A final email sent by Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot who is believed to have intentionally crashed a Germanwings plane last year, allegedly reveals he was suffering from depression and “feared going blind”.
The email, sent by the then 27-year-old to his doctor two weeks before the crash and published by German newspaper Bild, reportedly says: “I am afraid to go blind and I can't get this possibility out of my head.
“If it wasn't for the eyes, everything would be fine."
The Germanwings Airbus A320, flying from Barcelona to Dusseldorf, crashed in a remote area of the French Alps on 24 March 2015, killing all 149 people on board. Data recorders found at the site suggest Lubitz deliberately collided the plane into the mountain after locking the senior pilot out of the cockpit.
The newly revealed email also suggests Lubitz was suffering from depression and this, combined with his supposedly failing eyesight, made him fearful of losing his job.
It reportedly said he was taking the highest dose of Mirtazapine, an anti-depressant also used as a drug to induce sleep, which Lubitz admitted was making him restless.
“I know I need, despite the difficult situation, to achieve longer sleep and reduce stress,” the email reportedly said.
Lubitz is known to have had problems with depression during his pilot training, but Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings, said that his regular medical checks had revealed no problems.
Evidence uncovered by German investigators at Lubitz’s home at Montabaur, in the Rhineland, following the crash, suggest he destroyed doctors’ notes advising him to take time off work. He had also studied suicide techniques on the internet.
A final report on the accident will be released on 13 March, according to the Office of Research and Analysis of France.
