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Prosecutor: Co-pilot on doomed flight hid ongoing ‘medical treatments’ Co-pilot in jet crash said to have had depression
(about 7 hours later)
MONTABAUR, Germany — The co-pilot suspected of intentionally crashing Germanwings Flight 9525 apparently tried to hide his medical treatments from the airline, including tearing up a “sick note” that covered the day of the crash, a German prosecutor said Friday. MONTABAUR, Germany — On the day he appeared to fly a commercial airliner into a chilly mountainside in France, Andreas Lubitz was hiding a potentially deadly secret: a chronic medical condition that a doctor had determined was serious enough to keep him out of the sky.
The statement gave no details on the medical issues, but Germany’s Bild newspaper reported that Andreas Lubitz had been treated for at least one “serious depressive episode” in the past and had to suspend his flight training because of psychological issues. Among the pile of evidence seized by investigators in Lubitz’s belongings were torn and crumpled doctors’ notes excusing the pilot from work. The notes included a period extending to Tuesday, the day of the crash. The discovery came as investigators probe whether the 27-year-old’s health — including possible psychological problems and a suspected background of clinical depression — played a critical role in an air tragedy that claimed 150 lives.
The twin accounts added to growing suspicions that the 27-year-old pilot had a series of psychological treatments over the years as he moved up the ranks from flight attendant to the cockpit of an Airbus A320. Authorities would not reveal the exact nature of Lubitz’s illness. But an official from the German prosecutor’s office in Düsseldorf, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to reveal details beyond an official statement, said that the doctors’ notes were related to a “long-lasting condition.” Asked whether they were also related to psychiatric problems, he said, “Read between the lines.”
Ralf Herrenbrück, a senior prosecutor in Düsseldorf, said it appears Lubitz had “existing illness and medical treatment” and that had tried to conceal them from the airline and colleagues. The comments came after Germany’s Bild newspaper reported that Lubitz had been treated for at least one “serious depressive episode” so bad that he had to suspend flight training for several months in 2009. On Friday, the Rheinische Post also reported that the medical notes discovered in Lubitz’s apartment came from at least two doctors — suggesting he may have been searching for a favorable diagnosis and possibly feared losing his medical certification to fly.
[How the pilot was locked out of the cockpit] German aviation authorities said that Lubitz’s medical file, tied to his pilot’s license, contained a notation that he was required to have “special regular medical examinations,” but such citations can relate to a wide range of medical conditions.
Herrenbrück said “torn-up, current sick notes were found, including from the day of the incident.” He gave no other details about the contents of the notes, but such notes in German are typically written by a medical professional to excuse their patients from work or other obligations. Yet the prospect that mental-health problems may have figured in the crash of the Germanwings plane additionally shined a spotlight on what critics call flaws in the regular medical checks required of airline pilots, who must pass as many as two exams per year. Such tests, however, are largely geared toward catching physical ailments, such as vision or heart problems, that could impair performance in a cockpit. But mental-health tests in fitness evaluations are often cursory, sometimes amounting to little more than a written questionnaire.
Herrenbrück said the documents and other evidence “supports the assumption that the deceased had been hiding his illness from his employer and colleagues.” “Typically, there are no tests applied to identify psychological diseases,” said Andreas Adrian, an aviation doctor who evaluates Lufthansa’s and other airlines’ pilots in Bremen, Germany. “Maybe you are giving someone a questionnaire to answer, but of course, you can get a good actor and he can easily hide any issues.”
But he added that none of the evidence recovered so far clearly points to specific motive. The debate intensified on Friday over whether mental health should be more deeply probed — an effort strongly opposed by some pilot groups and others who say that could add to the pressures of an already-high stress job.
“The measures did not result in the finding of a so-called suicide note or a written claim of responsibility,” he said. “Neither was any evidence found that the incident was politically or religiously motivated.” More rigorous mental-health testing could “uncover thousands of people who are going through difficult times in their lives and prevent them flying when they are perfectly capable of carrying out their normal day jobs,” said Philip Baum, editor of the magazine Aviation Security International. “You will have to employ far more pilots, and it would be an additional stress and could make things worse.”
The University Hospital Düsseldorf confirmed Lubitz visited the facility in February and, for the last time, on March 10 for “diagnostic clarifications.” The hospital statement gave no further details, citing medical confidentiality. But it denied German media reports that Lubitz had been treated there for depression. The possibility that Lubitz may have hidden his condition — a task that could have been made easier by strict medical privacy laws in Germany — might help explain how he passed his flight training program. Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr said this week that his company, which owns Germanwings, was never informed of the reason for Lubitz’s medical leave in 2009, a period in which the newspaper Bild said Lubitz was suffering from clinical depression.
The account by Bild cited security sources saying Lubitz has been in a “life crisis” that included troubles with his girlfriend. Yet, even if he did hide an illness, the fact that Lubitz — who lived much of the year with his parents in this quiet, picturesque town in southwest Germany — passed muster at Lufthansa’s demanding flight school with what Spohr called “flying colors” raised additional questions. The course is meant to weed out potentially troubled men and women, using role play scenarios in cockpits to measure reactions to conflict and stress, as well as highly personal lines of questioning to assess psychological balance.
The report drew no direct connection between Lubitz’s present psychological state and Tuesday’s apparently deliberate plunge into the French Alps that killed all 150 aboard. “They have to expect questions about their personal histories,” said Michael Müller, chief executive of ATTC, a company that helps prepare pilot candidates for entering flight schools, including Lufthansa’s. “How did you grow up? Did your parents divorce? How did you feel when they did?”
[Reports: pilot attempted to break down cockpit door with ax] Under existing aviation laws, any diagnosis of depression or other serious mental illness should have made it difficult for Lubitz to continue flying in Europe, and certainly not without extensive treatment. Even then, certain limitations are placed on pilots who are taking psychotropic medications — such as popular anti-depressants — including a stipulation that they not be alone in the cockpit.
But the emerging details offered a possibly fuller portrait of Lubitz as authorities groped for reasons and the global airline industry moved rapidly with reforms, including some carriers following the U.S. lead to require two people at all times in the cockpit. On Friday, Lufthansa joined the growing list. Investigators, meanwhile, sought more answers about the man who German and French investigators believe brought down Flight 9525 on his own.
Bild reported that Lubitz received treatment six years ago for a “serious depressive episode” at the beginning of his training. The report cited sources at Lufthansa, the parent airline of the budget carrier Germanwings. At Lubitz’s apartment in a leafy middle-class neighborhood on the outskirts of Düsseldorf, neighbors had affixed Germany’s black, gold and red flag at half-staff on a utility pole. Pink camellias bloomed near the entrance to the three-story building, and a small palm tree sat on Lubitz’s balcony.
It also said Lubitz had slowed his flight training because of treatment for unspecified psychological issues, and was temporarily deemed “unfit to fly” during instructions at Lufthansa’s aviation school outside Phoenix. On the doorbell, the name Goldbach appeared with Lubitz’s. Neighbors said Goldbach was the last name of the woman who lived with Lubitz in the apartment. It was not immediately clear whether they were married.
Lubitz’s personnel file contained a special code saying he needed to have “special regular medical examinations,” Bild added. Lubitz and Goldbach were both reserved but friendly, and Lubitz would from time to time walk along the street in his pilot’s uniform, neighbors said, on at least one occasion stopping to play with a neighbor’s 3-year-old daughter.
The report followed the stunning announcement by a French prosecutor Thursday that evidence from the cockpit flight recorder led to one horrific conclusion — that Lubitz barricaded himself at the controls and put the A320 onto an intentional collision course with rugged mountains in southern France. A police spokesman outside the building said Friday that investigators had completed their searches a day earlier, spending 3 1/2 hours scouring the apartment and taking away two cardboard boxes and a large bag of Lubitz’s possessions.
The Lufthansa group did not immediately comment on the Bild report. The University Hospital Düsseldorf confirmed that Lubitz visited the facility in February and, for the last time, on March 10 for “diagnostic clarifications.” The hospital statement gave no further details, citing medical confidentiality. But it denied German media reports that Lubitz had been treated there for depression.
A Lufthansa spokesman confirmed Lubitz had a “training pause” yet later “passed his examination perfectly.” Its psychiatric and neurologic clinic is a 10-minute drive from Lubitz’s Düsseldorf home, on a rolling campus filled with Italianate buildings.
“He had medical clearance” from Germany’s civil aviation agency, the spokesman said. Birnbaum reported from Düsseldorf. Stephanie Kirchner in Montabaur and Karla Adam in London contributed to this report.
On Thursday, Lufthansa’s CEO, Carsten Spohr, described Lubitz as “100 percent fit to fly” when he took his seat on the Barcelona-to-Düsseldorf route.
[Can crashes like these be prevented in the future?]
In Düsseldorf, police guarded the entrance to Lubitz’s apartment on the end of a quiet suburban street called “The Witches’ Cottages.” A small palm tree rested on the balcony of Lubitz’s third-floor apartment. Next door, the German flag had been lowered to half-staff.
Investigators conducted a search Thursday and took away some items in two cardboard boxes and a sack, said the city’s police spokesman, Markus Niesczery. He gave no details on the objects removed.
In Montabaur, a town of 13,000 where Lubitz was raised, police also stood outside the family’s house — a two-story home with eyelid windows — as a German prosecutor and other officials searched the inside late Thursday. They carted off large blue plastic bags filled with evidence without speaking to reporters.
One official familiar with the investigation said authorities had not yet found anything that would suggest a suicide note, but the official cautioned that the forsensics were in the early stages. German and French officials said there were no indications Lubitz belonged to a terrorist organization.
At the same time, a chilling account of the flights final moments emerged from French prosecutors and officials at Lufthansa.
Almost 10 minutes before panicked screams echoed through the aisles as Flight 9525 plunged toward the mountains, Lubitz — who had worked up flight steward to co-pilot — was silent and alone in the cockpit.
[Watch: A grim tour of the wreckage ]
The Airbus had cruised to 38,000 feet amid cheerful banter between Lubitz and his far more experienced pilot. But as the pilot shifted his attention to paperwork for landing the short-haul Germanwings flight, Lubitz grew less animated, offering brief responses.
At 10:31 a.m. Tuesday, the pilot — named in the German media only as “Patrick S” — apparently heeded nature’s call, rustling out of his seat and exiting the cockpit, never to get back in.
Moments later, Lubitz, according to a French review of recovered flight data, took the A320 off autopilot and began a controlled descent that initially would not have seemed unusual to those aboard.
Then came the knocking — increasingly frantic — by the pilot as he sought to reenter the locked and reinforced cockpit door. In the final moments, the sounds of terrified passengers filled the plane even as Lubitz — audibly breathing as a bleeping alarm warned of imminent collision — kept quiet through the end.
Near the crash site, French experts set up a mobile laboratory on Friday as the first step in testing DNA samples to try to identify the remains.
[The co-pilot’s path from a young aspiring aviator]
Those who knew Lubitz, meanwhile, still struggled to reconcile their memory of the reserved young pilot and avid runner with the accounts of French prosecutor Brice Robin, who said that Lubitz’s actions appeared to be a deliberate attempt “to destroy the plane.”
A longtime aficionado who dreamed of flying planes as a youth, Lubitz belonged to his local flight club and, after a stint as a cabin attendant, landed a coveted spot in Lufthansa’s pilot training program in 2008.
His time as a flight attendant earned him the nickname “Tomato Andi” at flight school, the newspaper Bild quoted colleagues. Lubitz did his training, which can take 33 months, at company facilities in Bremen, Germany, and Arizona.
Lubitz was relatively new to the post of co-pilot at Germanwings. He had been in the job for 18 months, logging 630 hours of flight experience — enough, authorities said, to safely manage the plane on his own. Lufthansa CEO Spohr said Lubitz passed the company’s stringent physical and psychological tests.
Birnbaum reported from Düsseldorf. Brian Murphy in Washington and Virgile Demoustier in Paris contributed to this report.
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