Rob Horgan
THE Germanwings co-pilot who killed himself and 149 people when he crashed his plane into a mountain in the French Alps was receiving psychiatric treatment.
Andreas Lubitz, locked the pilot out of the Airbus A320’s cockpit before purposely crashing the plane en route from Barcelona to Dusseldorf, Germany.
It has now been revealed that Lubitz suffered with depression and was struggling to cope with a ‘relationship crisis’.
Officers reportedly found ‘evidence of mental illness’ but no suicide note during a four-hour search of his flat which the 28-year-old shared with his girlfriend.
Communications between the pilot and the co-pilot recorded on the planes black-box reveal that Lubitz was conscious but silent as the pilot attempted to gain access to the cockpit.
Fifty people onboard the flight were Spanish, and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy yesterday announced three days of mourning for the victims.
The people of Spain should know that if Andreas Lubitz was on psychotropic drugs, the types used to treat depression, the noted side effects of such drugs as listed in the inserts include ‘suicidal/homicidal ideation’. Perhaps the blame lies at Big Pharma’s door?
Or the carelessness of his employers Theo? Other airlines have long had arrangements in place to ensure at least two people are always on the flight-deck at any time. Also his doctor (who issued the destroyed sick-note) should have ensured, independently, that his employers knew he was a potential danger. There is a trail of blame here.
stefanjo, I take your point that blame may lie at several doors. However we cannot have laws on patient confidentiality and then assume that a doctor should break them. Yes, hindsight is a wonderful thing and many airlines did practice the ‘two up font at all times’ theme, but reasonably how many times has this happened before?