The Normalizing of Bypassing Responsibility

"He only did it for very few second[s] before the plane could even move. There was no way for air traffic control to detect that."
"The man planned this. It was no spontaneous action."
Peter Pletschacher, president, German Aviation Writers Association

Investigators searching through the wreckage of the doomed Germanwings plane in the French Alps were forced to resume the hunt on foot as bad weather hampered helicopter flights. "The teams will get to the site via the path that is already in existence," said Yves Naffrechoux of the local mountain police.  Picture: EPA/YOAN VALAT

Some of the wild speculation now finally put to rest. It is now accepted that the co-pilot of the Germanwings Airbus A320, planning to commit suicide through a spectacular mass murder, took advantage of some slight and brief opportunities on the flight from Dusseldorf to Barcelona to practise using the plane's autopilot in a deep descent, on March 24.

It appears from deciphering the plane's recovered black boxes that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz practised diving the plane, and evidently satisfied with what he briefly accomplished then rectified, prepared to move from dress rehearsal to full commitment, ultimately setting the Airbus and its terrified passengers on an irreversible crash-course with death.

He set the autopilot controls to descend perilously low while briefly alone in the cockpit, then restored the proper settings to ensure that the change he had momentarily effected was over-ridden, and as such undetected. A 30-page report compiled by investigators set out the details. On the return trip he knew precisely what he was going to do.

After persuading the pilot to leave the cockpit for a bathroom break, Andreas Lubitz locked the cockpit door, then refused to respond to frantic calls from air traffic controllers and the pilot while Flight 9525 plummeted toward mountain peaks in southern France.

But this was not the only revelation to be brought forward. Finally, Lufthansa, parent company of Germanwings, admitted to have been fully informed in 2009 of the circumstances surrounding the young employee's return from a months-long hiatus in his training. He had suffered an "episode of severe depression". 

This admission of knowledge was revealed shortly after the company insisted it had received no information relating to the co-pilot's medical condition, before the catastrophic crash. Having said which, the airliner has no wish to comment further, at this time. And little wonder it doesn't.



After the crash of the airliner, details began emerging relating to the psychological state of the 27-year-old man who was so devoted to the craft of flying planes. He had also, according to German officials, scanned websites prior to the crash, for the purpose of researching information on methods of suicide. The method he chose was nothing short of astonishingly cruel and fathomlessly horrible.

The plane was cruising at an altitude of 38,000 feet, entering a descent toward the Alps. A descent that was deliberately and catastrophically accelerated with recovered flight recorders evidencing the terrified screams of passengers realizing that their lives were coming to an abrupt and dreadful end.



The culpability of the airlines should not be buried under an avalanche of quiet 'regrets' and explanations of institutionalized respect for privacy relating to medical confidentiality that 'compromised' action on the part of the airline requiring that security of the passengers trusting that all would be well on a routine flight, belied reality.