Some Afterthoughts To The Airbus A320 Germanwings Co-Pilot Suicide

[With His Victims] In the French Alps

Andreas Lubitz

Far from hating Andreas Lubitz as the media would wish in their portrayal of this individual -a deranged 'monster' - for the world to 'buy into', we should feel as sorry for him as for his victims – the unsuspecting crew and passengers who were chanced to be flying with him that particular day, for whatever reason, he decided to end his torment.

A picture is gradually emerging which is becoming clearer as each new piece of information unravels his personality.

Here we have someone who had a passion for flying from the time he was a teenager- probably earlier.  But he was, more than likely, also most certainly aware that, even at this time, he had a very dark secret.   It seems that he was able to both conceal and tame the mental demons and torment between his childhood and his death (together with those he 'wanted' to be with him – the 149 other victims) some 15 years later in the French Alps.  Only very careful investigation will reveal exactly how he was able to pull off this remarkable deception – and had both the intellect and charisma to eventually make his way into the cockpit of an airbus A320, without detection.

[The procedural issues I have covered previously so here I will just focus on the character.]

An assumption would be made that a brother or sister or other family members can always shed light on such prior disorders.  This is sometimes a fallacy.  You take your brother or sister or other relative 'for granted' unless the behavior is so out of range as to require medical support or hospitalization [let me use the phrase 'well he/she always was a bit weird but we assumed it was just part of his/her personality.']

[An assumption I am making here is that whatever his state of mind, it was, for a very long time, manageable and therefore could be segregated or compartmentalized.]

Likewise for friends.  Coupled with the fact that, for all intensive purposes, this was, apparently, a sociable and likeable individual, probably of high intellect, you could almost be forgiven for saying 'well, his behavior probably goes with the territory.'

I am not justifying mass murder only saying that, in our arrogance, we often think we can reduce everything to a simplistic equation and when things just don't add up, in frustration and anger, we just pull out the label of psychopath' or 'monster' or something similar.

[It's a corollary to the court or justice systems which are designed, worldwide, not to punish and teach, but to exact retribution on behalf of an angry society - often with political motivations and electoral votes as backdrop.]

Let me now change the subject and give you just one example of a rapid personality deterioration.

Not too long ago I met someone I had not seen for sometime.  It was immediately obvious to me that the psychopathology of this individual had altered considerably.

I am not talking about someone elderly but someone in her early 20s.   The red flags were very evident.  Fortunately this individual does not have any remarkable responsibilities which could endanger the mass safety of individuals but is, quite clearly a 'danger' to someone somewhere out there.  The 'danger' I am talking about is, more likely, a dysfunctional relationship with a partner which (most certainly) will end in separation or divorce.   But it's none of my business.   I don't know the individual so her personal life or circumstances are of no concern to me whatsoever.  [I only thanked my lucky stars that I initially sensed that something was wrong, several years ago, and kept myself at an observational (but respectful!) distance.]  Again, we can all pull someone out of the rabbit hat who 'fits the profile' of 'unstable' – but none are likely responsible for the lives of hundreds or thousands of people at any one time and if we went on [yet another!] 'witch hunt' – this time against all individuals who are suffering from some or other form of mental illness or depression or severe shock or high anxiety, or bad divorce or separation or high stress of some sort - we might just as well lock up one third to a half of all the country at some time in their lives and retire a quarter (or more) of all the civilian pilots currently flying airlines worldwide (!)

Will This Ever Happen Again? Most Certainly Yes - But Just Hope And (if you are religious) Pray It's Not On Your Holiday Flight (!)

Some Consolation Might Be That Your Chances Of Winning 'Powerball' Before This Happens Are Probably Greater (!)

You never quite know when an individual will 'go off the deep end' and there is no guarantee that a tragedy like this suicide and ' intentional' [or collateral] mass murder  (however you view it) by a delusional individual, will not happen again whether or not, as the popular mass media are neighing for, you put a third person - even armed with an Uzi - in the cockpit of every airplane to constantly monitor the 'good behavior' of the pilot, co-pilot and another one or two (just for good measure) to monitor the 'good behavior' of all the passengers (and perhaps, several undercover individuals authorized to carry SIG-Sauer P228s, as overall 'oversight') - whilst the plane is in-flight.



Epilog
29th March, 15:57 Pacific Daylight Time, 2015:
I have one final question:
When The Captain got up to go to the toilet, and Mr Lubitz was left alone, did he think he was still in a dream and that, this time, by crashing the plane ( instead of the many times in his dreams he did not) he would awake 'reborn' and 'free' of his torments - having confronted and 'slayed' his demons - or was he fully conscious of his 'place' in 'reality'?

©Patrick Emek, 2015

Mental Demons: (The answer is probably somewhere within ... but you may not like what you find...)

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