WRECKING TRUTH

 The french Investigators have called off the search of evidence at the site of Crash Of Germanwings. Precisely all the evidence including the two flight’s black boxes have pointed out that the plane was deliberated crashed by co-pilot Andreas Lubitz. He  locked out the pilot Capt. Patrick Sondenheimer and methodically descended the plane until it crashed in the French Alps, killing himself and 149 people on board.

The incident took place on 24th March, 2015. The Germanwings flight 9525 bound for Dusseldorf took off from Barcelona. According to the transcript of the cockpit voice recorder: after the plane reached its cruising altitude of 38,000 feet at 10:27 am (local time), the Pilot Capt. Patrick Sondenheimer excuse himself and  leaves the cockpit for nature’s call. It was then, Lubitz has full control over the cockpit. He manipulates the Flight Monitoring Controls to descent the aircraft. Around 10:29, Air traffic radar tries to contact the cockpit  as the plane descent unexpectedly. But there were no reply. The plane descent at the speed of 3400 feet/ min, which is twice than the typical descent. The captain desperately demands Lubitz to let him in the cockpit.  Till 10:41, as the pilot struggled to come inside the cockpit, the plain continued to descent steadily. And then, it crashed into French Alps.

After the 9/11 twin towers attack, the cockpit mechanism was changed completely. To avoid any hijack, the entry in the cockpit was only allowed by the pilots. Unfortunately, in this case death was sitting inside the-cockpit. This incident raises the question on the mechanism of the cockpit door. though, experts have to make sure that there is no easy trespass of an outsider in the cockpit. But they have make sure that no one pilot have the full power on the controls. Some suggests that in such situation, when one of the pilot have to leave the cockpit because of some reason, one crew member should be present till the time he returns. This is to  make sure that someone will be able to open the cockpit door manually, if required. But more than this issue, the world aviation industry has to face the harsh reality. Pilots’ mental fitness.

As the investigation proceeded, his hidden mental health came out in open. Andreas Lubitz was in depression. He was being treated by a psychotherapist for depression and suicidal tendencies. Evidence found by the German investigators, at his home, suggested that in past few months he frequently visited doctors. What seemed to have been an eye check revealed his mental state. He had complaint that ‘he was not seeing as he should’, to which his doctor concluded that his condition was psychosomatic. (A physical illness or condition which was cause or aggravated by internal conflict or mental stress). He in one of his report, was also declared unfit to fly.

 Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr’s statement that Lubitz was 100% fit, during the early phase of revelation, shows the ignorance towards mental health of the employees in any workplace. Because later when Lufthansa dug its own records, they found a mail by Lubitz which mentioned his previous episode of severe depression.
It was in 2008, when Lubitz was training under Lufthansa academies. He had interrupted his training for a period of time. While he was seeking to rejoin its training programme, he informed the academy about his illness. He had also submitted his detailed medicals reports.


This incident has raised an Important question: How should world aviation deal with its crews' Mental Illness? How to really curb the Taboo of Mental Illness in the industry? Andreas Lubitz hid his illness to his company. No one knows since when he had been suffering from depression. According to a news report, When Lubitz cleared from his training, his medical certification had notation about his earlier depression and a warning that if his symptoms return his license would have been terminated. Was it because of the fear of loosing his dream and passion to fly, he didn’t tell his company about his illness. A major question now comes to mind. WHY TERMINATION OF LICENCE? IF THE MEDICAL PROBLEM WOULD HAVE BEEN CANCER INSTEAD OF DEPRESSION, THEN ALSO THE LICENCE WOULD HAVE BEEN CANCELLED? Why can’t we take Mental Illness  as any other physical illness?

Stress and Depression have become a common issue in many society. According the World Health Organisation Report of 2012, an estimate of 350 Million people are effected by depression worldwide. In which many can be pilots. According to CareerCast, career as aircraft pilot come in the fourth most stressful jobs. Thus, why steps are not taken to address psychological health by aviation industry. There should be periodic psychological test of crews   especially pilots as our lives totally depends on them during the journey. It is shocking to know that last time Andreas went through a psychological test was on Sept 2013, when he was hired by German-wings. They did check his physical fitness in summer 2014 in annual pilot recertification medical routine. But no test were taken to check his mental fitness. Even when his earlier medical certificate mentioned his previous illness, why no steps were taken by the company to check his state of mind.

 Another issue that the incident raise is Patient confidentiality. As mentioned earlier, his doctor had considered him unfit to fly. I know patient confidentiality is important as it is patient’s personal issue. But, doesn’t one should considered to have a such rule, where in extreme cases, doctors could inform the company about the patient illness. If Andreas’s doctor could have told  the company, he could have been denied from flying that day. This rule could have drawbacks too as mental illness is considered to be a taboo.

This ain’t the first time that pilot have intentionally crashed the plane. Since 1982, aircraft assisted suicides by commercial airlines pilots have killed 421 people. And if the final reports confirms that Lubitz deliberately crashed the plane the death toll will increase to 571. In 1997, Silk Air Boeing 737-300 crashed in Palembang, Indonesia killing 104 people on board.  The plane descended from 35000 feet into a river in minute. A dive so fast that it reached supersonic speed. According the investigation, cockpit voice recorder which had been cut off, was willingly disabled. Egypt Air 990 crashed in 1999 killing people on board. According to the US led NTBS investigation, the pilot Gamal-al- Batouti had intentionally crashed the plane.  had muttered  several times an arabic phase translated as 'I rely on God' before the crash. The Egypt never accepted it though. In 2013, Pilot of Mozambique Airlines Flight TM470, crashed in Namibia killing 33 people on board. According to the investigation, the Pilot crashed the plane when co-pilot had gone to the bathroom.

With stress becoming a part of our modern lives, it is necessary that we as a society need to address this problem both individually and as a community. Andreas Lubitz might be considered as a mass murder by many right now. But, he was just ill. Instead of blaming sick people and trying to understand their motives, we should concentrate on changing the system. We need to start treating mental illnesses with the same seriousness as physical ones early on, instead of judging and shaming the patient.

ALL THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE ARE GATHER FROM MANY NEWSPAPERS.