This morning we brought you all the breaking news from the Germanwings plane that went down in the French Alps, and now some more shocking details have emerged about the man responsible.

The BBC is reporting this breaking news:

Alps crash co-pilot Andreas Lubitz hid the details of an existing illness from his employers, German prosecutors say. They said there was no evidence of a political or religious motive to his actions, and no suicide note was found. Duesseldorf (sic) prosecutors did say what illness Mr Lubitz had.

Andreas Lubitz was actually receiving psychiatric counselling right up until the time of the crash. This from the Daily Mail:

Yesterday, the boss of Germanwings admitted Lubitz had slipped through the ‘safety net’ and should never have been flying. It was also revealed that the fitness fanatic had suffered from depression and ‘burnout’ which had held up his career.

He reportedly received a year and half of psychiatric treatment and was at one point recommended to be examined by a doctor before flying. 

But, incredibly, he passed his psychological assessments and was later considered fit to fly.

Germany’s Federal Aviation Office confirmed this morning that Lubitz had a medical condition noted in his pilot’s records which required him to have a regular examination. 

It was reported this morning that during his education at the Lufthansa Flight School in Phoenix, Arizona, he was listed temporarily as ‘unfliable’.

Lubitz had been receiving mental health support up until this week’s crash. In addition to struggling with his failed engagement he was also the victim of teasing. The Daily Mail again:

It was suggested today that Lubitz – who had worked for Lufthansa as a cabin attendant for nearly a year before being accepted for flight training – may have been teased by other pilot’s over his previous role.

A friend said: ‘His nickname was “Tomato Andy” – a reference to his past employment as a flight steward. 

There are also chilling reports of the audio found on the plane’s black boxes and the repeated attempts of the pilot locked out to re-enter the cockpit:

In audio files extracted from the plane’s cockpit voice recorder – discovered on Wednesday at the remote crash site – the captain was heard growing increasingly distressed as he tried to force his way back into the flight deck.

Reports in Germany this morning suggest the locked-out pilot may have resorted to using an axe in a desperate bid to get through the armoured door as the plane hurtled towards the ground.

Prosecutors said the screams of passengers aware of their fate could be heard in the final seconds.

I suppose hindsight is 20/20 but it looks like someone really dropped the ball on this one.

[sources:dailymail&bbc]

THIS MORNING’S REPORT BELOW

So we know that the pilot responsible for the Germanwings crash took the plane down deliberately, but exactly why he would do such a thing has become the new hot topic of debate.

Now investigators say they have found a few clues as to what may have driven 28-year-old Andreas Lubitz to take such drastic measures. It has come to light that Lubitz was due to get married next year, but had recently broken up with his fiancée and was struggling to cope in the wake of the break-up.

Authorities are also staying mum on what they found when searching his apartment but did reveal it was something important, This from news.com:

Markus Niesczery of Dusseldorf Police [said] “we wanted to search to see if we could find something that would explain what happened.

We have found something which will now be taken for tests. We cannot say what it is at the moment but it may be a very significant clue to what has happened”.

The police did reveal that it was not a suicide note that they found.

A mother of one of Lubitz’s former classmate told reporters that he had suffered from depression in 2009 and had been forced to postpone pilot training. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr confirmed that Lubitz had taken several months off work in the past but didn’t reveal why. He also had this to say:

We can only speculate what might have been the motivation of the copilot. In a company that prides itself on its safety record, this is a shock. We select cockpit personnel carefully.

I guess you cannot predict when someone is going to decide to go harakiri but for me the most disconcerting part is why pilots are allowed to be alone in the cockpit area. One feels that rule is about to change.

[source:news.com]