulation correspondent. wo press conferences, from the french prosecutor and lufthansa's ceo. they say they still have no idea of motive and as of yet they don't plan to change their policies of just allowing one person to be in the cockpit if the other pilot needs to take a break. >> reporter: right, i would say, anderson two things stood out to me in these press conferences. the first issue you just brought up which is they don't have protocol in place in which they have here in the united states which essentially is if someone, a pilot, copilot, has to leave the cockpit, either a trusted member of the crew or flight attendant will come in to the pilot or copilot is not in the cockpit alone. here that's not the case as far as lufthansa goes. the other thing that really got my attention is the fact that there is this no psychological testing. we do know here as it stands in the united states pre-employment at the very least, pilots not only go through a medical test but also are tested as to whether they are

want to bring in cnn aviation correspondent rene marsh.he pilot. what now do we know? >> reporter: let's do a quick fact check. there were 144 passengers on board, six crew. we also know now that the airliner was delivered to lufthansa which owns this aircraft in 1991. that makes it about 24 years old. it's an older aircraft. but the age at this point not raising any red flags. we also know that the last routine maintenance check happened just yesterday. the last big check which is routinely done, that happened in the summer of 2013. as far as who was at the controls, we know that the captain of this aircraft, he flew with lufthansa and germanwings for over ten years. so this was an experienced pilot. as far as the path, here's what we know today as it relates to this aircraft. we know that it went down without the pilot's communicating with air traffic control. so this aircraft, it took off, it climbed to 38,000 feet. this is all based on flight tracking websites. and it was at about 38,000 feet, which is cruising altitude. usually the sa

cnn aviation correspondent rene marsh is live in washington. with this kind of criminal background how would he or she be able to get this fast track through security? >> reporter: well you laid out some of his -- this person's background but this felon's criminal activities we want to add, involved explosives and includes murder. yet the felon sailed through precheck. that means shoes coats, belts, all were allowed to stay on. they don't have to remove certain liquids and gels from their luggage. there are two ways you can get precheck status. either apply or you are randomly picked. we know in this case the felon was randomly picked. that means the criminal background was not checked, no fingerprints were provided but we should point out the name was matched against a terror data base and we know that the name did not appear in the terror data base. that being said i spoke with a former tsa official today who says look this really highlights the weakness of precheck. as this watch dog report states just because someone is not on a watch list

rene marsh, thanks so much. cnn justice correspondent pamela brown is in dusseldorf germany where the investigation is happening right now. pamela you are kind of doing a deeper dive into just who this co-pilot was. you just saw investigators leave this apartment. they were carrying boxes of papers. how long were they inside there? >> reporter: they were inside for about an hour and a half john. we are right outside of andreas lubitz's apartment in dusseldorf germany. these officers came in plain clothes. they were inside for about an hour and a half as i point out, and they walked out, at least one of them was carrying a big box, possibly of even more evidence. there were papers in that box. we don't know exactly what was in there but what we do know is they made that discovery here yesterday. the ripped-up medical note that rene talked about, among other notes that he apparently didn't share with his employer and we also today went to a medical clinic where he apparently visited as recently as march 10th. this

. >>> cnn's rene marsh is now at reagan national airport right outside washington, d.c. we have more than 1500 flights canceled already nationwide? this storm is going to be a huge problem for air travel. >> reporter: it certainly is, jake. add on to tomorrow when you take a look there, more than 1500 flights already canceled. here at reagan national airport, you can see all of the red, those are the delays. even though the weather has not officially made its way to us yet, we are already starting to see the impact in the way of cancellations as well as delays. so the cities being impacted the most we are talking about dallas chicago, philadelphia newark laguardia of course in dallas places like that where ice is going to be an issue, there is going to be lots of de-icing so expect some delays and of course cancellations as a result of that because as we know, ice and flying just do not mix. we are talking about roughly another 48 hours after the storm moves before things get back into gear and people will be able to get to their destinations but we know that what airlin

all right, okay. >> that report from renee marsh. disturbing development.gers on the plane were booked on other flights from washington to denver today. that's it for me. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room" starting at 4:00 p.m. eastern, 10:00 p.m. in israel we'll start getting election results. "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right now. >>> all right. here we go. i'm brooke baldwin. breaking news at the top of the show on this tuesday afternoon. i know at first it sounds like a familiar headline but this time it's much much different. a young man, a westerner, accused of trying to enter syria and join isis. this time that young man is not only an american he's a u.s. air force veteran. cnn justice correspondent pamela brown broke the story for us within this past hour. pamela who is he? >> well he's a 47-year-old man, brooke. as you point out, he's an air force veteran. he served in the a

let's bring in our aviation correspondent, rene marsh, she's here with me watching what's going on.us a little bit about what we know. first of all, about the aircraft. >> we know this is an airbus a320 very very good safety record. we know more than 6,000 of them off the assembly line. but just to put this all in context of what happened here is still a mystery. remains a mystery. that's why it's a breakthrough that they found at least one of the black boxes. when you look at what we know so far, we know this aircraft did go through its last routine maintenance check just yesterday. we know it had its last big check just last summer of 2013. we also know a bit about the captain. the captain at the controls had over ten years of experience with lufthansa and germanwings. so not by any means a rookie here. but still, though we know that something went terribly wrong, something happened so fast that these pilots did not have a chance to communicate with air traffic control before this plane went down. a little bit about the path of the plane that we know it did take off, it was able t

rene marsh has been saying from anything that we've seen before this is absolutely unusual. >> more unusualhan malaysia? >> that was unusual. >> i would think that would take the cake. rene want to bring you into this discussion. i guess it's not so unusual for authorities not to release the names of the pilot, the co-pilot or any real information about them until later? >> reporter: right. even when you look here in the united states the ntsb they never release the names of individuals involved in accidents. the names are usually -- that information usually comes, for example, from the airlines but not the ntsb. that's just the way it usually works. so it doesn't surprise me that at least at this stage the investigators are not taking it upon themselves to release individual's names. again, that usually comes from the airline. >> just keep in mind as we watch the events unfold over the next few days carol, this is a very remote place. it's difficult to get the recovery of the remains and the aircraft and they are wholly engaged in that task. at the same time lufthansa has to continue runni

let's get to cnn aviation correspondent rene marsh. rene, what you can tell us? >> jake we are just getting information from the french police. we want to say thisat this point they're saying they're unaware of the video. the agency investigating this, they're unaware of this video as well. that being said the idea that someone on board possibly captured their final seconds alive is truly chilling. that's what's being reported. it's unclear whether it was a passenger or a member of the flight crew but the description of this reported video is truly chilling. in the rubble at the crash site of germanwings flight 9525 a cell phone reportedly found. on it video shot from the back of the doomed airbus 320. if true that means one of the helpless people on board captured the final terrifying moment brzs before the plane crashed. about 35 minutes after takeoff, as the plane rapidly descends, the bangs on the doord trying to get in. as reported by a french magazine and german newspaper the video captures banging more than three times alarms were triggered that sounded li

let's go to our aviation correspondent rene marsh. rene what have you learned? >> wolf we now have the names of the two americans who were killed on board this aircraft. the first one, yvonne selke and her daughter, emily selke. we also know a little bit more about these fikt victims as well. emily selke was a student at drexel university and the university has confirmed to cnn they are aware of the death. you are looking at a picture of emily selke on your screen right now. her sorority gamma sigma sigma, posting on their facebook page their regards and memory for her saying quote, they are mourning the loss of their beautiful alumni. we know the two are from nokesville virginia about 45 minutes outside of washington, d.c. they leave behind raymond selke who is the father of emily and the husband of yvonne. he spoke to cnn today and as you can imagine, wolf he says he is too distraught to talk. but the family will be issuing a statement later on today. wolf we also know that emily selke worked in the washington, d.c. area. and we have been in touch with her emp

let's again with our aviation correspondent rene marsh. she has the very latest. rene? a small car. the mystery tonight is what went so terribly wrong on board an aircraft with an impeccable safety record it just passed a maintenance record the day before and had experienced pilots in the cockpit. tonight, this is the challenging rocky terrain first responders and investigators are navigating. germanwings flight 9525 with 150 people on board went down in the snowy french alps where peaks are as high as 10,000 feet. what seemed like a routine flight from barcelona to dusseldorf suddenly turned deadly. the flight took off at 10:01 a.m. local time. flight tracking sites show the plane climbed to a cruising altitude of 38,000 feet before starting an unplanned descent, dropping to 11,400 feet over eight minutes. >> it seems to me it was still a controlled descent. >> around 52 minutes after takeoff, air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane. its last known altitude 6,000 feet. then flight 9525 disappeared from radar. >> translator: a terrible very sad day for germa

first, let's go to our aviation correspondent rene marsh for the very latest. rene?l phone has been found at the crash site. the focus now, what sights and sounds did cell phone video capture? french and german publications describing one reported piece of video in chilling detail. if true the video will provide investigators with a rare look inside the crash of a major commercial airliner. in the rubble at the crash site a germanwings flight 9525 a cell phone reportedly found. on it video shot from the back of the doomed airbus a320. someone on board captured the terrifying moments that may help investigators understand what happened in the moments before the crash. as reported from french magazine and german newspaper "bild," the video captures metallic banging more than three times. 90 seconds later according to like transcripts, alarms were triggered that sounded like this. >> pull up. terrain. screams, oh my god, in several different languages were heard according to the report. >> i think every pilot across the united states is horrified and very saddened that

let's bring in our aviation and government regulation correspondent rene marsh who's working the storyport say? >> this is a report, 41 pages. it's very alarming. essentially they say that the nation's air traffic control system is weak and vulnerable to hackers. now, the faa's computer systems they are critical helps air traffic controllers communicate to pilots when it's safe to land when it's safe to take off. and also keeps the planes at a safe distance apart. a hacker could interrupt all of that. needless to say, that could be catastrophic. there are thousands of planes in the air at any given time. so what are the problems? according to this report, the faa lacks adequate ways to protect sensitive data. the faa also lacks adequate ways to protect unauthorized access to the computers. now, it doesn't detail word for word what the weak points are because essentially they do not want to lay out a blueprint to wreak havoc on airspace. the agency does say in the report until the faa effectively implements security controls the weaknesses gao identified, are likely to continue. operati

let's go to our aviation correspondent rene marsh. she is working this part of the story. what are you learning? >> well after an accident a plane's flight recorders are the priority for investigators. these recorders are the most critical pieces of evidence essentially capable of unlocking the mystery of what went wrong. what you're looking at here is this is what happens when it gets taken to the lab. that board you're looking at there, that is the crucial piece. that is the memory board which will hold all of that critical data and you can see the material that was just taken off, it is very heavily insulated with thermal insulation. the orange portion of the box that you usually see, that is what essentially protects this. this is what investigators are going to be plugging into their computers, they are going to be downloading. specifically we know in this case they have the cockpit voice recorder so what's going to be on that? well on these pieces here and on these little chips here they are going to be able to listen in for sounds anything from voices people who the

re rene marsh joins us from washington. >> if you look at all three incidents, they are similar in thatrailroad crossings. they involve vehicles that are on the tracks and the train in the end makes impact with that vehicle. in relation to this incident that just happened yesterday between this amtrak vehicle and the truck on the tracks, we know as a result of this there was service disruptions and delays as the investigation is under way. i just got late word from amtrak that the tracks are now being cleared and reopened for service. i did speak with a woman who was sitting in a vehicle behind that tractor-trailer. she says that for about 15 minutes, this tractor-trailer was trying to make a left on a roadway that runs parallel to the railroad. a state trooper was there trying to help this truck driver navigate that tough turn. it just so happens according to her that the truck was just too long and just had a lot of problems doing so. in a matter of moments she says she heard a train coming and saw lights flashing and then came impact and you are looking at video that some witnesses c

cnn's rene marsh joins us from dulles international airport with more. >> you're about to hear the pilotsyou mentioned that takedown of that unruly passenger -- it was all caught on camera. >> declaring an emergency due to a passenger disturbance. >> breaking overnight, a frightening scene aboard a denver-bound jetliner. he ran forward towards the cockpit and he is being restrained by other passengers. >> this passenger was screaming and tried to rushed cockpit. but passengers on board subdued him shortly after takeoff. >> i'm so sorry. >> don't move david, you're okay we're going to get you off this plane. buddy. >> united airlines flight 1074 heading from the washington, d.c. area to denver at around 10:40 p.m. when the incident forced the pilot to turn around. >> the cockpit is secure. and we would just like to return to the airport and have the authorities meet him. >> a spokes map for the airline saying flight 1074 returned to the airport following takeoff on monday evening after a passenger failed to comply with crew instructions. local law enforcement officials met the aircraft

first, the latest from our aviation correspondent rene marsh marsh. >> details about what happened intely flown into a french mountain side. data from the plane suggests someone manually set the autopilot to bring the jetliner down. >> we can conclude that in all circumstances it's deliberate. >> deliberate. the chilling word from a french prosecutor makes clear the crash was no accident. both the lead investigator and the lufthansa ceo say they believe lubitz locked the captain out. >> it seems to be true the colleague who was in the cockpit, the co-pilot, did not give the captain access. >> a flight tracking website tells cnn they have analyzed data from flight 9525's transponder and have determined someone reprogrammed the autopilot from 38,000 feet to just 100 feet. >> what it did was tell the autopilot i want to start down. my understanding was that 100 feet was set, which pretty much would indicate his intentions because 100 feet is below the level of the terrain. >> the cockpit voice recorder revealed the co-pilot was alive up until impact. but he ignored calls from air traffic

from rene marsh who has seen the report. how does this happen? is a convicted flopterrorist through? >> reporter: despite the explosives the passenger randomly picked for precheck. all coats, shoes, stay on and certain liquids and gels do not have to be removed from luggage. what's alarming this program reserved for low-risk passengers was opened up to a former domestic terror group member and essentially what it allowed for was a less stringent screening process. >> what's the satsa saying about all this? >> reporter: the traveler's name did not appear on a terror watch list. it didn't appear in a terror database. they also went on to say if authorities thought he was a threat the agency's position is the name would have been on something like the no-fly list. the agency went on to say they have a multi-layer approach to security and defended its screening practices but in this report the inspector general made the point just because someone is not on a watch list does not make them low risk anderson. >> have any changes been made in the wake of

want to get to cnn aviation correspondent rene marsh. so many new developments today, including we heard from the company. >> reporter: right. just a short time ago, lufthansa's ceo says they are struggling to understand how an airplane that was in perfect technical condition with two experienced pilots was involved in such a terrible accident. tonight, investigators are closer to answering some of the many unanswered questions. some of those answers are starting to come from the plane's cockpit voice recorder. this is the strongest clue investigators have in their hands. the exterior of germanwings flight 9525's cockpit voice recorder looks damaged but french authorities revealed today they have had some success. >> we are very glad that the first flight recorder has been retrieved yesterday and the french authority confirmed just a few hours ago that one of the audio streams is readable. >> reporter: the cockpit voice recorder captured audio up to the moment of impact. it will provide critical information like whether the pilots were t

want to get right to cnn aviation correspondent rene marsh. these are stunning developments. the ceo of lufthansa which owns germanwings sounded almost dismayed today. >> absolutely. now we know about all these details. we know that alarms were blaring, warning that the aircraft was approaching land yet the co-pilot left the plane on its path. the question tonight is why. we now know this moves beyond being an accident investigation. it's now also a criminal investigation. >> so we can conclude that in all circumstances, it's deliberate. >> reporter: deliberate. that chilling word from a french prosecutor makes clear the crash of germanwings flight 9525 was no accident. both the lead investigator and the lufthansa ceo say they believe this man, 28-year-old co-pilot andreas lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit. >> translator: the captain left the cockpit for a short time and sadly could not go back. it seems to be true that the colleague who was still in the cockpit, the co-pilot did not give the captain access. >> reporter: investigators say once alone, lubitz deliber

i want to bring in cnn's rene marsh.his really does renew the arguments about what capabilities these tsa officers should have. >> that's right. when you even look at the stats, last year alone, we know tsa seized more than 2,000 guns at checkpoints. this latest incident only highlights what can happen when those weapons are put to use and now after this attack the union representing tsa officers says the officers need guns to close what is a security gap at airports. a tsa officer on a stretcher and the machete-wielding attacker face down and handcuffed. the weapon nearby. this about 40 seconds after 63-year-old richard white stormed a security check point inside new orleans louis armstrong international airport friday. >> this man was swinging very hard. very hard with that machete. if he would have made contact with anybody, it would have been terrible. >> reporter: that machete came within inches of tsa officer carol rochelle. she says white sprayed officers and bystanders with wasp spray, then charged the checkpoint

you can see cnn's rene marsh joins us from dulles international airport with more on this breathtakingsolutely, michaela. not only is there video, but there's audio of the pilots as they make that emergency call to air traffic controllers describing this violent passenger who was on board. >> declaring an emergency due to a passenger disturbance. >> reporter: breaking overnight, a frightening scene over a denver bound jet liner. >> he ran forward towards the cockpit and he is being restrained by other passengers. >> reporter: this passenger was screaming and tried to rush the cockpit, but passengers on board subdued him shortly after takeoff. >> i'm sorry. >> don't move david. you're okay. we're going to get you off this plane, buddy. >> reporter: united airlines flight 1074 headed from the washington d.c. area to denver around 10:40 p.m. when the incident forced the pilot to turn around. >> the cockpit is secure and we would just like to return to the airport and have the authorities meet us. >> reporter: a spokesman for the airlines saying in part flight 1074 returned to the airport

our aviation correspondent rene marsh is at dulles airport outside of washington, d.c., and what aresome 7,000 feet in the air and now the man at the center of this midair scare is being held at a local hospital for observation. >> okay okay, okay. >> this out of control passenger tackled midair onboard united airlines flight 1074 before he and lij allegedly tried to rush the cockpit yelling "jihad jihad quits. >> i'm sorry so sorry. >> we're going to get you off this plane. >> the flight was cleared for takeoff and the boeing 737 climbed to 7,000 feet when the pilots were forced to make an emergency call to air traffic control. >> declaring an emergency due to a passenger disturbance. >> reporter: the plane from washington dulles airport bound for denver was in the air roughly five minutes when the pilot was forced to turn around. >> he ran forward towards the cockpit and he is being restrained by other passengers. the cockpit is secure and we would just like to return to the airport and have the authorities meet us. >> reporter: in the back of the plane, a fellow passenger captured

rene marsh is here. she has more information. what are you learning?ails coming from the cockpit voice recorder. it provides a harrowing account of the deadly flight. the audio has not been made public but a german newspaper says they have obtained a transcript from the recorder and it paints a picture of a co-pilot who appeared to encourage the captain to leave the cockpit, a captain who fought to get back in and tear phi ry phied passengers on board. 10:00 tuesday morning germanwings flight 9525 takes off nearly 20 minutes late. according to the "bild," the captain, 34-year-old patricksays they will try to make it up in the air. lubitz responds go any time. at 10:27, the plane reaches 38,000 feet cruising altitude. the captain asks lubitz to prepare the landing. after the check, lubitz tells the captain, you can go now. there is the sound of a seat moving backward and the captain allegedly says you can take over. once the captain leaves the cockpit door is locked. >> the co-pilot manipulates the control. >> reporter: data streamed from the transponde

first, let's go to our aviation correspondent rene marsh. >> reporter: another shocking revelation aboutgs 9525. a prosecutors says did he not leave a suicide note and no indications of political or religious motivation. but investigators did make some alarming discoveries, evidence inside his home suggests he should not have been flying that plane. new video tonight shows investigators hauling boxes of evidence from the apartment of an andreas lubitz. a prosecutor says he kept a medical condition a secret. an unknown illness that could have grounded him and potentially kept him off tuesday's deadly flight. >> we have found a letter that indicated that he was declared by a medical doctor unfit to work. so we have reason to believe that he hid his illness. >> reporter: medical leave notes were found ripped in the apartment, parent apartment, apparently never delivered to his employer. authorities have not stated publically whether lubitz's illness was physical or related to mental health issues. he was treated for depression and was excused from work by a neuropsychologist for a period of

cnn's renee marsh joins us live from washington. dent renee. >> reporter: another one. alisyn, this morning federal investigators are on the scene of this crash to determine the official cause. meantime eyewitnesses are describing a great detail the forceful impact that happened right in front of them. >> oh, my gosh. oh, my gosh. >> reporter: a frightening scene on the tracks. an eyewitness catching the moment of impact on camera. this amtrak passenger train from north carolina to new york barreling into a tractor-trailer stuck on the tracks sending cars flying off the rails and the train's engine on its side. >> it sent both the engine and the trailer in the air at least 20 foot. it looked like a bomb went off. >> reporter: more than 200 passengers were aboard the train. dozens of injured were transported to hospitals with nonlife threatening injuries. the train's conductors among those treated. witnesses say the tractor-trailer got stuck on the tracks while trying to make a difficult left turn. >> like an explosion. and everything

let's ask rene marsh who sat down with the head of the national highway traffic safety administration new this morning. and we know that this major car seat manufacturer graco, they just got hit with the largest penalty ever for a car seat maker. we're talking $10 million. federal regulators say that graco, they knew about a defect that caused the buckle on certain car seats to get stuck in the latched position. trapping kids in the seat. of course that's problematic in the case of an emergency. despite that the company waited months before recalling the more than four million seats. here's the breakout $3 million will have to be paid to the federal government right away. and $7 million must go towards a safety campaign essentially educating parents. ntsa says this is a record-breaking find and it's sending one message -- >> largest car seat recall and it's the largest penalty for that sort of particular kind of defect. so yeah you follow the law and if not, we're going to be there to make sure it's enforced. >> so other thing that nhtsa wants parents to ham anywhere on is the fact th

let's go to rene marsh. rts of any american lives on board, we do hear rene that the ntsb is going to be involved in the investigation. what do we know? >> reporter: well they're at this point not saying they're going to be involved in the investigation but they are saying they are paying very close attention to what is happening at this hour. i just got off the phone with the ntsb. they are very aware of the situation. they plan on being in contact with the bea, which is essentially the french equivalent of the ntsb here in the united states. ntsb also saying if they are asked they will be more than happy to offer support, but usually they don't get involved in this sort of crash investigation because, number one, this plane we do know is manufactured -- it's a french manufactured plane. however, if we do find out that other parts on this plane are linked to the united states perhaps even if there is a passenger on board or more than one passenger on board linked to the united states of course that changes t