Police make ‘significant discovery’ at co-pilot’s flat

Police have left with a ‘significant discovery’ following a four-hour search of pilot Andreas Lubitz flat.

Investigators would not give details as they removed boxes and computers but reports suggest the co-pilot of the doomed Germanwings flight may have been suffering depression. Police confirmed it was not a suicide note.

It has also been revealed that the German 28-year old had to take six months out from pilot training in 2008 due to depression and ‘burnout’.

Yesterday it was discovered that the pilot of the Germanwings flight which killed 150 people had been locked out of the cockpit while Lubitz deliberately crashed the flight into the Alps.

In a press conference, Carsten Spohr, CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG said that the co-pilot had been ‘fit for flying without restriction’ adding that despite all safety procedures, you can never prevent such an ‘individual event’.

Spohr had also confirmed that there is no protocol to have a second member of the flight crew in the cockpit if one of the pilots leave, adding that European regulations do not require it.

But most European airlines have changed procedures since the Germanwings crash and have not made it compulsory to have two crew members in the cockpit at all times.

Pilot union, BALPA, said pilot regulation is determined by the European Aviation Safety Agency which sets standards for Aviation Medical Examiner to follow that cover both physical and mental health.

Airlines also adopt their own procedures and processes.

Dr Rob Hunter, head of flight safety, said: “Pilots operate a strict open culture of reporting any concerns whether related to technical matters, safety issues or any possible medical or mental issues with colleagues.”

Aviation psychologist Professor Robert Bor said there is not much more authorities can do to regulate pilots, adding that more scrutiny would not necessarily make it safer.

He said: “Arguably there is not much more that people can do.

“Pilots are a highly regulated group but some things do go wrong as it may have done here. As the psychological footprints are followed there may be signs of debt, relationship problems, anger with employees, drug misuse and so forth.

“There have been some other cases when a Jet Blue pilot became unsettled but he was restrained and his co-pilot was able to take over and there have also been suspected pilot suicides with Egypt Air, Silk Air and a flight which came down in Namibia.

“But they are historic and to put it into perspective, there are millions of flights every year.”

There have been a few other cases of suspected pilot suicides, with one bearing a striking resemblance.

Mozambique Airlines Flight TM470 went down in November 2013 in a remote area of Namibia, killing 33 people, en route from Maputo, Mozambique, to Luanda, Angola.

Data from the cockpit voice recorder found that minutes before the crash, the co-pilot left the cockpit for the bathroom, and returned to find the door shut.

The black box indicated that the captain manually changed the flight altitude on the autopilot from 38,000 feet to below ground level and showed someone pounded on the cockpit door before the crash. There was no mayday call.

In 1999, an Egyptair jetliner crashed killing 217 with US authorities blaming the captain’s likely suicide and Egyptian authorities refusing that conclusion.

In 1997, a Silk Air flight, piloted by Singaporean Tsu Way Ming, fell from 35,000 feet into a river in Palembang, Indonesia, killing 104. The cockpit voice recorder had been cut off, by disabling a circuit breaker.

In 1994, just after takeoff from Agadir, the 32-year old captain of Royal Air Maroc flight disconnected the autopilot and intentionally crashed against a mountainside, killing 44 on board. Press reports said at the time that he had a troubled love life.

Germanwings is currently setting up a family assistance center in Marseille.

Staffing has begun and family briefings will start on Saturday, 28 March.

“Our focus in these darkest hours is to provide psychological assistance to the families and friends of the victims of flight 4U9525,” said Thomas Winkelmann, spokesman for the Germanwings executive board.