UPDATE: Investigators confirmed that a note declaring Lubitz “unfit to work” the day of the crash was found in his apartment, and never provided to his employer, GermanAirWings.
Dusseldorf University Hospital has confirmed that Lubitz was a patient there and last received treatment there two weeks before the crash, but denied that his medical condition was related to depression, and stated they had turned over all medical records in their possession to investigators.
Authorities investigating the crash of GermanWings flight 9525 released new information gleaned from materials taken from the dead pilot’s home – evidence they found suggests that the young pilot had an illness which he had hidden from his employer and fellow co-workers.
Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz appears to have hidden evidence of an illness from his employers, including having been excused by a doctor from work the day he crashed a passenger plane into a mountain, prosecutors said Friday.
German authorities found torn-up sick notes , one as recent as the day of the crash, showing that the pilot who crashed a plane into the French Alps was suffering from an illness that should have grounded him on the day of the tragedy, which he apparently hid from the airline.
“The fact there are sick notes saying he was unable to work, among other things, that were found torn up, which were recent and even from the day of the crime, support the assumption based on the preliminary examination that the deceased hid his illness from his employer and his professional colleagues,” the German prosecutors said.
Responding to questions regarding any religious overtones to the dead pilot’s action, the prosecutors stated “They found no suicide note or confession, “nor was there any evidence of a political or religious background to what happened”, they added.”
Aviation authorities in Canada moved quickly yesterday to issue an “emergency order” that directs cabin crew to have two crew members in the cockpit at all times, effective immediately stated Transportation Minister Lisa Raitt. The European Aviation Safety agency, EASA announced that they had a preliminary draft of the same policy which had yet to achieve consensus among the member states. Not wanting to wait for the EASA to make an official rule change, many airlines operating in Europe, including Lufthansa, Wizz Air and easyJet announced that they had made internal policy changes, effective immediately, that dictated two crew members must remain in the cockpit at all times whenever one of the pilots must leave their station.
US operating airlines already follow the two-crew rule in an effort to prevent renegade pilots from seizing control of an aircraft.