Pilot was locked out of cockpit in Germanwings Crash

Germanwings plane crash live: Flight 9525 pilot 'locked out of cockpit' of A320 downed in France

Early findings from the cockpit voice recorder suggest the pilot made desperate efforts to get back in after he was locked out.

The investigation into the causes of the Germanwings crash in the French Alps on Tuesday resumed today. Here are the latest news updates:

• One pilot was 'locked out of the cockpit before Alps crash', claim US reports

• Grief over lost German exchange class is echoed by new friends in Spain

• Simon Calder's analysis: What are the unanswered questions?

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Investigators are releasing details of the "usable" data recovered from the cockpit voice recorder about Flight 9525.

According to reports from the New York Times and AFP, an unnamed investigator was quoted as saying that one of the pilots, it is not clear if it is the captain or the first officer, left the cockpit and had been unable to get back in.

"The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door, and there is no answer," the investigator said, describing audio from the recorder.

"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 source further adds that an alarm indicating proximity to the ground can be heard before the moment of impact.

While parent company, Lufthansa is yet to reveal the names of the plane's pilots, it is reported that the co-pilot who joined Germanwings in September 2013, directly after training had flown 630 hours.

The captain, on the other hand, had more than 6,000 hours of flying experience and had been with Germanwings since May 2014, having flown previously for Lufthansa and Condor.

Speaking with newsmen, Remi Jouty, director of the French aviation investigative agency said the second "black box", which is the flight data recorder, had not been found.

He further revealed that the plane had been flown right to the end as air traffic controllers had tried to contact the pilots without success, saying the team was "not in a position to have the slightest explanation or interpretation of the reasons that could have led this plane to descend"

Friends and relatives of the crash victims are expected to arrive at the crash site at Meolans-Revels later today, Thursday