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Germanwings Co-Pilot Was Treated for ‘Suicidal Tendencies,’ Authorities Say
Germanwings Co-Pilot Was Treated for ‘Suicidal Tendencies,’ Authorities Say
(about 2 hours later)
DÜSSELDORF, Germany — The co-pilot of the Germanwings jetliner that crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday had been treated for “suicidal tendencies” before receiving his pilot’s license, the office of the public prosecutor in Düsseldorf said Monday.
DÜSSELDORF, Germany — Before he received his pilot’s license or achieved his dream of flying passenger jets, the co-pilot of the crashed Germanwings jetliner was so troubled that he underwent treatment for “suicidal tendencies,” a prosecutor said Monday, raising questions about what the airline should have known about his condition.
The co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, had been treated by psychotherapists “over a long period of time,” the prosecutor’s office said, without providing specific dates. In follow-up visits to doctors since that time, the prosecutor said, “no signs of suicidal tendencies or aggression toward others were documented.”
The co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, was at the controls last week as the Airbus A320 jet dived from cruising altitude to smash into the French Alps, killing all 150 people onboard. French officials said the crash appeared to have been no accident, but an intentional act on the part of Mr. Lubitz.
Mr. Lubitz’s medical records show no physical illnesses, the prosecutor said, an apparent reference to vision problems that Mr. Lubitz had been experiencing, which officials said may have been psychosomatic in nature.
Mr. Lubitz, 27, had been treated by psychotherapists “over a long period of time,” the public prosecutor’s office in Düsseldorf said in a statement on Monday, without providing specific dates. In follow-up visits to doctors since that time, the prosecutor said, “no signs of suicidal tendencies or aggression toward others were documented.”
Mr. Lubitz, 27, was at the controls of a Germanwings Airbus A320 jetliner on Tuesday, en route from Barcelona, Spain, to Düsseldorf, Germany, when he apparently set it on a course to crash into the mountains in southeastern France, a French prosecutor has said. Voice recordings from the flight indicate that Mr. Lubitz was alone in the cockpit and refused to allow the captain to re-enter as the plane crashed, killing all 150 people on board.
Under current German law that emphasize privacy, it was up to Mr. Lubitz to disclose his history to doctors examining his fitness to fly, according to Roland Quast, medical director of Aeromedical Center Germany in Stuttgart.
It is not clear what, if anything, Germanwings and its parent company, Lufthansa, knew about Mr. Lubitz’s condition during his training and after he started flying for them. Spokesmen for the airlines said the companies were aware of the prosecutor’s findings but had no comment.
“What is decisive is that the pilot tells the truth,” he said. “If he lies, we don’t have lie detectors.”
On Thursday, Carsten Spohr, the chief executive of Lufthansa, said at a news conference that Mr. Lubitz had passed the company’s health checks with “flying colors” and “was 100 percent flightworthy, without any limitations.”
Mr. Lubitz’s medical history has raised questions over how much leeway medical professionals should have to inform the authorities about patients in positions that could affect public safety. Parliamentary deputies from Germany’s governing coalition have called for doctors to break confidentiality when a patient shows suicidal tendencies. Karl Lauterbach, a Social Democrat and a medical expert, told the daily newspaper Bild that if lives could be endangered, “the doctor has a duty to inform the employer about the unsuitability of the employee to do his work.”
Prosecutors have questioned many of Mr. Lubitz’s friends and colleagues, but have thus far found no indication of a suicide note or a clear motive behind the crash. “In particular there continues to be no verifiable warning of such an act nor has any claim of responsibility been found,” the Düsseldorf prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
That applies “especially in the case of psychiatric illness and the possible danger of suicide,” he said.
Heinz Joachim Schöttes, a spokesman for Germanwings, said Monday that the airline was aware of the prosecutor’s statement about Mr. Lubitz but declined to comment.
Prosecutors have questioned many of Mr. Lubitz’s friends and colleagues, but have found no indication of a suicide note or a clear motive behind the crash. “In particular, there continues to be no verifiable warning of such an act nor has any claim of responsibility been found,” the Düsseldorf prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Investigators had found no one close to him, whether personally or professionally, who was able to name “any special situation that could serve as a viable indication of a possible motive,” the statement said.
Investigators had found no one close to him, whether personally or professionally, who was able to name “any special situation that could serve as a viable indication of a possible motive,” the statement said.
Investigators from Germany, France and beyond are facing the difficult task of determining what motivated Mr. Lubitz, whether it was recent trouble with his eyesight that may have threatened his career as a pilot or issues in his personal life that could have weighed on him. The latest announcement by prosecutors suggests they believe his mental-health problems could well have played a significant role in the crash.
And Dr. Quast, who leads a panel that advises the German government on difficult pilot-fitness cases but has not reviewed Mr. Lubitz’s records, said it was possible that the co-pilot did tell doctors about his history and that they had concluded “that the problem was over.”
That, in turn, will fuel the debate taking place in Germany over how much leeway medical professionals need to inform the authorities about patients in positions that can affect public safety. Critics say the national obsession with personal privacy in Germany may have helped keep Mr. Lubitz in the cockpit when he should have been grounded.
According to friends and acquaintances, Mr. Lubitz was focused from his youth on the single goal of becoming an airline pilot, and began flying gliders when he was 14. He was accepted into Lufthansa’s prestigious flight school after graduating from high school, and received training in the German city of Bremen and in Arizona.
Parliamentary deputies from Germany’s governing coalition have called for doctors to break confidentiality when a patient shows suicidal tendencies. Karl Lauterbach, a Social Democrat and medical expert, told the daily newspaper Bild that if lives could be endangered, “the doctor has a duty to inform the employer about the unsuitability of the employee to do his work.” That applies “especially in the case of psychiatric illness and the possible danger of suicide,” he said.
Mr. Lubitz interrupted his training for at least several months, a period that has come under particular scrutiny. Prosecutors did not say whether the treatment he received for suicidal tendencies came at that time.
The question of what the airline knew, and when, about Mr. Lubitz’s mental condition will be closely examined. Mr. Lubitz would have been required to disclose any history of mental illness to doctors examining his fitness to fly, according to Roland Quast, medical director of Aeromedical Center Germany in Stuttgart. Not to do so would have been a serious infraction, he said.
Michael Göntgens, a spokesman for Lufthansa, which owns Germanwings, declined to comment on whether the break in Mr. Lubitz’s pilot training, which the company acknowledged last week, was connected to the analysis disclosed Monday.
“Either he said nothing, or it can also be that the case was examined and the conclusion was reached that the problem was over,” Dr. Quast said. He leads a panel that advises the German government on difficult pilot fitness cases, but he emphasized that he had not seen Mr. Lubitz’s medical files.
On Thursday, Carsten Spohr, the chief executive of Lufthansa, said at a news conference that Mr. Lubitz had passed the company’s health checks with “flying colors” and “was 100 percent flightworthy, without any limitations.”
Dr. Quast said that though it is very thorough, the pilot fitness system is not equipped to catch a person who is determined to deceive doctors. “What is decisive is that the pilot tells the truth,” he said. “If he lies, we don’t have lie detectors.”
Investigators from Germany, France and beyond are facing the difficult task of determining what motivated Mr. Lubitz — issues in his personal life, perhaps, or recent trouble with his eyesight that may have threatened his career. Mr. Lubitz’s medical records show no physical illnesses, the prosecutor said, an apparent reference to his vision problems, which officials said might have been psychosomatic in nature.
Psychiatrists cautioned that it was impossible to know the nature of Mr. Lubitz’s problems or motivations without an in-depth review of his psychiatric history and records. They noted that antidepressants, which the authorities have said were found in Mr. Lubitz’s apartment, are prescribed for many other illnesses and conditions besides depression, some of them not related to mental illness.
The announcement by prosecutors on Monday suggests that they believe his mental health problems could well have played a significant role in the crash.
They also noted that while depressed people can be suicidal, suicidal thoughts or impulses are associated with many other conditions, including anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug abuse, bipolar disorder and psychotic disorders like schizophrenia. About 90 percent of people who commit suicide suffer from some type of diagnosable mental disorder, studies have found.
Germanwings Flight 9525 was on its way to Düsseldorf from Barcelona, Spain, when Mr. Lubitz apparently put it on its fatal course, a French prosecutor has said. Voice recordings from the flight indicate that Mr. Lubitz was alone in the cockpit, and refused to allow the captain to re-enter as the plane lost altitude.
“Suicide to psychiatrists is like snow to Eskimos; we’ve got 40 words for it,” said Dr. Paul Summergrad, president of the American Psychiatric Association and the chairman of the psychiatry department at Tufts University School of Medicine. He added that suicidal tendencies can range “all the way from someone who, at one extreme, has transient thoughts of self-harm, to people who have intense and relentless thoughts of killing themselves.”
Law enforcement officials in Germany have mobilized in force to deal with the complex case presented by the crash. More than 200 officers from the Düsseldorf police have worked on what they are calling Special Commission Alps. Roughly 100 officers remain involved in the effort to identify the victims and get to the bottom of how and why they died. Two French airplane crash experts are in Germany cooperating with the Düsseldorf commission.
Dr. Summergrad said that a variety of physical illnesses can cause depression, and that at any given moment about 1 in 14 Americans has it in some form — but the vast majority “neither commit suicide nor pose a risk to others.”
He said he could not comment specifically on Mr. Lubitz because his association prohibits such speculation.
According to friends and acquaintances of Mr. Lubitz, he was focused on the single goal of becoming an airline pilot from his youth, and began flying gliders when he was 14. He was accepted into Lufthansa’s prestigious flight school after graduating from high school, and received training in the German city of Bremen and in Arizona.
Mr. Lubitz interrupted his training for a period of at least several months, a period that has come under particular scrutiny. Prosecutors did not say whether the treatment he received for suicidal tendencies came at that time.
Michael Göntgens, a spokesman for Lufthansa, declined to comment on whether the break in Mr. Lubitz’s pilot training, which the company acknowledged last week, was connected to the analysis disclosed on Monday.
According to a federal law enforcement official in the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigations has conducted interviews in Arizona at the flight school Mr. Lubitz attended, but has not found anything “remarkable.” The agency forwarded the information it gathered to the German authorities.
Law enforcement officials in Germany have mobilized in force to deal with the complex case presented by the crash of the plane, Germanwings Flight 9525. More than 200 officers from the Düsseldorf police have worked on what they are calling Special Commission Alps. Roughly 100 officers remain involved in the effort to identify the victims and get to the bottom of how and why they were killed. Two French airplane crash experts are in Germany cooperating with the Düsseldorf commission.
“Since the clues accumulated that the crash could have been premeditated, we have formed a murder commission with 50 specialized investigators,” the Düsseldorf police said in a statement.
“Since the clues accumulated that the crash could have been premeditated, we have formed a murder commission with 50 specialized investigators,” the Düsseldorf police said in a statement.
The evidence gathered in Thursday’s searches at Mr. Lubitz’s apartment and his parents’ house in Montabaur, Germany, was still being analyzed.
Searches of Mr. Lubitz’s apartment and his parents’ house in Montabaur, Germany, on Thursday yielded evidence that was still being analyzed.
Officers are visiting the homes of victims to take DNA samples and fingerprints to aid in the identification of the victims. The physical evidence is being evaluated by the German Federal Criminal Police. The process could take weeks to complete, in part because of how thoroughly the plane was destroyed on impact and how difficult it has been to reach and comb the rugged crash site.
Officers are also visiting the homes of victims to take DNA samples and fingerprints to aid in the identification of the dead. The physical evidence is being evaluated by the German Federal Criminal Police. The process could take months to complete, in part because of how thoroughly the plane was destroyed on impact and how difficult it has been to reach and comb the rugged crash site.
With clouds closing in on Monday, helicopters were grounded, so search teams and police investigators had to hike up the mountain on foot instead, to continue their work of painstakingly collecting body parts and debris.
With clouds closing in on the area Monday, helicopters were grounded, and search teams and police investigators had to hike up the mountain on foot instead. At the same time, crews worked to open a road through the forest to the site, hoping to speed the painstaking labor of collecting debris from the aircraft and the remains of the dead.
Meanwhile, workers were trying to build a road into the area, according to officials at the prefecture in Marseille. “A public works project is underway to construct a track to access the site,” said Thierry Carret, deputy director of the county fire and rescue service in the area of the recovery.
Francis Hermitte, the mayor of Seynes-les-Alpes, the village near the crash site that recovery workers are using as a base, said that the road was following an old trail used by forest rangers and would be completed in the next day or two.
Mr. Hermitte said 10 to 20 relatives of crash victims, including relatives of the pilots, were arriving at the village each day to see the area.
Judging by DNA analysis, body fragments from 78 victims of the crash have been collected so far, according to the Marseille prosecutor’s office. The next task is to compare that data with DNA samples collected from the families of the 150 people on the plane so that matches can be made.
