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Andreas Günter Lubitz (18 December 1987 – 24 March 2015) was a German pilot for Germanwings, a subsidiary of the international airline Lufthansa. He was the co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525, which crashed into the French Alps on 24 March 2015 killing him along with 149 others. French and German prosecutors investigating the crash have confirmed that Lubitz had been treated for suicidal tendencies and believe that he intentionally crashed the plane.

Aviation authorities in Canada, New Zealand, and Germany have implemented new regulations that require two authorized personnel to be present in the cockpit at all times in direct response to the crash. The European Union's top air safety agency has recommended similar changes to be introduced. A number of airlines announced similar changes to their policies. The Federal Aviation Administration in the United States already requires the "rule of two", as do several other countries.

Early life

Lubitz grew up in Neuburg an der Donau, Bavaria and Montabaur in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. His mother is a piano teacher and his father a business executive. While in high school, Lubitz worked part-time at Burger King where his manager described him as "dependable and inconspicuous". He took flying lessons at Luftsportclub Westerwald, an aviation sports club in Montabaur.

Career

Lubitz was accepted into a Lufthansa trainee program after high school. Starting in 2008, he received pilot training at the Lufthansa Flight Training school in Bremen, Germany, and at the Lufthansa Airline Training Center in Goodyear, Arizona, United States. Lubitz took time off from his flight training for several months and informed the Flight Training Pilot School in 2009 of a "previous episode of severe depression". He later completed the training. Prior to his training as a commercial pilot, he was also treated for suicidal tendencies.

He then worked as a flight attendant at the airline during an eleven-month waiting period. He joined Germanwings in September 2013, and had 630 hours of flying experience at the time of the crash. Lubitz was a keen runner and ran the Frankfurt half-marathon in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

The University Hospital of Düsseldorf stated that Lubitz had been examined for a condition other than depression on 10 March.

Germanwings Flight 9525 crash

Lubitz was the co-pilot on Germanwings Flight 9525, which crashed into the French Alps on 24 March 2015, killing him along with 149 others. French and German prosecutors later confirmed that Lubitz deliberately crashed the plane.

Following the crash, German police searched Lubitz's apartment on 26 March 2015. They subsequently issued a statement that Lubitz had been hiding an unspecified existing illness from his employer. Prosecutors said the seized medical documents from Lubitz's home indicated "an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment." Among the documents found there were sick notes—torn up, current, and for the day of the crash—leading to the provisional assessment that the deceased was hiding his illness from his employer. He flew even though he had a certificate saying he was not fit to work. On 28 March 2015, authorities searched his house again, finding evidence that he was taking prescription drugs and that he suffered from a "psychosomatic illness."

On 2 April 2015, German prosecutors revealed that Lubitz had performed Internet searches for topics related to suicide and aircraft cabin door security. On 3 April 2015, French investigators revealed that flight data recorder data indicated that Lubitz deliberately accelerated the rate of descent of the aircraft and steered the plane into the mountainside.

References

1. "Andreas Lubitz: Wer war der Co-Pilot von Flug 4U 9525?" (in German). augsburger-allgemeine.de. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
2. ^ "Alps crash co-pilot 'hid illness'". BBC News. 27 March 2015. Cite error: The named reference "auto" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
3. ^ "Germanwings Flight 4U9525: Canadian airlines told to have 2 people in the cockpit". CBC News. 27 March 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
4. Cooke, Henry (27 March 2015). "CAA changes cockpit policy following Germanwings crash". Fairfax New Zealand. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
5. ^ "Germanwings Crash: How the Aviation Industry Has Reacted". The Wall Street Journal. 27 March 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
6. "EU Regulator Recommends Tightening Cockpit Rules After Germanwings Crash". The Wall Street Journal. 27 March 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
7. "Germanwings crash: airliners change cockpit rules after co-pilot blamed – as it happened". The Guardian. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
8. "Germanwings investigators find torn-up sicknote in co-pilot's home". The Guardian. 27 March 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
9. ^ "Germanwings Flight 4U9525 co-pilot Andreas Lubitz 'hid illness' from employer". CBC News. 27 March 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
10. "Andreas Lubitz: first picture of Germanwings co-pilot's father emerges". The Daily Telegraph. 1 April 2015.
11. Webb, Sam. "Who is Andreas Lubitz? Everything you need to know about the Germanwings co-pilot". Daily Mirror. London. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
12. "Germanwings crash: report that co-pilot Lubitz had suffered 'personal life crisis'". The Guardian. 27 March 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
13. ^ Sawer, Patrick. "Andreas Lubitz: Everything we know about Germanwings plane crash co-pilot". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
14. "Officials: German pilot in crash trained in Goodyear". The Arizona Republic. Phoenix. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2015. Ruecker said Lubitz also trained in Goodyear, Arizona.
15. "Andreas Lubitz, Who Loved to Fly, Ended Up on a Mysterious and Deadly Course". The New York Times. 26 March 2015.
16. COMKOM° GmbH, Germany. "Lufthansa helps investigation progress". lufthansagroup.com.
17. "Germanwings-Absturz: Co-Pilot war vor Jahren wegen Suizidgefahr in Behandlung". Spiegel.de. Template:De icon
18. "Germanwings Flight 4U9525: Flight school knew of depressive episode". CBC News. 31 March 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
19. Hanna Kozlowska (26 March 2015). "What we know so far about Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot who "deliberately" crashed the Germanwings plane". Qz.com. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
20. "Co-Pilot der Germanwings-Maschine war zu Untersuchungen im Universitätsklinikum Düsseldorf" (in German). 27 March 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
21. "Alps Crash Co-Pilot 'Wanted To Destroy Plane'". Sky News. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
22. Clark, Nicola; Bilefsky, Dan (26 March 2015). "Germanwings Co-Pilot Deliberately Crashed Airbus Jet, French Prosecutor Says". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
23. "Germanwings Plane Crash Investigation". The Guardian. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
24. "Germanwings Flight 4U9525: Co-pilot put plane into descent, prosecutor says". CBC News. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
25. Levs, Josh; Smith-Spark, Laura; Yan, Holly (26 March 2015). "Germanwings Flight 9525 co-pilot deliberately crashed plane, officials say". SFist. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
26. 0138 GMT (0938 HKT) 27 March 2015. "Germanwings plane crash: Co-pilot acted deliberately". CNN. Retrieved 27 March 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
27. "Andreas Lubitz 'repeatedly urged Germanwings captain to leave him alone in the cockpit' before setting A320 on path to French Alps crash". The Independent. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
28. "Germanwings crash: Co-pilot Lubitz 'researched suicide'". BBC News. 2 April 2015.
29. "Germanwings crash: Co-pilot Lubitz 'accelerated descent'". BBC News. 3 April 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
30. Clark, Nicola (3 April 2015). "Germanwings Co-Pilot Accelerated During Descent, Data From 2nd Recorder Shows". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
31. "Germanwings 'black box' shows co-pilot Andreas Lubitz sped up descent". CNN. 3 April 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2015.

External links

• Press release of the Düsseldorf Public Attorney's Office
• Germanwings plane crash: Co-pilot 'wanted to destroy plane' on BBC News

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• 1987 births
• 2015 deaths
• Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in France
• German aviators
• Lufthansa