Posted on 03/27/2015 12:14:59 PM PDT by wtd
"Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz was hiding an illness from his employers and had been declared unfit to work by a doctor, according to German authorities investigating what could have prompted the seemingly competent and stable pilot to steer his jetliner into a French mountain.
Investigators found a letter saying that Lubitz, 27, wasn't fit to do his job in the waste bin of his Dusseldorf, Germany, apartment, city prosecutor Christoph Kumpa said Friday. The note, Kumpa said, had been "slashed."
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
Did you see this post on FR earlier today?
Some of the comments are interesting to read. A few among us assume, to quickly, that everything we read on the ‘net is fact, not agenda.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3272834/posts
From the article:
“Pilots are required to maintain their fitness to fly and must tell their airline if they’re found unfit”
Sounds like a big loophole to me if they’re depending on “self-reporting”.
Too bad speeding tickets don’t work that way.
One of the Comments specifically referenced the pilot's Facebook page.
Has this been verified by anyone?
The Muslim connection was my first thought when I heard about the other pilot being locked out of the cockpit, and the controlled descent of the plane into the mountains.
The MSM has put a total blackout on the Muslim issue - if it really is true.
You do realize that the "earlier German reports" was just one "report," on some guy's personal blog, and was pure speculation. Worse, it was speculation based on nothing more than that the co-pilot had spent some time in Bremen, where there is apparently a radical mosque. But, guess what else is in Bremen? Lufthansa's flight training center! So, of course the guy spent time there.
We now know that the co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525, Andreas Lubitz, deliberately brought down the aircraft he was entrusted to fly, killing 150 passengers and crew members. Questions are focusing on the co-pilot’s mental state, and whether aviation authorities and airlines do enough to evaluate the mental stability of those flying the planes.
Information is gradually surfacing about the procedures in place to screen pilots. We’ve learned that pilots typically undergo psychological testing when they are hired, but are not required to undergo psych evaluations after that unless there’s a specific reason, like a traumatic life event.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), U.S. pilots must take an annual physical exam to retain their medical certificates, and during those exams medical examiners are expected to ask questions designed to identify psychological red flags. But that sort of surface-level examination relies on honest self-reporting, and the reality is that self-reporting is unreliable. Pilots know they’re opening the door to further investigation by candidly answering questions about depression, anxiety or other mental-state issues, and just like any professional they’re also sensitive to the stigma associated with disclosure.
This tragedy will focus more attention on the gap between initial psych evaluations and ongoing assessments during a pilot’s career. Much can happen in someone’s life in a relatively short span of time, and in some cases periodic screening (that delves deeper than self-reporting) may catch a problem before it manifests in suicidal or homicidal behavior.
It’s instructive, however, to review the testing protocols the FAA requires medical examiners to use when evaluating U.S. pilots. Guidelines for testing are provided on the FAA website, and you may be reassured to know that they are quite extensive.
According to the FAA, pilots undergo an exam and a battery of tests given by a doctorate-level, licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in administering psychological assessments. The exam includes “a review of all available records, including academic records, records of prior psychiatric hospitalizations, and records of periods of observation or treatment (e.g., psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, counselor, or neuropsychologist treatment notes),” and “a thorough clinical interview to include a detailed history regarding: psychosocial or developmental problems; academic and employment performance; legal issues; substance use/abuse (including treatment and quality of recovery)…and all medication use; and behavioral observations during the interview.”
The battery of tests includes neurocognitive evaluations, including intelligence tests (specifically the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale) and tests designed to assess executive functions like decision-making speed and ability. Other tests, such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2, dig into personality-related issues. A well-administrated personality assessment surfaces things like paranoia, depression and schizophrenia, and the likelihood that those or other conditions may develop. That’s an important point to underscore – personality assessments are, to a certain extent, predictive of future behavior.
Depending on a given person’s performance on these tests, the FAA may require more of them. Signs of a possible personality disorder trigger additional evaluations by a clinical neuropsychologist, who administers another battery of tests, and so on. If at any point along the way an examiner believes that a test was not administered correctly, or results appear incomplete, they’re given discretion to give it again “to assure a complete assessment.”
Clearly this isn’t an easy process, and it’s unlikely that anyone seeking to become a pilot in the U.S. is going to fake their way through it. Fibbing when asked to self-report on whether you’re feeling depressed or anxious is one thing, but tricking trained assessment experts across a battery of well-established evaluations is another. It’s possible, but unlikely.
As more becomes known about Lubitz’s mental state (and it no doubt will), all aviation authorities–the FAA and its international counterparts, along with every major airline–are likely to reassess their evaluation protocols and procedures to head off catastrophes like this from happening. Baseline testing is important, but ongoing psych screening may be equally important. Arguably it’s the only measure that has a chance of catching homicidal ideation before it turns into planning and, eventually, tragic action.
The thing that's so horrifying is, the killer co-pilot had a track record of earlier mental instability, and he was able to tear up his doctor's "unfit to work" notice the very day he murdered all those innocents. WHY wasn't anyone, the airline, the other pilot, the family/friends able to STOP him, somehow?!
I can lie 'til the cows come home if I want to (not that I would of course) and will eventually lose my job, but I will never be in a circumstance where 149 other people would lose their innocent lives as a result.
I can't fathom how the pilot fitness screening could be so useless.
It is a shame....otherwise, just by the numbers, I know flying to be safe.
My heart goes out to the victims and their families...this was just such a horrific and senseless crime. Also prayers for the recovery teams, working in some of the most difficult terrain in the world to bring the victims' remains out. Just tragic.
I wonder if the unfit for work notice was a triggering event for this disaster.
Well the FAA put my friend through hell, psychological testing, medical testing, she was grounded within twenty four hours. Just from a comment she made to a guy she hired. All she said was, I made a big mistake in my marriage (which everyone in the local aviation community knew about) and am so depressed over what I did. WHAM! She was done for at least a year. After this accident maybe it was the right thing to do.
“Pilots are required to maintain their fitness to fly and must tell their airline if they’re found unfit”
Sounds like a big loophole to me if they’re depending on “self-reporting”.
Too bad speeding tickets don’t work that way.
It's basically the same in the US for a flight medical.
All medical visits to providers are self-reported to a FAA-approved medical examiner. Here is a copy of the old form, it is now an on-line effort -
http://flighttraining.aopa.org/pdfs/FAA_Form_8500-8_Medical_App.pdf
Luftansha is going lose their ass in lawsuits.
It’s all starting to make sense now.
I think he was depressed and converted to Islam too. He planned his takeover of the airline, scrubbed his place of all references to his Islamic ties and made sure it would only be tied to his psychological problems. I stand by my ISSIS theory.
Narcissists like Lubitz have a way of blame shifting. Just look at the Narcissist in Chief.
Just heard on the White House Black Box:
Zer0: “Michelle, you’re driving me nuts! I can’t satisfy you in everything I do!” (Screaming in the background) Didn’t I give you all the hot dogs, with pork, and all the trimmings on Airforce One? Hell, I even booked you on another flight that time! You even had extra lobster in case you needed lobster! Blame it on the chef!
Michelle: (Screaming) That fat chef you gave me ate all of my lobster! (expletive) When I asked for hotdogs, he brought me only two hotdogs with only mustard! Mustard! (expletive) I wanted red onion, Cabot Pepper Jack Cheese and sour cream on them! (expletive)
Zer0: (expletive) “Since you wanted that separate plane, they must have stocked my Air Force Two’s refrigerator with all that crap! For me, I’ll take hotdog with mustard every time! (things hitting walls) Oooch! Aaach! Michelle, put that down, it’s the bust of Frank!”
Michelle: “Crap? With all that “crap” on you, even you look good enough to eat! Come here, I’m starving!
Zer0: “Blame it on Frank, baby!”
(I needed the comic relief—/sarc.
Couldn’t make a guess, but it seems he had plenty of problems and previous “unfit for work” notes that he also threw away. It may have been a triggering event, but self-reporting is just not sufficient. If you’re fine for the first hour of a 3-hour flight, and then go berserk half-way through for whatever reason, you have a tragedy and the murder of 149 innocent people.
He’s been a nutball a long time and the airline seemingly ignored it. Who quits free airline flight training to become a flight attendant? Bizarre.
I expect many people in many jobs know "what goes with the territory", which requirements can be stifling sometimes, and trusting the wrong "friend" can get you back-stabbed. And the endless grind of "he said/she said" investigations.
BUT, in the case of this latest tragedy, it would have been far better if this rogue psycho co-pilot had been grounded much before this. What happened was not an accident, either.
Your friend, I hope she is back flying! Sounds like she made one indiscreet and perfectly normal comment to a fellow pilot, who seized the opportunity to advance his own career...live and learn! Sadly, one must be untrustful of colleagues sometimes...but fortunately not always!
I don’t know how Euro courts work, but the sure to come lawsuits are likely to bury Lufthansa.
The report I heard said he had an undisclosed illness so I suspect he went to the doc on his own hoping it was fixable but suspecting it could ruin his career if it wasn’t.
She was rated to fly just about everything and when she got things cleared up she started flying freight. Horrible hours and pay plus it was so demeaning for her. She was beautiful, had a dream job and plane and lost it all even her husband. LOL. Bad decisions
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