Astonishing new revelations expose why killer should never have been in cockpit... and his rages that drove girlfriend away Blurred vision... and so obsessive his lover left him
KILLER co-pilot Andreas Lubitz was living ‘on the edge’ because he feared his deteriorating blurred vision would cost him his pilot’s licence, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Investigators believe his eyesight problems – coupled with a breakdown in his relationship with his long-term girlfriend – triggered the ‘madness’ that ended in mass murder.
Lubitz , 27, masked his true condition – described as ‘severe burnout syndrome’ by police – from his employers and was aided by German confidentiality laws which forbade his doctors from revealing just how mentally ill he really was.
But police still don’t know whether his vision problems, which are understood to have begun several years ago, were caused by his psychological condition or whether, as one officer said, he was in fact ‘slowly going blind’.
It is understood he once planned to marry pretty blonde teacher Kathrin Goldbach, 26, but she called time on his increasingly erratic and controlling behaviour which made her fearful for her own safety during his rages.
One friend said: ‘He tried to order her what to wear, what men she could speak to, even the length of her skirts. He was a control freak of the highest order.’
Another friend added: ‘She said he was very kind and attentive, but that he had problems with mood swings. And I think we sensed that she became more fearful over time.’
The break, according to friends, came just weeks ago. She still lived with him but it is understood she was on the lookout for a bachelor girl flat.
Frantic that he would lose her, Lubitz splashed out thousands of pounds buying two Audi cars. He took delivery of one vehicle just five days before Tuesday’s horror.
His obsessive need to be in charge extended even to fast food. Habib Hassani, who runs a pizza restaurant near Lubitz’s Dusseldorf home, said: ‘He was extremely particular about pizza toppings. He wasn’t interested in what was on the menu. It was often paprika, ham, onion and broccoli. He had to have it his way. He was compulsive about it.’
Yesterday, it was revealed by police that Lubitz suffered from a ‘severe psychosomatic sickness’ that required the care of several neurologists and psychologists. Police said they took away a plethora of medicines from his apartment in Dusseldorf and from his parental home in the small Rhineland town of Montabaur.
Police have moved to seize the confidential medical records of the mass killer hitherto protected by labyrinthine privacy laws in Germany. They particularly want to know if his blurred vision was a contributing factor to his catastrophic psychological collapse which led him to pilot his A320 Airbus into a French mountainside, killing himself and 149 innocent passengers and crew.
On Friday, it was revealed that his illness was so chronic that he had multiple sick notes from doctors – including one issued to him for the day of the disaster – discarded and ripped up in his home.
The disintegration of his eyesight, according to investigators, fuelled his chronic anxiety that his flying career – the career he lived for since he was a teenager – was numbered.
As the jigsaw puzzle of his complex and disturbed personality was reconstructed by investigators, the agony of his murder-suicide mission struck at the heart of his home town of Montabaur, forever changed because of the actions of a Jekyll and Hyde figure whose warped personality made him lead two lives.
On the surface, he projected stability, confidence and calm: The cool pilot who turned up at his grandparents’ home wearing his crisp Germanwings uniform. He was a fanatical runner, he liked discos, cars, cooking and music.
But his insecurity demanded constant attention – which led him to betray Kathrin with a five-month-long fling with a Germanwings stewardess conducted in cheap hotels where they stayed while working.
‘He always seeking assurances about the way he looked and the way he was viewed by others,’ said the former lover, identified only as Maria, 26. She painted a portrait of a ‘tormented and erratic’ man who would wake up from nightmares screaming: ‘We’re going down, we’re going down!’
She added: ‘He once told me he would do something to change the whole system, that world would know his name and remember him.’
He lived up to the macabre promise when he smashed his aircraft into a mountainside on Tuesday when the emotional volcano within him finally erupted. His mind disorders, despite treatment, could no longer be restrained.