article_snippet: Contrary to some early reports, the French Civil Aviation Authority told CNN that the crew of the Germanwings plane did not issue a distress call.
article_snippet: It was air traffic controllers who sent out a distress call after radio contact with the Germanwings plane was lost.
article_snippet: The lack of an emergency call can raise a red flag to a nonpilot.
article_snippet: Why would a pilot not alert someone that there is an emergency?
article_snippet: it might sound counterintuitive, but calling for help is not the first thing on a pilot's checklist when things go wrong.
article_snippet: Soucie said the principle that a pilot follows during an emergency is this: Aviate, navigate and communicate.
article_snippet: In other words, before turning on a distress call or transponder, the pilot's first concern is to fly the Germanwings plane, and secondly, to find the safest option for a crash landing, if it comes to that.
article_snippet: A distress call -- had it happened -- could have signaled a different story.
article_snippet: Schiavo explained that there are codes that pilots have -- certain words that if uttered by The Germanwings pilot indicate to air traffic controllers that there is a hijacking.
article_snippet: The initial reports are that there was no hijack code transmitted from the Germanwings plane.
article_snippet: A big part of determining the cause of the crash will be whether such a code was sent or not.