Germanwings Tragedy | Prosecutors: Co-pilot treated for suicidal tendencies

Flags representing differents nations are deployed during an homage ceremony with family members of victims, in front of a stele, a stone slab erected as a monument, set up in memory of the victims in the area where the Germanwings jetliner crashed in the French Alps, in Le Vernet, France

The co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 that crashed into the French Alps last week had received treatment for suicidal tendencies several years ago, prosecutors said yesterday.
Duesseldorf prosecutors say co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, 27, had received psychotherapy “with a note about suicidal tendencies” for several years before becoming a pilot.
“In the following period, and until recently, further doctor’s visits took place, resulting in sick notes without any suicidal tendencies or aggression against others being recorded,” prosecutors’ spokesman Ralf Herrenbrueck said in a written statement.
Authorities believe, based on data from the plane’s cockpit voice recorder, that Lubitz locked his captain out of the cockpit and ignored his pleas to open the door while manually sending the plane into a fatal descent on what should have been a routine flight.
Prosecutors said they have so far found no indication of a motive that might have prompted Lubitz’s actions, nor any sign of a physical illness.
Asked about reports that Lubitz had problems with his vision, Christoph Kumpa, another spokesman for the Duesseldorf investigators, said there was no documentation showing that Lubitz had any physical ailment affecting his sight.
All 150 people on board were killed when the Airbus A320 plane flying from Barcelona to Duesseldorf slammed into a French mountain on March 24.
Meanwhile, Australia responded to the Germanwings air disaster by mandating that at least two crew members be present at all times in cockpits of larger domestic and international airliners.
Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said airlines including Qantas and Virgin Australia would implement the changed security protocols from yesterday. It would apply to all commercial flights with a least two flight attendants or more than 50 passengers. A flight attendant would enter the flight deck if one of the two pilots left it for any reason.
Previously, most Australian airlines have allowed their pilots to be alone on the flight deck.
Truss said pilot suicide was suspected behind more than a dozen plane crashes over the past 40 years. MDT/AP