AIRLINE KNEW OF DEPRESSION
Lubitz notified Lufthansa of episode in 2009.
• Lufthansa has admitted for the first time it knew Andreas Lubitz, the German co-pilot who deliberately crashed a passenger jet in the Alps, suffered from serious depression.
The airline had previously confirmed Mr. Lubitz had taken an extended break from training, but refused to say why.
The admission came as the man’s girlfriend reportedly told investigators she was aware he had mental health problems, but had no idea they were so serious. There were also claims a video of the final moments of the flight had survived the crash.
Paris Match magazine and Bild, the German newspaper, said they had obtained a video filmed inside the cabin of the Airbus 320 that showed passengers screaming. Cries of “My God” in several languages can also be heard on the video.
There are also three loud metallic bangs, which could be the sound of Capt. Patrick Sondheimer trying to break down the locked cockpit door.
Both periodicals reported the video was found on a memory chip that could have come from a cellphone. Paris Match said the footage was found “among the wreckage by a source close to the investigation.”
The video also shows what appears to be part of the aircraft hitting the mountains, according to Bild.
Investigators believe Mr. Lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit and crashed the Germanwings flight last week, killing himself and 149 people on board.
Brice Robin, the Marseille prosecutor who is overseeing the French criminal investigation into the crash, said Tuesday night no cellphone video has been found from the plane.
French aviation investigators said they were examining “systemic weaknesses” like cockpit entry rules and psychological screening procedures that could have led to the Germanwings plane crash, issues that could eventually change worldwide aviation practices.
Lufthansa, the airline’s parent company, admitted Tuesday Mr. Lubitz had told the airline’s flight training school he suffered a serious episode of depression, citing emails between the pilot and the flight school in Bremen when he resumed his training there in 2009 after an interruption of several months.
German prosecutors said on Monday the man’s medical files show he underwent a prolonged course of therapy for “suicidal tendencies” before getting his pilot’s licence.
The revelation that Lufthansa had been informed of Lubitz’s psychological problems raises further questions about why he was allowed to become a pilot for its subsidiary, Germanwings, in September 2013.
Mr. Lubitz’s girlfriend, 26, who has not been named but is believed to be a teacher, told investigators that she was as shocked as everyone else by the crash, according to Spiegel magazine and CNN.
There were rumours in the aftermath of the crash that she and Mr. Lubitz had broken up days before, but that claim now appears to be untrue.
The couple were working on Mr. Lubitz’s psychological problems together, a European government official said.
Cries of ‘My God’ can be also be heard on the video