Co-pilot had hinted at ‘heinous act’
Duesseldorf, Germany, March 28: Germanwings’ co-pilot Andreas Lubitz had told his ex-lover that he planned an act so heinous that his name would be remembered for ever, The Daily Mail reported.
Lubitz, who crashed a passenger jet into the French Alps, killing all 150 aboard, worried “health problems” would dash his dreams and vowed one day to do something to “change the whole system”.
The 26-year-old, identified only as Maria W, recalled in an interview with the masscirculation Bild daily how Andreas Lubitz told her: “One day I’m going to do something that will change the whole system, and everyone will know my name and remember.”
“I never knew what he meant by that but now it makes sense,” it quoted the “shocked” flight attendant as saying, adding the remark repeatedly ran through her head after hearing about Tuesday’s air disaster.
The black box voice recorder indicates that Lubitz locked his captain out of the cockpit of the Germanwings jet and deliberately flew Flight 4U 9525 into a mountainside, French officials say, in what appears to have been a case of suicide and mass killing.
German prosecutors believe Lubitz hid an illness from the airline and said searches of his homes netted medical documents suggesting “an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment”, including sick leave notes that had been torn up and included the day of the crash.
They did not specify the illness, but media reports say he was suffering from depression.
Bild, which showed a photograph of the ex-girlfriend in a black leather jacket and jeans from behind to conceal her face, said she had flown with Lubitz on European flights for five months last year and they would secretly meet up in hotels as she did not want work colleagues to know about their relationship.
She said he could be sweet and used to send flowers but got agitated when talking about work conditions, such as pay or the pressure of the job, and was plagued by nightmares.
“At night he woke up and screamed ‘We’re going down!’” she recalled.
She said that she split with him because it became “increasingly clear that he had problems”, she said. Germanwings pilot Frank Woiton said Lubitz had spoke to him about his ambitions to become a captain.