Crash co-pilot showed suicidal tendencies

Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot suspected of deliberately crashing a Germanwings passenger plane last week, had received therapy for suicidal tendencies before obtaining his pilot licence, prosecutors say.

“The co-pilot was in psychotherapeutic treatment over a long period, years ago … with a suicidal tendency noted,” Dusseldorf prosecutors said in a statement on Monday.

But there had been “no indication of a physical illness”.

In visits with psychiatrists and neurologists since that time there was no evidence of “suicidal thoughts or aggression towards others,” the prosecutors added.

Lubitz, who joined Germanwings in 2013, is believed to have locked himself inside the Airbus A320’s cockpit and intentionally slammed the aircraft into a mountainside in southern France, killing himself and 149 others, including two Australians, on board last week.

Investigators said on Monday they still could not speculate as to his motive for manually changing the trajectory of the plane and remaining unresponsive as his chief pilot banged on the locked cockpit door and pleaded to be let inside.

They added that there was nothing in Lubitz’s personal or familial circumstances, or professional conditions, that could provide a potential motive.

Addressing reports that Lubitz also had an eyesight condition, prosecutor spokesman Christoph Kumpa repeated that investigators had not found evidence for any physical condition, including sight problems.

The teaching hospital at Dusseldorf University refused to say on Friday what his illness was, except that it was not depression.

Lubitz was at the hospital on three occasions starting February, the last on March 10, for a diagnostic examination.

French prosecutors said the likelihood Lubitz struggled with psychological issues remains a central theory into his possible motive.

German prosecutors, who have remained reluctant to share details into Lubitz’s personal life, said they had not found a suicide note or claim of responsibility.

A spokeswoman for Lufthansa declined to comment on the prosecutor’s statement, but said that all pilots undergo a medical fitness test before receiving a licence. The tests are repeated at 12 month intervals, and include a psychological evaluation.

“The prosecutor’s statement has been noted. We cannot comment about the evidence regarding psychological treatment or doctors visits,” the spokeswoman said.

German doctor-patient privacy laws do not allow physicians to inform patients’ employers about any condition.

German prosecutors had said they found torn doctor’s notes in Lubitz’s apartment giving him sick leave from work on the day of the doomed flight.

Recovery efforts at the crash zone, in a remote region of the French Alps, stalled on Monday morning as adverse weather conditions delayed helicopter flights that have been transporting investigators to the area.

Investigators at the crash site are still focused on finding the contents of a second black box that could give them clues into the flight’s last moments.

They were also piecing together DNA evidence from 400 to 600 pieces of humans remains that could help them identify victims, but Marseilles prosecutor Brice Robin told dpa that the DNA of the co-pilot had not yet been identified.

Advertise with us

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

Germanwings