Criminal enquiry into Germanwings co-pilot opened in France

Just over ten weeks after the crash of Germanwings flight Flight 4U 9525 which killed all 150 passengers and crew travelling from Barcelona to Dusseldorf, Brice Robin, a French prosecutor based in Marseille, has opened a case to examine whether mistakes had been made in the assessments of the co-pilot’s psychological state of mind. Investigations since the crash have revealed that Andreas Lubitz had not only suffered from severe depression, had had researched suicide methods and concealed an illness from his employer, prompting airline industry executives to review pilot screening and licensing. It was subsequently discovered that he had also locked the pilot out of the cabin before seemingly deliberately crashing the plane into the French Alps. Prosecutor Robin will lead a panel of three judges who will be aiming to establish if mistakes were made in examining the mental state of Lubitz.
Last month a preliminary report was released which revealed the painstaking levels of research carried out by Lubitz on the Internet prior to the crash, including about drugs such as diazepam, for ways to kill himself and for sight problems. As a consequence, the European Commission has asked the European Aviation Safety Agency to assess the report before deciding whether or not to update aviation safety rules. On Thursday of this week the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung and broadcasters NDR and WDR cited the results of analysis of a computer found in Lubitz’s Düsseldorf apartment which revealed that in March he had researched the Internet for the any way to buy potassium cyanide, Valium and lethal drug cocktails. On the day prior to the crash Lubitz had also researched living wills on the website of the Hamburg Medical Chamber, the media reports made clear.