What We Know About The Co-Pilot Who Deliberately Crashed The Germanwings
The co-pilot who “voluntarily” activated the Germanwings
’s descent system into the Alps has been named as 28-year-old Andreas Lubitz from Montabaur, Germany. This is believed to be a photo of him from his Facebook page:
Luke Baker ✔ @lukereuters
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Picture of 24-year-old German Wings pilot Andreas Lubitz as carried by Spanish language news site teinteresa.es
Lubitz trained at the Lufthansa Flight Training Pilot School in Bremen.
lufthansa-flight-training.com
Lubitz qualified as a pilot at the training centre and began flying immediately after completing the course, a Lufthansa spokesperson said on Thursday.
She said he had 630 hours of flight experience.
Lubitz lived with his parents in this house in Montabaur.
This is a door sign at the home of Lubitz. According to Gabriele Wieland, the mayor of his home town, he kept a flat in Düsseldorf, the city to which the Germanwings flight was bound.
This is a door sign at the home of Lubitz. According to Gabriele Wieland, the mayor of his home town, he kept a flat in Düsseldorf, the city to which the Germanwings flight was bound.
Michael Probst / AP
Lubitz had been an employee for the low-cost airline Germanwings, a Lufthansa subsidiary, since September 2013.
Lubitz was issued two licenses by The Federal Aviation Administration:
In a statement made during a Germanwings press conference on Thursday, Carsten Spohr, the CEO of Lufthansa, said Lubitz was “deemed to be fit in all areas.”
Spohr said Lubitz had training in Bremen and Arizona. He said there was no doubt cast on his competence or skills and that he was deemed to be fit in all areas.
“We could not have imagined this in our worst nightmares,” Spohr added. “This is a very tragic individual case. We are just sorry.”
Spohr confirmed that Lubitz took an 11-month break in his training, but could not say the reason for the interruption. He stressed that the interruption was “not unusual” and that when Lubitz returned to training he passed all tests.
His Facebook page was deleted after his name was confirmed by prosecutor Brice Robin at a press conference on Thursday.
His Facebook account was later restored and “memorialised,” an option that is offered by Facebook.
On his Facebook page, Lubitz shared photos of his travels, including snaps of New York and San Francisco.
Lubitz had “liked” a number of musicians Facebook pages, such as Paul Kalkbrenner and David Guetta.
He was a member of several Facebook groups, including ‘Bürger in Montabaur’. The group description says:
We want to include you in with the latest information and decisions of the city and association sgemeinderates.
Ideas, requests and discussions are definitely welcome.
We are still for a change in Montabaur. We want citizens to be involved in major decisions. Citizens vote !! We want to PEOPLE (eg childcare, volunteering) is invested and not expensive prestige. We want your opinions !!!!!!!! And each of the even want is a warm welcome in our group.
Germany’s federal minister of the interior, Thomas de Maizière, said investigators had not found any suggestion that Lubitz had a “terrorism background.”
Germany's federal minister of the interior, Thomas de Maizière, said investigators had not found any suggestion that Lubitz had a "terrorism background."
N-TV
In a press statement, Maizière said: “There are no indications of a terrorism background by the co-pilot or the crew. We have been checking this since Thursday.”
A reporter for N-TV at Montabaur spoke to people who knew Lubitz. They described him as “calm” and “not a very noticeable guy.”
Acquaintances of Lubitz told the Associated Press that he showed no signs of depression when they saw him last autumn as he renewed his glider pilot’s license.
“He was happy he had the job with Germanwings and he was doing well,” Peter Ruecker, a member of his glider flight club, LSC Westerwald, told the AP. “He gave off a good feeling.”
He described Lubitz as a “rather quiet” but friendly young man.
In a death notice on LSC Westerwald’s website the club said Lubitz “fulfilled his dream” of being a pilot.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the death notice said: “Andreas became a member of the club as a youth to fulfill his dream of flying.
“He fulfilled his dream, the dream he now paid for so dearly with his life.”
The group said it had learned “with horror” that it had lost a “long-time member” to the
crash.
In 2013, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recognized Lubitz for “meeting and exceeding” the “high educational, licensing and medical standards” established by the FAA.
According to an article in Aviation Business Gazette, the FAA certification awarded to pilots attempts to “reduce pilot errors that lead to fatal crashes.”
The FAA stated that its safety standards “are among the highest in the world.”
It added: “The FAA recently announced that is it increasing the qualification requirements for co-pilots who fly for U.S. passenger and cargo airlines. These requirements mandate additional minimum flight time and training, as well as aircraft specific training.”
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