7 years ago today Germanwings Flight 9525 was deliberately crashed in the French Alps by the copilot, Andreas Lubitz. All 150 aboard were killed
The crash was deliberately caused by the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, who had previously been treated for suicidal tendencies and declared “unfit to work” by his doctor. Lubitz kept this information from his employer and instead reported for duty. Shortly after reaching cruise altitude and while the captain was out of the cockpit, he locked the cockpit door and initiated a controlled descent that continued until the aircraft impacted a mountainside.
Aviation authorities swiftly implemented new regulations that required two authorized personnel in the cockpit at all times, but by 2017, Germanwings and other German airlines had dropped the rule. The Lubitz family held a press conference in March 2017 at which Lubitz’s father said that they did not accept the official investigative findings that his son deliberately caused the crash. As of February 2017, Lufthansa had paid €75,000 to the family of every victim, as well as €10,000 in pain and suffering compensation to every close relative of a victim.
Lubitz, who hid psychological problems from his employer, locked himself in the cockpit and put the jet onto a controlled descent.
Lufthansa chief executive officer Carsten Spohr visited the crash location the day following the crash; he said it was “the darkest day for Lufthansa in its 60-year history. In the days following the crash, Lufthansa at first said it saw no reason to change its procedures, then reversed its earlier statement by introducing a new policy across its airlines requiring the presence of two crew members in the cockpit at all times
Crew
The flight’s pilot in command was 34-year-old Captain Patrick Sondenheimer, who had 10 years of flying experience (6,000 flight hours, including 3,811 hours on the Airbus A320) flying A320s for Germanwings, Lufthansa, and Condor. The co-pilot was 27-year-old Andreas Lubitz, who joined Germanwings in September 2013 and had 630 flight hours of experience, with 540 of them on the Airbus A320.
Andreas Lubitz
Andreas Günter Lubitz was born on 18 December 1987 and grew up in Neuburg an der Donau, Bavaria, and Montabaur in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.He took flying lessons at Luftsportclub Westerwald, an aviation sports club in Montabaur.
Lubitz was accepted into a Lufthansa trainee programme after finishing high school. In September 2008, he began training at the Lufthansa Flight Training school in Bremen, Germany.He suspended his pilot training in November 2008 after being hospitalized for a severe episode of depression. After his psychiatrist determined that the depressive episode was fully resolved, Lubitz returned to the Lufthansa school in August 2009.Lubitz moved to the United States in November 2010 to continue training at the Lufthansa Airline Training Center in Goodyear, Arizona. From June 2011 to December 2013, he worked as a flight attendant for Lufthansa while training to obtain his commercial pilot’s licence,until joining Germanwings as a first officer in June 2014.
Date 24 March 2015
Summary Suicide by pilot
Site Prads-Haute-Bléone, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France
44°16′48″N 6°26′20″ECoordinates: 44°16′48″N 6°26′20″E
Aircraft
Aircraft type Airbus A320-211
Operator Germanwings
IATA flight No. 4U9525[a]
ICAO flight No. GWI18G[1]
Call sign Germanwings One Eight Golf
Registration D-AIPX
Flight origin Barcelona–El Prat Airport, Barcelona, Spain
Destination Düsseldorf Airport, Düsseldorf, Germany
Occupants 150
Passengers 144
Crew 6
Fatalities 150
Survivors 0
On 25 October 2015, Eurowings took over 55 routes previously operated under the Germanwings brand.
Source – Airline Secret Exposed Facebook page, Wikipedia