Doctor told pilot to stay off work
Lubitz had been treated in hospital, split with girlfriend in recent weeks
The Germanwings pilot who deliberately killed himself and 149 other people had been told by a doctor not to go to work on the day he crashed his Airbus into the Alps.
Andreas Lubitz, 27, tore up a sick note signing him off work on Tuesday, and kept it a secret from the airline. He had been undergoing treatment at a hospital in Dusseldorf as recently as March 10 but had also concealed this from his employers.
German investigators refused to confirm whether the sick note, or the hospital treatment, related to depression, but Lubitz is thought to have taken time away from his pilot training after suffering from mental illness.
As the hunt continued for a motive for the mass murder, it also emerged that he had recently split up with his girlfriend, and appeared to have made a desperate last attempt to win her back by buying her a new Audi only weeks ago. She appeared to have rejected his offer, as the car was never delivered.
Following Thursday’s disclosures about Lubitz locking the captain out of the cockpit and putting flight 9525 into a terminal dive, a picture has emerged of the pilot as a highly secretive man tormented by mental and possibly physical illness, as well as his failed relationship.
Searches have been carried out at Lubitz’s apartment in Dusseldorf and his parents’ home in the nearby town of Montabaur, where he spent much of his time.
A spokesman for the prosecutors’ office said: “Documents with medical contents were confiscated that point toward an existing illness and corresponding treatment by doctors. The fact there are sick notes saying he was unable to work, among other things, that were found torn up, which were recent and even from the day of the crime, support the assumption based on the preliminary examination that the deceased hid his illness from his employer.”
The prosecutors’ office added that no suicide note, confession or anything pointing to a “political or religious motive” had been found.
Germanwings said no sick note had been submitted by Lubitz.
Dusseldorf University Hospital said Lubitz had been treated by its staff in February, as well as earlier this month. It said he last went to the hospital for “diagnostic evaluation” on March 10, but declined to say anything about the nature of his condition.
It did, however, deny media reports that it had treated him for depression, leading to speculation that he may have suffered from a serious physical illness.
A friend of Lubitz suggested he may have specifically chosen the spot where he crashed the Airbus some time in advance of the disaster because he was “obsessed” with the Alps, having flown gliders over the same area in 2009, shortly before his mental breakdown.
Dieter Wagner, a senior member of the Luftsports Club Westerwald, said: “Andreas took part in a training course with my niece, who was a good friend of his, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region. He was passionate about the Alps, obsessed even.”
Meanwhile the mental health charities Rethink Mental Illness, Mind and Time to Change have called for restraint around the discussion of Lubitz’s depression.
It said: “Clearly assessment of all pilots’ physical and mental health is entirely appropriate — but assumptions about risk shouldn’t be made across the board for people with depression, or any other illness. There will be pilots with experience of depression who have flown safely for decades and assessments should be made on a case-by-case basis.”
French police working to recover remains from the crash site say they have recovered between 400 and 600 body parts but have not found any bodies intact.