by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright March 28, 2015
All Rights Reserved.

                 Groping for a motive for 28-year-old co-pilot Adreas Lubitz’s March 25 crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 in the French Alps, killing all 150 passengers and crew, the media and engineering world remains dumbfounded.  Getting post-mortem clues from his 26-year-old ex-girlfriend, she indicated that Adreas told her he would “change the system one day.”  Lubitz’s ex told the mass-circulation Bild daily that she didn’t get Lubitz’s message when he said he would become a household name.  “One day I’m going to do something that will change the whole system, and everyone will know my name and remember,” revealing subtle clues into the nature of Lubitz’s mental illness.  For the uninitiated, Lubitz’s conditions falls under the misleading label of “depression,” when it fact it involves a break with reality, characterized by tightly knit delusions and possibly auditory hallucinations. 

             Prevailing wisdom in the media or even professional circles attributes suicide to depression, when, in fact, it’s more related to a transient circumscribed psychosis, allowing marginally adjusted individuals to find ways to cope with exigent work situations and social lives. Depression alone doesn’t trigger the cognitive distortions and twisted thinking that leads to suicidal or violent behavior.  “I never knew what he meant by that but now it makes sense,” said Lubitz’s ex, not admitting why she broke up with the 28-year-old co-pilot.  Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr insisted Lubitz’s passed all of the airline’s medical and psychological tests, admitting, in effect, Lufthansa’s feckless screening process.  Despite taking an 11-month hiatus from flight training in 2009 due to an unspecified illness, Lubitz was passed along through a system incapable of recognizing his severe mental illness.

             Regardless of the liability involved for Lufthansa Airlines, Spohr practically admitted publicly that Lufthansa lacks the means to properly screen pilots.  German prosecutors believe Lubitz hid his illness from the airline, despite giving off plenty of clues, including his reclusive and obsessive personality.  Finding documents in Lubitz’s parents home that showed he had “an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment,” German prosecutors revealed.  Whatever German prosecutors mean by “appropriate treatment” or notes from doctors excusing Lubitz from going to work, it shows warning signs were there if medical professionals had mandated reporting laws. It’s unknown whether or not Lubitz admitted he worked as a co-pilot making his medical condition even more life-threatening for himself and others.  Without mandatory reporting laws, health care workers are hamstrung.

             Unlike the U.S. where mandated reporting laws require medical personnel to report dangers to authorities, Germany’s tightly controlled health system prevents health care workers from making reports.  While Lubitz was not known to have threatened anyone directly, the National Transportation and European Transport Safety Council must institute new rules that make clear exceptions to current medical confidentiality laws preventing health care workers from disclosing dangerous medical or mental conditions to employers or authorities.  Without mentioning Lubitz’s “appropriate treatment,” if German authorities confirm he was treated for major depression, bipolar disorder or other types of psychosis, then the medical system failed to protect hapless air travelers.  No airline traveler should fear pilots, co-pilots or airline personnel have a life-threatening mental illness.

             High-risk occupations like airline pilots, co-pilots or other airline personnel require more stringent background and ongoing mental health checks than other less risky professions.  Lubitz ex-girlfriend, a Germanwings’ Airline flight attendant, admitted to Bild that she maintained a clandestine affair with Lubitz, meeting him secretly at hotels or other undisclosed locations.  She told Bild she kept it private to protect her and Lubitz from any fallout from the company if their relationship were discovered.  She admitted Lubitz got agitated when talking about his job, sometimes waking up from nightmares screaming.  “At night he woke up and screamed, ‘we’re going down!’” she told Bild.  Lubitz ex speculated that he crashed the plane because he knew his mental illness prevented him from ever getting promoted with Lufthansa to pilot, knowing his days were numbered.

             Before the media and engineering community get too distracted analyzing flight data or voice recordings, Lubitz suffered from much more than garden-variety depression.  His irrational thinking goes beyond depression into the realm of psychosis, associated with the most severe forms of mental illness, including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.  When the media seek a “motive,” they’re groping for a logical explanation, like his girlfriend broke up with him.  Rational folks know that relationship breakups occur daily and don’t usually result in suicide and mass homicide.  If it’s true that Lubitz passed Lufthansa’s psychological tests and was deemed fit for duty, it’s high time the European Transport Safety Council require more complete examinations by qualified professionals.  Lubitz could have been stopped and lives saved with more rigorous screening.

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