Did depression drive the co-pilot of Germanwings Airbus A320 to crash the plane in the French Alps?
More details surface about the life of Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot of the tragic plane crash that happened on Tuesday, March 24. Flight 4U9525 was expected to arrive in Dusseldorf, Germany, from Barcelona, Spain, in less than 2 hours. However, in no more than 45 minutes, all 150 people, including 6 members of the crew, died after a very fast descent that drove the plane to hit a mountain.
Upon closer scrutiny of the discovered recorders, they found out that the crash was a deliberate move by Lubitz, who was left alone in the cockpit after the pilot left for a while perhaps to use the restroom. By the time he came back, the doors were already locked. He tried to open it by pressing the key code, but Lubitz had already overriden the codes too. In the final moments, the pilot used an axe and tried to kick the door.
There's no definitive conclusion as to what forced Lubitz to do it, but it looks like he was suffering from depression and burnout. Before he was set to fly, two different doctors have already deemed him sick. According to other news reports, a chemist has confirmed that he regularly bought medications, although he wasn't sure what they were for.
At one point, he was considered unfit to fly because of his mental illness but later passed the qualifications of Lufthansa, the company which also manages the budget airline. Investigators who checked the house he shared with his girlfriend found some evidence that pointed of his illness and how he continued to fly even if he's advised not to do so.
Rheinische Post, a German newspaper, speculated that it's possible Lubitz was motivated by his fear of undergoing a medical exam that could lead to his losing the license.
