It has emerged today that the co-pilot of the crashed Germanwings airliner had previously sought treatment for suicidal thoughts.
According to his medical records, Andreas Lubitz had received psychotherapy ‘for several years’ even before becoming a pilot, with special annotations regarding suicidal ideations.
His psychiatric treatment had continued on then, but no more instances of these ideations, or any type of aggressive behavior towards others were recorded.
After examining the data from the cockpit voice recorder, it became clear that Lubitz had coaxed the flight’s captain to leave the cockpit, locked himself in, and then operated the aircraft’s controls to make it slam into the ground.
The event has raised far-reaching questions about how much did Lubitz’s employers really know about his mental health history, his mindset, and aviation safety in general.