Andreas Lubitz was a 28-year-old pilot who was remembered as a nice young man before he intentionally crashed the Germanwings plane that carried 144 passengers.
French prosecutors claim that the co-pilot of the Germanwings aircraft intentionally crashed the plane into the French Alps. Investigators are searching for possible motives that 28-year-old Andreas Lubitz may have had for taking the lives of 150 individuals.
After extracting information from the damaged flight voice recorder, officials stated that the co-pilot had sole control over the cockpit after the captain left the cockpit for a brief moment, most likely to use the restroom. The voice recording indicates that the captain, referred to as Patrick S., was locked out of the cockpit and knocked on the door. The voice recording hears no response from the co-pilot, even as the captain attempts to break the door down.
"At this moment, in light of investigation, the interpretation we can give at this time is that the co-pilot through voluntary abstention refused to open the door of the cockpit to the commander, and activated the button that commands the loss of altitude," said Marseille chief prosecutor Brice Robin.
Lubitz is a German national and had a little over 600 hours of piloting hours. Police have been stationed in front of his home in Montabaur, Germany. Those who knew him said they were shocked to hear that Lubitz would take the lives of 150 people. Acquaintances claimed that Lubitz was a "lot of fun", but was quiet at times.
The flight recorder captured conversations between the two pilots at the beginning of the flight, which sounded normal. However, prosecutor Robin said that Lubitz's responses became more "laconic" as time passed. After the captain left the cockpit Lubitz locked the door and did not respond to anything afterwards. The voice recording contains only sounds of breathing from Lubitz while the captain can be heard pleading with Lubitz to open the door.
There is a keypad outside of every cockpit that can open the door in emergency situations, but can be overridden from inside the cockpit itself. It is believed that the co-pilot overrode the keypad when the pilot left.
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr commented on the co-pilot's actions. "It is the worst nightmare that anyone can have in our company," said Spohr. He also ensured that the hiring practices, screenings, and pilot trainings involved psychological portions as well. The Lufthansa CEO then stated that they would review the screening process of the pilots, though he was sure the company's practices are valid.
