by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright March 26, 2015
All Rights Reserved.

                 Crashing Germanwings Airbus A320 Flight 9525 into the French Alps Wednesday, March 25, parent company Luftthansa CEO Carsten Spohr was dumbfounded learning from Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin the plane was crashed deliberately by 28-year-old co-pilot Andreas Lubitz.  “We are shaken.  This is our worst nightmare, that such a tragedy could happen in our group,” said Spohr, shocked by the apparent suicide-homicide actions of its co-pilot.  Recovered recordings of the Flight Cockpit Recorder confirmed that the pilot was locked out the cockpit after taking a brief bathroom break by Lubitz, proceeding to put the plane into descent mode, taking eight long minutes to crash the plane.  “No matter your safety regulations, no matter how high you set the bar, and we have incredibly high standards, there’s no way to rule out such an event,” said Spohr.

             Lufhthansa officials insist that Lubitz, who returned to co-piloting after an 11 month hiatus six years ago working as a flight attendant, passed all the medical and psychological exams.  “This is an awful one-off event,” said Spohr, echoing the view of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  Calling the Flight 9525 crash a “new, simply incomprehensible dimension,” Merkel, revealed the same disbelief, not accepting that Lufthansa or Germanwings officials missed Lubtiz’s mental illness.  Predicting violent or suicidal behavior is never easy even for the most trained professionals.  Placing that responsibility into the hands of human resources, administering simple kinds of psychological tests, it’s no wonder disguised lunatics slip through the cracks.  What’s not “incomprehensible,” as Merkel remarks, are disguised forms of mental illness that slip through the cracks.

             Lufthansa officials wouldn’t comment about Lubitz’s 11-month break from co-piloting, something holding the clues as to what kind of disordered personality returned to his co-piloting duties.  Spohr refused to say the reasons behind Lubitz’s 11-month hiatus occurring about six years ago.  One of Lubitz’s classmates mothers told the Frankfurter Zeitung newspaper Lubitz stopped flying because he “apparently had a burnout, depression,” suggesting he had some sort of breakdown.  How Lufthansa let him come back to flying knowing his mental health history is anyone’s guess.  Lubitz “intention,” according to Robin “was to destroy the plane,” after review recordings of the FCR, hearing the pilot’s frantic attempts to breakdown heavily reinforced cockpit doors designed to keep terrorists after Sept. 11 from entering the flight deck in the event of an airplane hijacking.

             Flight Cockpit Recordings reveal the pilot trying to breakdown the cockpit door with passengers screaming in the background before the crash.  Despite the pilot’s frantic attempt to get back into the cockpit, Lubitz appeared calm before crashing the plane.  “You don’t get the impression there was any particular panic, because the breathing was always the same.  The breathing is always the same.  The breathing is not panting.  It’s classic human breathing,” said Robin, making the point that Lubitz was not impaired by a loss of cabin pressure or oxygen before taking down the flight.  “The victims realized just at the last moment,” said Robin.  “We can hear them screaming,” attesting to the horror before the plane crashed.  While difficult to prove pilot suicide, the National Transportation and Safety Board concluded that Oct. 31, 1999 doomed Egypt was attributed to pilot suicide.

             Regular flight deck screenings of pilots and co-pilots are not performed routinely by airline personnel or federal agencies like the NTSB.  Lufthansa CEO Spohr is kidding himself when he believes that Lubitz or any other pilot was carefully vetted for mental illness.  Speculation now surrounds what one source described as “burnout, depression,” suggesting that Lubitz had a mental health history.  True to form for serial and mass killers, Lubitz was described as quiet and normal by acquaintances  “He was happy he had the job with Germanwings and he was doing well,” said Peter Rueker, a member of Lubitz’s glider club.  “He gave off a good feeling,” said Rueker, attesting to how bystanders typically miss all the signs of stress before it’s too late.  If it’s known in Lufthansa’s records that Lubitz once went on medical leave due to depression, the burden falls on the airline.

             Regardless of what’s found out about Lubitz’s mental health, future safeguards must be in place to prevent another suicidal pilot.  Better and more regular screenings are to good first step but ultimately pilots, co-pilots or other flight deck crew must have another way of getting on the flight deck.  Locking out the pilot once he took a bathroom break was too easy to kill 150 innocent passengers.  Any history of mental illness or substance abuse should automatically rule out work on the flight deck.  Cursory exams by human resources are not enough detect more camouflaged forms of mental illness or stress vulnerability.  Routine screening by qualified psychologists or psychiatrists specialized in assessment of suicide, violence and other types of mental illness should be performed by airlines.  Any history of mental illness, suicide, violence or substance abuse should prevent work on the flight deck.

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