[ 2015-03-28 ]

Andreas Lubitz planned spectacular gesture that would go down in history, claims ex-girlfriend
Airbus crash pilot Andreas Lubitz had been
planning a spectacular gesture to make everyone
"remember" who he was, it has been claimed.

An ex-girlfriend of the Germanwings pilot who
crashed his plane in the French Alps, killing all
149 others on board, described him as "tormented"
and able to hide secrets.

Maria, 26 (not her real name), told Bild newspaper
that when she heard about the crash she remembered
that he had said he was going do something "that
would change the system" and "make everyone
remember" him.

She added: "It didn't make sense at the time but
now it all does."

Maria, who is thought to have met Lubitz at work,
said he would wake up at night screaming in
terror: "We're going down."

Her claim follows revelations by the Dusseldorf
prosecutor that Lubitz had been declared unfit, or
unwell, in the days leading up to his last fatal
flight on Tuesday, but that he had hidden this
from his employer.

It emerged that Lubitz tore up a sick note signing
him off work on the day of the crash, and kept it
a secret from the airline. He had been undergoing
treatment at a hospital in Dusseldorf as recently
as March 10, just two weeks before the tragedy,
but had also concealed this from his employers.

Maria added: "He knew how to hide what was really
going on and how hide it from other people."

She added: "When I heard about the crash, there
was just a tape playing in my head of what he
said: 'One day I will do something that will
change the system and everyone will then know my
name and remember me.'

"I did not know what he meant by that at the time,
but now it's clear."

She said: "He did it because he realised that
because of his health problems his big dream of a
job with Lufthansa; a job as captain and as a long
haul pilot was as good as impossible."

A new photograph of Lubitz was published on
Saturday, showing him smiling while taking a
'selfie', dressed in a white and blue striped
T-shirt.

The couple dated for five months last year, after
meeting while working on a flight, and would fly
together around Europe, spending time in hotels
together.

Maria told the German newspaper Bild: "We got to
know each other last year on a flight and
exchanged numbers, then stayed in contact. We met
in hotels, but it was difficult because of our
jobs."

Speaking of Lubitz's emotional make-up she
described him as someone who was"nice and open
minded" in public, but who needed constant love
and reassurance in private.

"He was a good man who could be very sweet. He
brought me flowers," but she added that he
suffered from the pressure of his job, stating:
"We spoke a lot about work and then he became
another person. He became agitated about the
circumstances in which he had to work, too little
money, anxiety about his contract and too much
pressure."

Maria said they eventually split up when she felt
unable to deal with his growing problems and his
increasingly volatile temper any more.

"During conversations he'd suddenly throw a
tantrum and scream at me. I was afraid. He even
once locked me in the bathroom for a long time."

German investigators refused to confirm whether
the sick note, or the hospital treatment, related
to depression, though Lubitz is reported to have
taken time out from his pilot training after
suffering mental illness before he finally
qualified.

As the hunt continued for a motive for Lubitz’s
mass murder, it also emerged that he had recently
split from his girlfriend, and appeared to have
made a desperate last attempt to win her back by
buying her a brand new Audi car only weeks ago.
She appeared to have said no, as the car was never
delivered.

Following Thursday’s disclosures about Lubitz
locking the captain out of the cockpit and putting
flight 9525 into a terminal dive, a picture has
emerged of Lubitz as a highly secretive man
tormented by mental and possibly physical illness,
as well as his failed relationship.

A spokesman for the prosecutors’ office in
Dusseldorf, which carried out searches of
Lubitz’s apartment in the city and his
parents’ home in the nearby town of Montabaur,
where he spent much of his time, said:
“Documents with medical contents were
confiscated that point towards an existing illness
and corresponding treatment by doctors.

“The fact there are sick notes saying he was
unable to work, among other things, that were
found torn up, which were recent and even from the
day of the crime, support the assumption based on
the preliminary examination that the deceased hid
his illness from his employer and his professional
colleagues.”

They refused to disclose the nature of Lubitz’s
recent illness, but he is known to have taken a
break from flight training in 2009 after he was
diagnosed with a “major depressive episode”
and anxiety attacks and listed “unable to
fly”.

Source - The Telegraph

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