Andreas Lubitz had a history of depression and had previously been treated for suicidal tendencies, but he hid this information from his employer. He had qualified as a commercial pilot with Lufthansa.
Lubitz was co–pilot on Germanwings flight 9525 from Barcelona to Dusseldorf, on 24 March 2015. (Germanwings is a budget airline operated by Lufthansa.) During the flight, the pilot – 34–year–old Captain Patrick Sondenheimer – left the cockpit, probably to visit the toilet. When he tried to re–enter the cockpit, Lubitz had locked the door. The captain had a code to unlock the door, but the lock's code panel can be disabled from the cockpit controls. The captain requested re–entry using the intercom; he knocked and then banged on the door, and eventually tried to break it down, but received no response. During the descent, the co–pilot did not respond to questions from air traffic control and did not transmit a distress call.
The plane started to descend shortly after crossing the French coast, near Toulon, 30 minutes into the flight. The descent took about ten minutes, ending in a remote area approximately 60 miles north–west of Nice. All 144 passengers and six crew (including 72 German citizens and 51 Spanish) lost their lives.
© Haydn Thompson 2017