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Co-pilot that Crashed Germanwings Flight Possibly Suffered from Mental Stress; Possible Causes of Germanwings Crash Examined; Potential Effects of Cameras in Cockpit of Flights Assessed; Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl Charged with Desertion; Amanda Knox Found Not Guilty of Murder by Italian Court; CNN Hero Provides Bike Rides for Underprivileged Children. Aired 10:00-11a ET

Aired March 28, 2015 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[10:00:06] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Investigators continue their search for answers behind the secret life of Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz and why he would steer a jetliner into the mountainside.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: What authorities say the co-pilot actually did inside the cockpit moments before the crash. We'll take you inside a plane simulator to show you what it looked like.

KOSIK: And Bowe Bergdahl, new inside from the U.S. soldier as to why he says he left his unit in Afghanistan. Will his strategy keep him out of prison?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

KOSIK: Good morning. I'm Alison Kosik in for Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you this morning. It's 10:00 on the east coast, 7:00 out west. You're in the CNN Newsroom, and we're starting this hour with breaking news. CNN is now able to confirm the identity of the captain of the Germanwings flight 9525.

KOSIK: Let's go to Cologne, Germany. That's were CNN's Frederik Pleitgen and Pamela Brown are. Fred, what have you learned about the pilot?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, guys. This comes from a relative of Patrick Sondenheimer. This morning he confirmed to a CNN crew that met him there that, indeed, his relative, Patrick Sondenheimer was the captain of that flight. He of course the man who attempted to get back into the cockpit after he was locked out by Andreas Lubitz, at least of course very subtly, then knocking very heavily on the door. He was described by Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings, as a man with a lot of experience, about 6,000 flying hours in total, had been with the company for 10 years, and we know his name is Patrick Sondenheimer. He is the man who attempted to get back into the cockpit.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, you're from cologne, Germany. You know a lot of the officials. You've been speaking with Germanwings, Lufthansa. There have been some new revelations coming to light that the co-pilot who authorities say crashed the plane had an illness. There has been speculation about whether it was a mental illness. What are the companies saying, Germanwings and Lufthansa?

PLEITGEN: So far Germanwings is saying they had these sick leave notes that apparently he destroyed saying he had this illness, saying that he was unfit to fly. All they're saying right now is they never received the notes. So they're saying what the public prosecutor is telling them, that he was trying to hide this illness, appears to be true.

We still don't know what that illness was. And there's a lot of speculation right now, some information coming from "The New York Times" and some other publications, that apparently it was some sort of mental disorder, that he was getting treatment for that, that he might have sought a second diagnosis. We have been in touch with the University Hospital in Dusseldorf, which is one of the places where he lived. And they said, yes, he came for diagnostics but they said that it wasn't for depression. They didn't say however whether it might have been for some sort of other mental disorder that he might have had.

BROWN: It's interesting a look at the dichotomy between the French prosecutor who came out a couple days ago with all of this information. The German prosecutor in Dusseldorf has been a little more tight-lipped. You're from Germany --

PLEITGEN: They are very tight-lipped. They're always tight-lipped. They don't like giving out a lot of information. They keep things secret for a very long time. I have to say, though, from having worked in this country for a very long time, by German standards the statement that they put out about the co-pilot a couple days ago or yesterday was very blunt by German standards. The fact that they said he had been trying to hide this illness, the fact that they came out with the information that the doctors' notes had been destroyed, that they found all of this shows that they feel they're under pressure, shows that they feel they need to be more transparent than they have been in the past. And it might also be the fact they're working with the French who give more information as well. But certainly they are being very, very blunt about all of this. And I think they realize I think that Germanwings realize they need the utmost transparency in how they're moving forward right now.

BROWN: Absolutely. And we hope to get more information from the officials in the coming hours, the coming days. Thank you so much, Fred Pleitgen. Alison and Victor, back to you.

BLACKWELL: All right, thank you so much. Let's bring in now, we've got Les Abend, a former commercial pilot and CNN aviation analyst, and we've got Peter Goelz up with us as well. Hopefully we can get Peter in on this conversation as well. But Les, I want to start with you. We talked two hours ago about the initial psychological test, the examinations before a pilot joins an airline. What about the background checks in the context of the reporting from this German magazine that an ex-girlfriend said that he said he was going to do something so heinous people would remember his name. Are relatives, people close to the pilots, these applicants, at that point are they interviewed at any point?

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, it's a great question, Victor. And just a small correction -- I'm still actually flying, so I'm aware of some of these things that are done background-wise.

When he came into this country and apparently, you know, some of these records are a little sketchy, but when he came into the country and apparently went to Phoenix, he would have got a background check just by virtue of the fact that he was foreign to the country when he came to the U.S. So the TSA would have got involved in that. He never would have been able to begin his flight training, number one.

[10:05:09] So that was more a nefarious type background check. They would not, more than likely, have looked into anything in way of medical issues or mental disorder type issues. You know, in this day and age, hiring a pilot does require some pretty serious background checks. Most of us go through even a step further because we utilize customs and it's a lot more of an expedited process if we use the global entry. So we're even screened beyond that. But, you know, as far as the issues with physical or mental problems, not necessarily.

BLACKWELL: So for the most part it's just criminality they're searching for.

ABEND: For the most part, that is correct. But that being said, an initial applicant, at least in the United States, has to provide some health backgrounds all the way back to grandparents. So, you know, if there's any indication of physical ailments and even mental ail ailments, that has to be provided as an applicant.

BLACKWELL: All right, we have Peter Goelz with us, former NTSB managing director. Peter, I think there are a lot of people who are listening to this conversation a bit surprised that these investigative or background checks, especially in the wake of 9/11, do not go as far as speaking with relatives, people who are close to these people who are applying to be pilots with airlines.

PETER GOELZ, FORMER NTSB MANAGING DIRECTOR: Well, I think Les pointed it out, that the background checks, particularly since 9/11, are focused on criminal or terrorist contacts, potential criminal acts. They're very rudimentary when it comes to psychological issues. And I think the aviation industry is resistant to policy changes based on a single accident. We've seen that after even Malaysia flight 370 where they still haven't put into policy tracking procedures.

But in this case I really sense that the aviation industry has been shaken by this accident and you're going to see some substantial review and changes in how pilots are screened psychologically and what their obligations are in reporting it.

BLACKWELL: You know, we think back to the day that this crash happened, and we heard from the CEO of Lufthansa that this co-pilot was 100 percent fit to fly. That was the headline that came out from the interviews with the CEO. Then just two days later these notes discovered deeming him unfit to work on the day of this crash. I mean, how can the news media hear from this investigator in just a couple days what it appear that is Lufthansa did not know or did not pay close enough attention to over the entire work history of this co- pilot?

GOELZ: Well, that's right. It was a very unfortunate use of words. But, you know, I should point out in at least one of the branches of the military, if you have sought -- if you're a pilot and you have sought medical care or treatment or even purchased over the counter medicines, you must check in with the flight surgeon, your unit's flight surgeon, before you fly again and discuss what kind of treatment you got, what kind of medicine you purchased, and he has to clear you for flight again. And that may be something that the air carriers are going to have to consider. There appears to be a tragic breakdown between those who were treating the co-pilot on a private basis and the company.

BLACKWELL: All right, Les Abend and Peter Goelz, stay with us, we'll continue the conversation throughout the hour. Thank you so much.

GOELZ: Thank you.

KOSIK: And we've still got lots of questions as I'm sure you have about this crash. Go ahead and send them to us on Twitter. It's @CNN, use the hash tag GermanwingsQS.

And the FBI has been officially asked to assist in the investigation. Next we're going to explore what that entails with former FBI assistant director and CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes.

And later we'll go live to Switzerland for new developments with nuke talks with Iran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:12:50] KOSIK: And I want to go to some live pictures brought to you from Reuters. This is a small village in France where mourners have gathered for a memorial for the crash victims. They're right now walking toward that scene. Just one of many memorials that we're seeing come out of this really devastating crash several days ago involving this co-pilot who deliberately crashed the plane into the Alps. We'll go back to these pictures as these mourners arrive.

CNN has confirmed the name of the pilot of that aircraft. Patrick Sondenheimer is believed to have been locked out of the cockpit by co- pilot Andreas Lubitz. And he can be heard on the cockpit voice recorder trying to break down the locked cockpit door as the plane went down. This information coming in as investigators continue looking for clues in co-pilot Andreas Lubitz's apartment. A German newspaper is reporting he had been treated for mental illness, and investigators found a ripped up doctor's note, several of those, actually, in his home.

Let's go ahead and bring in Tom Fuentes. He's a former FBI assistant director and CNN's law enforcement analyst. Good morning, Tom.

TOM FUENTES, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Good morning, Alison.

KOSIK: With this new information about the co-pilot, what are the next steps in this case?

FUENTES: Well, they will keep looking at his background, but in this case really most of the effort is going to be done by the German police, as we've seen. So the Germans have already searched his apartment, his parents' home. They've removed documents. They've removed probably other media. If he had laptops or other equipment there they took that. And a key portion of that has already been transported to the prosecutor's office in Marseille, France. Now, in the European system of justice, law enforcement doesn't lead the investigation. An investigative magistrate or an investigative judge. So that's why you see the prosecutors out front in both countries.

KOSIK: What more, now that this has happened, this has really opened up a lot of discussion about internal safety, and, yes, the pilots are under scrutiny, but what about the flight attendants? I don't know if you remember, several years ago there was a flight attendant on a JetBlue fight that got into a fight with a passenger. I mean, clearly there's a lot of stress on these flights. How closely are flight attendants being looked at as well?

[10:15:11] FUENTES: Well, that's a good question, Alison. I mean, we don't know if they're getting anywhere near the scrutiny pilots are getting as they're going through flight school and then graduate and get assigned to be flying and go through medical checkups every year. And now we're going to a policy where a flight attendant will now sit in the cockpit with one of the pilots if the other one leaves to -- for whatever reason, leaves the cockpit. So how well are they checked out?

So, you know, you have every issue that comes up, you might be able to solve one thing and then you create another vulnerability. And we've seen that with the locked cockpit door, the fortified doors. Now they keep good guys out and protect the bad guy that's already in the cockpit. Now you're going to let a flight attendant come in and sit. Is the flight attendant a good person? Is the remaining pilot going to kill the flight attendant? There's so many possibilities still that can come up with this in terms of who can you trust on an airplane?

KOSIK: With everything that investigators are so far finding in Andreas Lubitz's apartment, can we rule out terrorism for sure?

FUENTES: We can. We can only go by what the authorities have said, and the Germans having searched that apartment have said that they have found in sign of it, so we can only take their word at this point, and any investigative assistance provided by the FBI or other police agencies, Interpol, would be provided confidentially to the Germans, to the French, and it would be up to them to disclose what they want to. And so far they've been very forthright but they haven't talked about that issue as being a possibility. So for now we can only take them at their word.

And as Fred Pleitgen has mentioned, the German prosecutor has been unusually candid in divulging details, as has the French prosecutor in Marseilles. However, they don't have a potentially live defendant at this point, so they're not as concerned about pretrial procedures, prejudicial information, because the person that they're pretty convinced did this is dead.

KOSIK: All right, CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes, thanks.

FUENTES: You're welcome.

BLACKWELL: In all the breaking news there's another big international story we can't forget about. Nearly down to the wire for getting a deal on Iran's nuclear program. Washington says the ball is now in Tehran's court, but what are the sticking points? We'll get some answers to that question in a live report straight ahead.

Also, what it looked like inside the cockpit moments before the tragic crash in the Alps. We'll go inside a plane simulator to illustrate what the co-pilot is accused of doing that brought the plane down.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:21:27] BLACKWELL: All right, 21 after the hour now, and there are just a few days left to strike this deal with Iran over its nuclear program. The U.S. is putting pressure on Iran to make what it says are necessary compromises. Secretary of State John Kerry says negotiators are making progress, but they are not there yet. CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott is in Switzerland. Elise, all the low hanging fruit has been picked by now. What are the sticking points still on the table?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, there was a lot of optimism when the U.S. and the parties came into these talks that a framework political deal could be reached by Tuesday. Now, you know, this isn't the final accord. That would have to be negotiated by the end of June.

Now, the sticking points really center around the amount of advanced research and development Iran can do on nuclear technology while this deal would be in effect, and also the pace and scope of lifting those sanctions against Iran also while this deal would be in effect. Iran wants those sanctions lifted immediately, but the U.S. and the other parties are saying, listen, they should be lifted in phases, phased out as Iran continues to comply with its deals.

As I said, a lot of optimism coming into the talks, but diplomats telling me Iran now in this new round of talks is remaining very firm, is not budging. Yesterday was a very difficult day of talks, very serious, and now the U.S. and the parties really putting the onus on Iran to make what they're saying are the decision, do they want the deal or not. And now the other ministers, the ministers of France and Germany, are here to try to lock in that deal. The ministers of Britain, Russia, and China should be coming over the weekend, but it is getting down to the wire, and right now things very difficult, Victor.

BLACKWELL: So we're hear being this optimism. We're hearing about progress. Is there enough optimism, is there enough progress, if the deal is not done, at least this phase of it by Tuesday, to give them a little extra time? LABOTT: Well, I think if there's another day or two that they need, I

don't think anybody is quibbling about that. But what officials say is it really comes down to the fact, does Iran want this deal or not? It seems talking to officials that pretty much they can quibble about some remaining points, but the world powers have put the best deal that they can on the table for Iran. There are some things that Iran is just not going to get in this deal. It's not going to get those sanctions lifted right away. There are going to be certain curbs on the amount of technology it can develop while this deal is in effect. And if Iran isn't willing to back down on what the U.S. and the world powers are saying is the red line, it doesn't look like that would be able to be overcome.

Now, March 31st is an important deadline not only for Iran because Iranian foreign minister wants to be able to take something home to his public, but also in the United States Congress is talking about imposing new sanctions sometime in April if this kind of framework pact is not reached. So while it's not a firm, hard deadline in terms of the legality of it, it is really a critical milestone for both the U.S. and Iran.

BLACKWELL: All right, Elise Labott there for us in Switzerland. Elise, thank you so much. Alison?

KOSIK: Would a second person in an airline's cockpit at all times save passengers from harm? In the wake of the Germanwings tragedy, airlines across Europe are revamping safety measures, and we're going to show you what's being done and if it will keep you safe. That's coming up next.

BLACKWELL: But first this week's "Ones to Watch" series examines the art of sculptors. And a new artist picked to fill the largest space at the world's most visited modern art museum.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[10:25:12] CHRIS DERCON, DIRECTOR, TATE MODERN: Abraham Cruzvillegas is one of the leaders of the pack of reinventing sculpture while still adhering to his local background and to his own traditional modernity.

ABRAHAM CRUZVILLEGAS, SCULPTOR: I'm not a traditional sculptor like carving marble or wood. I use my own hair, I use shoes, I use plants, roots, potatoes, everything for making sculptures.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For Cruzvillegas, even a simple glass bottle has artistic potential. It made its way from the scrap heap to the gallery floor because of an idea born some years ago.

CRUZVILLEGAS: I took my own experience for making some works that I call out of constitution that are related to the way people construct their own houses. What we call out of construction in Mexico is sometimes called "Avella" (ph) in other countries or in shanty towns. It's an ongoing process in which people do things as they can with whatever they find at hands. So that's the way my parents constructed the house where I grew up. DERCON: Sculpture is a challenging kind of thing. It has an amazing

history, and it's very different from painting to challenge that very history because sculpture was made of wood, it was made of bronze, but it was never made of, for instance, dirt or rejects.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: The full show is at CNN.com/OnesToWatch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:11] BLACKWELL: Welcome back. Bottom of the hour now, and you're watching our special coverage of the deadly Germanwings plane crash. We now know the name of the plane's captain. CNN spoke to a relative who has confirmed he was Patrick Sondenheimer.

KOSIK: Now this morning two helicopters have been deployed above the mountainous crash in the French Alps. Recovery teams have found bodies but they tell CNN few are intact. A remembrance ceremony for the victims was held in a nearby town today.

BLACKWELL: Also new details are emerging about the co-pilot who allegedly flew his plane into a mountain on purpose, killing all 150 people aboard. According to this German tabloid "Bild" an ex- girlfriend says that Andreas Lubitz, that's the co-pilot's name, he woke up screaming from nightmares. And the paper says that he suffered a serious depressive episode sometime in 2009 and then spent more than a year in psychiatric treatment. That has not been confirmed though.

We do know from what prosecutors have said that the co-pilot was alone in the cockpit when the aircraft went down as the captain banged frantically on that door.

KOSIK: CNN national correspondent Kyung Lah joins us now. Kyung, in the aftermath of this crash the European Aviation Safety Agency is recommending that cockpits be staffed by at least two crew members at all times. According to an aviation website the autopilot on the Germanwing flight was programmed in the cockpit to change the altitude from 38,000 feet to 100 feet. Now, even if a flight attendant were in the cockpit, would they even know, have they been trained to know if the altitude had been changed?

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's start by explaining what you're talking about, which is known as a two-person rule. I want to introduce pilot Buck Rodger, a current commercial pilot. You have 20 years flying in commercial airlines. We're actually in a simulator, correct?

BUCK RODGER, AERO CONSULTING EXPERTS: That's right. We're in A-320 simulator, the same type of aircraft, same cockpit that Germanwings was using.

LAH: And let's talk about the lock on the door and what this two- person rule, why it's coming into play. RODGER: So with these reinforced cockpit door, Kyung, we have to have

people come in and to go out. So when somebody is on the outside of the door and wants to come in, they will enter in a code or call on the phone, and the pilot that's inside would answer and respond to allow the person in.

Now, how is he going to verify that the person on the outside of the door is really the pilot? So somebody has to look through the peephole or through a camera, some of these airplanes do have cameras, and then verify that the person trying to get in here is really the right person. So if he was alone, he would have to get out of the seat, go to the door, which would not be safe. So we have a two- person rule. So that second person is in here --

LAH: The flight attendant, for example.

RODGER: The flight attendant, crew member would be in here and then could verify the person on the outside of the door before opening it.

LAH: And so she doesn't touch this.

RODGER: No, this is the cockpit door lock. This is for pilots and pilots only. This switch is so I can -- if somebody is at the door I don't want them to come in, I can take the switch to lock and that would completely lock out the electronic keypad on that door. Now, I also have a mechanical lock I can go back to the door and lock it.

LAH: And this -- quite a bit of discussion has been on the altitude of the autopilot being set at 100.

RODGER: Right.

LAH: The altitude is here, correct?

RODGER: Right. This is our mode control panel. This is how we manipulate the autopilot on the airplane. And if I wanted to change altitudes, I would take this knob and I would dial it down to the altitude I'm cleared to. Now, in this case we have been -- it's been reported that the co-pilot set in 100 feet, and then he would pull the button and the airplane would just start down and it would be as simple as that.

LAH: And we're already starting to move down in the simulator.

RODGER: That's right. It's already starting, just because I did that action and pulled this button, two steps, the airplane is now descending.

LAH: It is such a simple move.

RODGER: It is.

LAH: Do most flight attendants know if they're standing there, it's at a crisis, it's at 100, would a flight attendant know to look that it's 100 and then turn it back to 28,000 or 38,000? RODGER: A flight attendant would not touch this panel. However, when

I have a flight attendant in the cockpit, I'm by myself, and I get an altitude change, I will tell the flight attendants we're changing altitudes. And I will even say I'm changing altitude to 1,000 feet. Pilots, before we touch this knob, we verify between each other that I'm changing that knob. So if ATC were to clear us down let's say 1,000 feet, let's say we're at 28 and they clear us down to 27, we would acknowledge it on the radio, 27,000. I would say I'm setting 27,000 feet, verify, the other pilot would verify, and then we would make it happen.

LAH: We're flying over very much -- we're flying other the Alps in this simulator.

[10:35:02] RODGER: Right now we are.

LAH: Tell me about that -- the thought process of turning this to 100 over the Alps where there is clearly nowhere to land.

RODGER: Right. So this is a very difficult subject, right, because why would any pilot put in 100 feet over the Alps? And there's only one reason, and that's to descend the airplane into the mountains, because once I set 100 feet here I can stop it immediately. We're in a descent right now, we're coming through 18,000. So I will set it to 18,000, and pull the button and this airplane will stop descending at 18,000 feet. So by setting in an altitude below the terrain, this airplane, if you did nothing, would impact the terrain.

LAH: Pilot Buck Rodger, thank you so much.

RODGER: You bet, thank you for having me.

LAH: Back to you Victor and Alison.

BLACKWELL: Thanks, Kyung. I have a question before you guys go. Would the passengers on this plane as soon as that was turned from 38,000 to 100, obviously by the time they got to the level of mountain peaks they would know that they were going far too low, but initially would they have noticed such a subtle change. You said you felt it. Was it dramatic?

LAH: It's not dramatic. We're having some issues here. It's not dramatic, but what you do feel is you do feel it slightly dropping. And we've talked about this for quite some time.

RODGER: That descent -- assuming the co-pilot just set in a new altitude and pulled the button, that descent would have been a normal descent, Kyung. It would be just like you were climbing or descending. Nothing out of the ordinary would have been felt by the passengers.

BLACKWELL: All right Kyung Lah, pilot Buck Rodger, thank you so much.

KOSIK: Amazing to see that.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and I'm glad that they were able to show us some of the things we've been talking about for the past couple days.

It's really scary to think this airline could hire pilots intent on crashing airplanes. Maybe not the intent when he took the job, but from the reporting certainly the intent that day in the cockpit. Now many safety experts are calling for cameras to be placed in all cockpits. But would that have changed anything here?

KOSIK: And Bowe Bergdahl, we're learning new details about why the U.S. soldier says he left his unit in Afghanistan, but is his defense strong enough to keep him from spending years in prison?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:56] BLACKWELL: The tragedy of Germanwings flight 9525 has reignited this debate over cameras inside airplane cockpits. Some say this is a good idea. Others consider it a violation of pilot privacy. Our Brian Todd looked into the issue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Andreas Lubitz had locked himself alone in the cockpit as the captain pounded on the door. Now safety experts are calling for a bold move to avoid another disaster -- cameras in the cockpit.

JIM HALL, FORMER NTSB CHAIRMAN: The cameras would not be on the face of either of the pilot or the co-pilot. They would focus on the instruments and on the manipulations that are made.

TODD: Former NTSB chairman Jim Hall said cameras in the cockpit would be a b deterrent to bad behavior or careless piloting and would be a key investigative tool. What could cameras trained on the control panel detect?

LYNN SPENCER, FORMER COMMERCIAL AIRLINE PILOT: You can see the instruments. You can see what they're seeing on their instrument panels, and their screens. You can see what they're doing with their hands.

TODD: Cameras on the instruments wouldn't necessarily give investigators much help in the Germanwings crash probe. They already know how that plane went down technically. But former commercial pilot Lynn Spencer says cameras trained on pilot's faces could catch certain moments that cockpit voice and flight data recorders might miss.

SPENCER: Was the pilot choking? Is the pilot having a seizure?

TODD: The technology is already on the market, but one manufacturer told us no airlines have bought their cameras. Cameras are already used to monitor key missions like Friday's launch to the International Space Station. They're used to watch some train operators, taxi drivers, and bus drivers, including this one caught looking at his phone, then crashing. Cockpit video could even be live streamed back to controllers on the ground in real time, although the expense of installing and streaming thousands of live cameras could be prohibitive. Spencer says cockpit cameras could have provided key evidence in some of the most infamous disasters in aviation, including 9/11.

SPENCER: If we had had cameras in the cockpits on 9/11 we would have been able to see how the hijackers took over the cockpit, how they killed the pilots, how they tried to manipulate the controls.

TODD: The top pilots union in America is staunchly against the idea. In a statement to CNN, it says cockpit video, quote, "is subject to misinterpretation and may, in fact, lead investigators away from accurate conclusions."

Pilot union officials also say they're worried about a video leaking. They say voice data recorder clips have been made public in past cases, especially overseas, and no pilot wants their final moments to be posted all over the Internet.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: He's been accused of desertion, but Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl says he was not planning to leave his unit for good. A U.S. general is going to weigh in on that.

And later --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANDA KNOX: You saved my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Amanda Knox gets very emotional after learning her murder conviction is overturned by an Italian court. You will hear it play out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:47:39] BLACKWELL: New developments concerning the government's desertion case against Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl and what could be his defense in this case. A defense official tells CNN that Bergdahl left his unit in Afghanistan in 2009 intending to, and this is the description, "to walk to the nearest outpost in order to report wrongdoing." And he reportedly believed he could not trust his own commanders to deal with his concerns over, quote, "order and discipline problems within his unit." He fell into the hands of the Taliban after he left.

KOSIK: Now let's get some analysis on these new details. Joining us is CNN military analyst Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona and CNN correspondent Erin McPike. First, let's go to Colonel Francona. The question is if he went AWOL or if he is a deserter. What's the difference in terms of potential sentencing against Bergdahl, and will his time spent under the Taliban count in that sentencing as well? LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, I think so. The

difference is AWOL is absent without leave. It just means you're away from your post with the intention of returning. Desertion means that you leave your post with no intention of coming back. Desertion is much more difficult to prove and it carries with it much more dire consequences. You can be in prison for life, and in some cases even the death penalty could be used for desertion. So a lot of times these are just pled out as AWOL and most people say I intended to come back. Very difficult to prove desertion.

Now, if he's found guilty, and we don't know where this is going, but assuming that he is found guilty by the courts martial, they can take into consideration the five years he spent in the hands of the Taliban. But that should have no bearing on whether he deserted or not. That was pre, his incarceration by the Taliban, so they're going to concentrate on the actual departure from his duty station.

KOSIK: What do you think? Is this a strong enough defense he walked away to go talk to somebody?

FRANCONA: I have to tell you, this sounds like a legal ploy to me. I'm not a lawyer. I have only been on one courts martial. It sounds like he's trying to say why he went away. He's not denying that he left. I think that's a pretty foregone conclusion. Now we have to delve into why he went. I tend to not believe this because you don't put your weapons, your night-vision goggles, and your combat vest down on the ground and walk away. If I'm going to go anywhere in a hostile area, I'm going to have my weapon with me. I'm going to be fully outfitted just for self-protection. So I'm having trouble accepting that as the reason.

[10:50:11] KOSIK: Erin, let me turn to you. It was just 10 months ago that President Obama was celebrating Bergdahl's return with his parents in the Rose Garden. How is the Obama administration reacting not only to these new developments in the case but also criticism on how the administration essentially handled his return knowing that he swapped Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban terrorists out of Guantanamo?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alison, first, the White House is not commenting on any of these new developments because it is an ongoing investigation and they want that to play out. As far as securing the release of Bowe Bergdahl, White House officials continue to keep saying that, of course, they would do that because they don't leave any American behind on the battlefield. And last, as far as President Obama celebrating with Bowe Bergdahl's parent, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said earlier this week on CNN that the president seized that opportunity because he wanted to show that America always stands behind all of its military personnel, Alison.

KOSIK: All right, CNN correspondent Erin McPike, Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, thanks so much.

FRANCONA: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: We have a lot coming up after the break, including Amanda Knox's emotional statement to the press after finally being cleared of murder charges.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:14] KOSIK: This week's CNN hero may be 74 years old, but she still can go off-road like she's 16. For almost three decades Marilyn Price has used mountain biking to introduce a world of nature and possibility to city kids used to living in a world of concrete. In the end children in her program see more than just beautiful vistas and mountaintops. They see the potential in themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARILYN PRICE, CNN HERO: I've been riding since age four. I will never forget my father when he let go of my seat and I was there on my own, and that was 70 years ago. A lot of kids have never really left the city. To them everything is concrete. Is everybody excited? I decided to take kids who have never had my kind of experience on these mountain bike rides. OK, you guys, let's hit the road.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wasn't trying at school. I was getting straight F's. I got expelled. When you go on bike rides, I kind of feel like it clears my mind.

PRICE: Looking good. I have been doing this for almost 30 years. You bring them where there are no buildings. It is like, wow, I didn't know that this existed. And then we have our "Earn a Bike" program where kids in the community come after school.

What's wrong with it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The chain.

PRICE: So the chain is loose?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

PRICE: They learn how to work on bikes and they earn points towards bikes of their own. That looks great. They learn good job skills.

This bike is getting quite an overhaul.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now I get A's and B's. They're like my guide to a better life.

PRICE: There is opportunity to see that, yes, I have been able to accomplish what I thought I couldn't. It is not just biking. We are imparting life lessons.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: So you say you know of someone who should be a CNN hero? Let us know at CNNHeroes.com.

BLACKWELL: Fredricka will have more on the Germanwings plane crash investigation at the top of the hour, but right now let's take a look at other developing stories. KOSIK: After eight years a grateful Amanda Knox can put her high-

profile murder trial behind her. Knox made a brief statement after Italy's Supreme Court overturned her murder conviction late Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KNOX: I'm incredibly grateful for what has happened, for the justice I have received, for the support that I have had from everyone, from my family, from my friends to strangers to people like you. You saved my life and I'm so grateful. And I'm so grateful to have my life back. Thank you, and that's all I can say. Right now I'm still absorbing what all of this means. And what comes to mind is my gratitude for the life that's been given to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Knox and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were accused of murdering her roommate in 2007. Knox had been facing 28-and-a-half years in prison.

BLACKWELL: A St. Louis man is violently attacked on a train ride all because he refused to weigh in on the controversy in Ferguson. You see the cellphone camera rolled as three men punched and kicked him. He says one of the men asked his opinion on Michael Brown. He told him he was too tired to think about it, and that's when he was sucker punched. Police are using this surveillance video to find the men. And each face a third degree assault charge, which is a misdemeanor.

KOSIK: Astronaut Scott Kelly has set out to spend 342 days on the International Space Station, the longest stretch of time any U.S. astronaut has spent in space. Kelly along with two Russian cosmonauts blasted off last night. Part of Kelly's mission will be to perform parallel studies on Scott Kelly's identical twin brother, retired astronaut Mark Kelly.

Thanks for watching.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and there's much more ahead in the next hour of the CNN Newsroom. We turn things over now to our colleague Fredricka Whitfield.

KOSIK: Hey Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good to see you both. All right, we have a lot straight ahead.

BLACKWELL: Yes, yes.

WHITFIELD: As you know. You've had a very busy morning, too. Thanks so much, I appreciate it.

It's the 11:00 eastern hour on the east coast here. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The Newsroom starts right now.

And we begin with the latest on the crash of Germanwings flight 9525. CNN can now confirm the identity of the captain of the doomed flight. It was Patrick Sondenheimer who tried to desperately to get back into the cockpit but to no avail.

[11:00:09]