WATCH ABOVE: The New York Times is reporting a senior military official told the paper one pilot was locked out of the cockpit before the plane went down in the French Alps Tuesday. Tina Kraus has the latest.
One of the pilots on board Germanwings Flight 9525 was locked out of the cockpit when the plane crashed Tuesday, according to a report in The New York Times.
Citing evidence from the cockpit voice recorder, an unnamed senior military official told the Times that one of the pilots left the cockpit and could not re-enter.
“The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door and there is no answer,” the official told the Times. “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,” the official said.
READ MORE: What we know about crash victims
The investigator did not speculate as to why the other pilot didn’t open the door or make contact with ground control before the plane crashed.
Earlier Wednesday, French investigators cracked open a mangled black box and retrieved some audio from its cockpit voice recorder seeking to find out why a German plane dropped unexpectedly plumetted into a mountainside, killing all 150 people on board.
The evidence cited in the report is currently being analyzed by investigators with the BEA, France’s accident investigation office, who are analyzing the planes final moments before the Airbus
A320 began to descend midway through its flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf and crashed into the French Alps.
READ MORE: France finds 1 black box, looks for 2nd on craggy mountain
French investigators have said no distress call or anything out of the ordinary was issued in the last communication before the crash.
“The descent is compatible with a plane controlled by pilots,” Remi Jouty, head of the BEA told the Associated Press “It is also compatible with a plane controlled by automatic pilot.”
“At this point, there is no explanation. One doesn’t imagine that the pilot consciously sends his plane into a mountain.”
Jouty said earlier Wednesday that “sounds and voices” were heard on a file recovered from the first black box, but would not elaborate further citing a need to better decipher them.
WATCH: Aviation expert Scott Hamilton discusses how pilot could have been locked out of the cockpit
*With files from the Associated Press
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