Mystery of a flawless pilot

BY LUIS DONCEL

SOURCE: El misterio de un piloto “impecable”

BY LUIS DONCEL

SOURCE: El misterio de un piloto “impecable”

The investigation of the crash of Germanwings which crashed Tuesday in the French Alps had a brutal twist Thursday. All eyes and questions went to the small town of Montabaur, in the German Rhineland-Palatinate. After the French prosecutor Brice Robin said tragic flights co-pilot deliberately “willed” to destroy the aircraft.

Montabaur, March 27 – The co-pilot prevented the captain’s return to the flight deck controls. Sending the aircraft on a controlled crash into a mountain With 144 passengers and five crew members aboard.

His name was Andreas Lubitz. He was 27 years old a native of Montabaur.

The news caused a strong impact on the population of about 12,000 where Lubitz lived with his parents. Ratke Klaus, who knew him for 14 years, had never noticed anything odd about him. “He was a majísimo boy with many friends. Totally normal “, Ratke, air club president LSC Westerwald, where the passenger learned to fly and was partner said.

Like other villagers, Ratke would not enter into speculation about the reasons that could lead the youth to crash the aircraft. “He reached his dream, which is to live your greatest hobby. I ca not explain what happened and I’d rather not get into speculation, “said a visibly moved.

After learning the revelations of the French prosecution on the last minutes of flight, reporters began arriving at the family home of Lubitz, which was cordoned off by police.

The house, located in a neighborhood of single family homes, seems quintessentially middle-class German provinces.

Near family residence Lubitz also lives Johannes Rossbach, who knows the family by sight. Neither he never saw anything extraordinary or striking in Andreas.

“He was friendly and polite. He has a little brother with which coincided in school, but he was not my friend. Cannot say much more,” said Rossbach.

The mayor of Montabaur, Gabriele Wieland said in the morning that the co-pilot lived in the village at home with their parents, but also had housing in the city of Düsseldorf, the destination of the wrecked aircraft.

Wieland provided details of Lubitz’s life hours before the news from the prosecutor’s statement accusing Lubitz of causing the accident.

Official sources of Lufthansa confirmed that the co-pilot worked for it’s subsidiary Germanwings since September 2013. He had trained in the school of the company in the city of Bremen and accumulated 630 hours of flight.

The Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr, had no explanation for Lubitz behavior and assured that he exhibited a “flawless” attitude. Spohr revealed that the young man interrupted his training for half a year.

But he did not clarify the reasons for the breal for reasons of “confidentiality”. However, he stressed that Lubitz subsequently surpassed “all the tests” to fly.

German media said Lubitz friends talk about his suffering a nervous breakdown or depression.

The pilot made a safety test to which it is subjected cabin crew by air monitoring agency. And the results were as usual, according to sources of the City of Düsseldorf. This also surpassed last January safeguards applied to pilots regularly.

He had not committed any crime or participated in extremist activities.Lubitz was subjected to the same control in 2008 and 2010.

Known for Lubitz contacted by this newspaper prefer to remain silent. This is the case of Konstantin K. His mother opened the door of his house on the outskirts of Montabaur and said neither his son nor his friends were going to talk to the press.

Neither responded to friends messages, according to his Facebook profile, traveled together in 2011 to places like a resort in Florida (USA). The profile of Andreas Lubitz on Facebook was inaccessible for a few hours. But then messages are hung related Germanwings.

Lubitz completed the tests for undergoing cabin crew. [Lubitz worked as a flight attendant at for the company while training as a pilot.]

The professional profile remained trace in the journal Aviation Business Gazette, published in September 2013 his name was included in a database of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which include professionals who have been recognized for excellence of their training.

The Montabaur flying club , the LSC Westerwald, hung on its website a note of condolence after the accident in which he emphasized that the co-pilot was a member of that organization for years. The club explained that Lubitz began as a pilot glider, gliding, and trained to get behind the wheel of an Airbus. “He fulfilled his dream of flying,” the note said.

Rossbach.