On March 24th 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525 was flying from Barcelona, Spain to Düsseldorf, Germany. It was carring 144 passengers and 6 crew. Among them were 16 students and 2 teachers from Joseph-Koenig-Gymnasium school.
About 30 minutes after taking off, at 10:30, Marseille cleared the flight to IRMAR waypoint, and Captain Patrick Sodenheimer responded "Direct IRMAR, merci, Germanwings one eight Golf." Sodenheimer left the cockpit, to use the restroom. This left First Officer Andreas Lubitz alone in the cockpit. Seconds later Lubitz locked the cockpit door.
He used the target altitude on the autopilot panel to as low as 100 feet, puting a plane in a rapid descent - 3,000 feet per minute. From then he ignored any calls by the controller's requests and remained quiet for this whole time. The CVR captured the sound of him moving his chair and after a further 100 seconds, he began messing with the airspeed.
The captain tried telling him to let him back in the cockpit, again no response. Lubitz increased the speed knob to 350 knots - the highest value a pilot could select. From there anger and confusion turned into desperation. Captain Sodenheimer banged on the cockpit door six times shouting "For the love of god, open the door". He allegedly told a flight attendant to bring him a crowbar. Lubitz continued to remain calm, and ignoring Sodenheimer. Sodenheimer's anger, and the passengers screaming in terror, knowing that he will lose a battle to save 150 people but he still fought and Lubitz continued to remain calm. The last words was Lubitz telling the captain "You can go now."
The plane crashes in the Ravine Du Rosé, near the base of the Massif des Trois-Évêchés in the French Alps. Leaving countless fragments of the A320, including pieces of bodies - torsos, limbs, hands, and feet. This was deemed as an apalling act of mass murder-suicide.
Lubitz had a passion for flying growing up. He began flying for a local gliding club at the age of 14. As soon as he finished high school in 2007, he applied to Lufthansa's in-house pilot training program. Out of 6,530 applicants, he was one the 384 selected to begin commerical pilot training.
In the summer of 2008, Lubitz suffered deep depression. 2 months after he started his initial training he withdrew for medical reasons. He experienced suicideal ideation and took part in therapy to not commit suicide. Thanks to a psychiatrist, he recovered in july 2009.
In December 2014, Lubitz suffered from depression again, but this time worse. He complained that he was losing eyesight, but physicians said there was nothing wrong. He began suffering from psychosomatic disorder. In February 2015, a physician issued him 8 days of sick leave - declaing him unfit to work but kept working anyway. He kept ignoring his doctors resquests to stop working.
Under medical confidentiality laws, the only way Germanwings can do to find out that doctors were issuing Lubitz six leaves was for him to forward them to his employers. He refused because he feared that if he did, his medical certificate would be revoked and lose his career.
He began to have suicidal thoughts again and having restless nights. Despite his deteriorating mental state, he kept flying. Then on Marc
h 22nd he allegedly wrote notes including "BCN" for Barcelona, "Decision Sunday" and bullet points including, "stress and sleeplessness" and "let myself go"
What's more disturbing about Lubitz's story is that anyone who knew him thought he was a normal person. Some of those closet to him especially his parents refuse to believe his mental issues.
After the crash, the airline industry was deeply unsettled. This brought pilot suicide into a phenomena in a way no other incidents like this has ever done. Many were left in helpless anger. By 2017 Lufthansa had payed €75,000 to the family of every victim.
Victims families sued the Lufthansa training centee in Arizona - where Lubitz worked after recovering from his first depression. The case was reverted to german courts in March 2017. In July 2020, a court in Essen ruled dismissed claims by several victim families, arguing that neither Lufthansa or the training center could be held liable.
The remains of the 15 of 16 students and the two teachers were returned to Haltern and buried two months after the crash. On 2017 a sculpture was installed at the site, consisting of 149 gold coloured aliminium plates to form a sphere representing each victim.
The tragedy of Germanwings 9525 was not just a crash but also a senseless act of murder and a painful reminder of how future pilots should have the right to care for themselves without the fear of punishment.