Lubitz’s pilot licence in line with procedures, says aviation authority

Lufthansa and the German aviation authority have agreed that correct procedures were followed when Andreas Lubitz was awarded his pilot's licence, the authority said on Thursday.

Investigators believe Lubitz deliberately crashed the Germanwings plane into a French mountainside on March 24th, killing all 150 people onboard.

Lufthansa has said Lubitz had told its flight school in 2009 that he had overcome a period of severe depression, raising questions over how pilots are screened and whether they should undergo more psychiatric testing once qualified.

The authority, the Luftfahrtbundesamt (LBA), said over the weekend that it had no knowledge of Lubitz’s depression. However, Germanwings parent company Lufthansa had responded by saying that under previous regulations in force until 2013, it was not required to inform the LBA.

Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr met with LBA president Joerg Mendel on Tuesday and held “constructive” talks, the two parties said.

“We came to the joint conclusion that the correct procedures for awarding a pilot’s licence were followed,” the LBA said.

German state prosecutors have said a computer found in Lubitz’s home revealed searches on how to commit suicide as well as on cockpit doors and safety precautions related to them.

German newspaper Bild am Sonntag said investigators had found Lubitz used the username “Skydevil” to log on to the computer and had recently done Internet searches on “bipolarity”, “manic depression” as well as on “migraines”, “impaired vision” and “acoustic trauma”.

French air accident authority BEA has said its investigation into the Germanwings crash would study “systemic weaknesses” that might have led to the disaster, including psychological profiling.

Reuters