Emmanuel Foudrot/Reuters
Here is what’s known so far about the Germanwings Flight 9525 co-pilot accused of murdering 149 people.
His name is Andreas Lubitz, age 28, from Montabaur, near Frankfurt. Lubitz got his pilot’s license as a teenager, according to members of his local flying club. In 2008, he was accepted into Lufthansa’s pilot-training program. Lubitz interrupted his training for 11 months for unknown reasons but then was readmitted after passing several tests, including a psychological assessment, said Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr. During that time, Lubitz trained at a Lufthansa center in Goodyear, Arizona. Since graduating in 2013, Lubitz logged 630 hours of flight time.
“He was happy he had the job with Germanwings and he was doing well,” club member Peter Ruecker told the AP. “He was very happy. He gave off a good feeling.”
A mother of Lubitz’s classmate told a different story to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:
“Apparently, he had a burnout, depression,” the woman said, adding that Lubitz confided in her daughter before Christmas.
Dutch journalist Victor Schildkamp with Algemeen Dagbland tweeted that a friend of Lubitz said the co-pilot planned to get married next year.
Lubitz was heard breathing normally through the entire descent on flight voice recordings, according to French prosecutor Brice Robin. Lubitz did not respond to any radio messages from air-traffic control, nor did he respond to the pilot’s demands to open the locked cockpit door, Robin said.
Lubitz’s motive is unknown. The French said they see no connection to terrorism.