Forget about flying!

[Steve James]

Well, it's possible to be depressed and also be a mass murderer. I agree that there is no simple connection between depression and what this guy did, though. But, since depression can lead to suicide, isn't it possible that someone might do it on the job? This isn't your typical murder or suicide. I think we'll have to learn a lot more about the guy, and then we still might not know. Of course, it's even more complicated because he's just an average German.

[grzegorz]

Very sad.

Let's just hope the vetting process for access to The Big Red Nuclear Button is really, really damn good...

Apparently not.

John Oliver for president!

[Interloper]

True. A person can have multiple mental illnesses. But depression on its own would not be the one that takes innocent lives. He may have had a bout of psychosis or other affliction that could cause delusion. He could also, as you note, have been a psychopath who slipped under the radar in his career. I'm just thinking that depression alone is not an indicator of violence done to others; it is violence directed inward.

[Steve James]

I'm just thinking that depression alone is not an indicator of violence done to others; it is violence directed inward.

I agree. Depression alone can't be the cause. There are probably more than a few pilots with depression.

[Steve James]

Just speculation, but this guy was a fanatical about flying and being a pilot. If it's true that he had been declared medically unfit for work, the fear of that being discovered might have been too much. I.e., that, for him, getting to his destination meant going to jail, being fined and maybe losing his license. Certainly, he would not have been trusted by a large commercial airline after it was known that he was deceptive. Of course, there might be other reasons he might have feared losing his job; and, we don't know exactly what his medical condition was.

[Michael]

I still say he had been radicalized by Extreme Greenies.

[wiesiek]

nach
just average, good educated German,
but
twisted

[Michael]

I heard that when he was in flight school, he only went to the classes about draining the fuel tanks, and didn't care how to learn about filling them up.

[grzegorz]

Andreas Lubitz wanted to “change the system” and said “one day everyone would know his name”, an ex-girlfriend
of the 27-year-old has told German tabloid Bild.

http://www.euronews.com/2015/03/28/one- ... -declared/

[Steve James]

A torn up doctor’s note, recovered from one of his residences, indicates he could have been excused from work for medical reasons on the day of the disaster.

German law requires workers to immediately tell their employers if they are unable to work.

Well, the fact that he was "able to work" is the problem. However, listening to the German reports, they're using the phrase "unfit to work."

[emptycloud]

I am surprised that these modern planes don't have some kind of automatic override, making it impossible for a pilot to do this kind of manoeuvre..?

[wiesiek]

you`re watching too much JB films...

[Steve James]

The assumption has always been that the pilot "is" the primary safety system. It would be possible to preset an autopilot to do the entire flight. However, if something extraordinary happens, there would need to be someone to take manual control. Pilotless flying is possible, but even drones have pilots. And the other danger is that there will always be someone who knows the frequencies on which a plane is operating and could take control. The human element is both the primary safeguard and the primary danger.

[grzegorz]

They found anti-depressants, among other things in his apartment.

http://www.cnn.com/specials/world/germa ... lane-crash

[Michael]

And An Inconvenient Truth DVD next to a hockey stick signed by Al Gore!!