Updated March 30, 2015 01:07:09
Photo: French rescue workers gather in front of a memorial for the victims of the Germanwings air crash in Le Vernet. (AFP: Jeff Pachoud)
Photo: French rescue workers near the Germanwings crash site hold German and Japanese flags during a tribute. (Reuters: Jean-Paul Pelissier)
Photo: French gendarmes and investigators work amongst the debris of the Airbus A320 at the site of the crash, near Seyne-les-Alpes, French Alps March 26, 2015. (Reuters: Emmanuel Foudrot)
Photo: Relatives of the Germanwings Airbus A320 crash victims gather during a wreath-laying and remembrance ceremony in the small French village of Le Vernet. (AFP: Pascal Guyot)
Photo: A stele, carved in French, German, Spanish and English, in memory of the victims of the Germanwings Airbus A320 crash, is pictured in the small village of Le Vernet in the French Alps. (AFP: Jeff Pachoud)
Photo: German police investigators search an apartment believed to belong to Andreas Lubitz in Dusseldorf. (Reuters: Kai Pfaffenbach)
Photo: An image from a Facebook page reported to be of Andreas Lubitz, March 24 2015. (Facebook)
Photo: Search and rescue personnel are lowered close to the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320. (AFP)
Photo: A woman lays a flower next to a sign saying 'Why?' at a memorial of flowers and candles at the Joseph-Koenig-Gymnasium secondary school in Haltern am See, western Germany. (AFP: Sascha Scuermann)
Photo: Debris from the Germanwings Airbus A320 at the crash site in the French Alps. (AFP: Ministere de L'interieiur)
Photo: French president Francois Hollande, German chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy arriving near the site of the crashed plane. (Reuters)
Photo: Investigators are analysing the plane's voice recorder black box for clues as to why the Airbus A320 went down. (Reuters/BFA)
Photo: French military personnel make their way up the mountain as part of operations as they advance to the crash site of an Airbus A320, near Seyne-les-Alpes. (Reuters: Jean-Paul Pelissier)
Photo: German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (3R) and French minister for ecology, sustainable development and energy, Segolene Royal (2R) near the crash site. (Reuters: Thomas Koehler/photothek.net)
Photo: A gendarmerie helicopter gets ready to take off in a field from Seyne after a German Airbus A320 of the low-cost carrier Germanwings crashed, killing all 150 people on board. (AFP/Anne-Christine Poujoulat)
Photo: Debris from a Germanwings Airbus A320 at the crash site in the French Alps. (AFP/Denis Bois/Gripmedia/AFP TV)
Photo: A French helicopter surveys the mountain side crash site of flight 4U9525 near Seyne-les-Alpes. (Reuters: Emmanuel Foudrot)
Photo: A screengrab taken from an AFP TV video on March 24, 2015 shows search and rescue personnel at the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 in the French Alps above the south-eastern town of Seyne. The plane, which had taken off from Barcelona in Spain and was headed for Dusseldorf in Germany, crashed earlier in the day with 150 people onboard. (AFP Photo: Denis Bois)
Photo: Rescuers leave from a field where the recovery effort is headquartered in the southeastern French town of Seyne after a German Airbus A320 crashed. (AFP/Anne-Christine Poujoulat)
Photo: A rescue helicopter from the French Securite Civile flies over the French Alps during a rescue operation. (Reuters: Jean-Paul Pelissier)
Photo: Debris from an Airbus A320 is seen in the mountains, near Seyne-les-Alpes, March 24, 2015 in this still image taken from TV. The Airbus operated by Lufthansa's Germanwings budget airline crashed into a mountainside in the French Alps on Tuesday, killing all 150 people on board including two Australians and 16 schoolchildren. (Reuters TV)
Photo: A family member of a passenger feared killed in Germanwings plane crash reacts at Barcelona's El Prat airport. (Reuters: Albert Gea)
Photo: A student places a lit candle outside the Josef-Koenig-Gymnasium high school in Haltern am See. 16 students and two teachers from the school were on board the ill-fated Germanwings plane. (Reuters: Kirsten Neumann)
Photo: Young girls stand in front of the Joseph-Koenig-Gymnasium secondary school in Haltern am See where some of the Germanwings plane crash victims came from. (AFP: Sascha Schuermann)
Photo: Family members of passengers of the Germanwings plane crash arrive at Barcelona's El Prat. (Reuters: Gustau Nacarino)
Photo: Family members of passengers of the Germanwings plane crash wait for news at Barcelona's El Prat airport. (Reuters: Gustau Nacarino)
Photo: Members of the French government and deputies observe a minute of silence for the victims during a session at the National Assembly in Paris. (Reuters: Charles Platiau)
The captain of the Germanwings jet that investigators believe was deliberately crashed into the French Alps killing all 150 aboard, shouted at the co-pilot to "open the damn door" as he desperately tried to get back into the locked cockpit, German newspaper Bild has reported.
French officials said the plane's black box voice recorder indicated that the co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, 27, locked the captain out of the cockpit of the jet and steered Flight 4U 9525 into a mountainside.
The officials believed the more senior pilot, identified by Bild as Patrick S, tried desperately to reopen the door during the flight's eight-minute descent after he had left to use the toilet.
Bild reported that data from the cockpit recorder showed the captain shouted: "For God's sake, open the door", as passengers' screams could be heard in the background.
It said "loud metallic blows" against the cockpit door could then be heard, before another warning alarm went off and the pilot was heard to scream to a silent Lubitz in the cockpit "open the damn door".
Bild reported that earlier in Tuesday's flight between Barcelona and Dusseldorf, the captain was heard explaining to his colleague that he had not had time to go to the toilet before take off.
As investigators seek to build up a picture of Lubitz and any possible motives, media reports have emerged that he suffered from a problem with his eye, adding to earlier reports he was severely depressed.
Earlier, German prosecutors said they believed Lubitz hid an illness from his airline employer but did not specify the ailment. They added he had been written off sick on the day the plane crashed.
Lubitz treated for eyesight problems: reports
Bild and the New York Times, which cited two officials with knowledge of the investigation, said Lubitz had sought treatment for problems with his sight.
Bild reported that investigators found evidence that Lubitz feared losing his eyesight because of a detached retina.
Bild's Saturday edition had published an interview with a flight attendant who it said had a relationship last year with Lubitz and recalled him saying: "One day I'm going to do something that will change the whole system, and everyone will know my name and remember".
The flight attendant told Bild said if Lubitz did deliberately crash the plane, it was "because he understood that because of his health problems, his big dream of a job at Lufthansa, a job as a captain and as a long-haul pilot was practically impossible".
German prosecutors revealed Friday that searches of Lubitz's homes netted "medical documents that suggest an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment", including "torn-up and current sick leave notes, among them one covering the day of the crash".
Police found a number "of medicines for the treatment of psychological illness" during a search at Lubitz's Dusseldorf home, Welt am Sonntag newspaper said.
It added that the Germanwings co-pilot was suffering from being overstressed and was severely depressive, according to personal notes found.
Search for second black box continues
French police investigator Jean-Pierre Michel said on Saturday that Lubitz's personality was a "serious lead" in the inquiry but not the only one.
The investigation has so far not turned up a "particular element" in the co-pilot's life which could explain his alleged action, he said.
Lufthansa, which operates the budget carrier Germanwings, chief Carsten Spohr said earlier that Lubitz had suspended his pilot training, which began in 2008, "for a certain period" before restarting and qualifying for the Airbus A320 in 2013.
The second-in-command had passed all psychological tests required for training, Mr Spohr told reporters.
Germany is to hold a national memorial ceremony on April 17 for the victims of the disaster, half of whom were German, with Spain accounting for at least 50 and the remainder composed of more than a dozen other nationalities.
Meanwhile, helicopters resumed search operations at the crash zone in south-eastern France for a sixth day, as efforts to comb the area for the victims' remains and a second black box continue.
"There's no reason not to find the second black box," French investigator Xavier Vialenc said.
AFP/Reuters
Topics: air-and-space, accidents, disasters-and-accidents, germany, france
First posted March 30, 2015 00:49:00
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