Germanwings Was Unaware of Co-Pilot’s ‘Depressive Episode’

BERLIN (AP) — Germanwings says it was unaware that the co-pilot of its plane which crashed into the French Alps last week had suffered from depression during his pilot training.

Investigators believe co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked his captain out of the Airbus A320’s cockpit and intentionally crashed Flight 9525 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf into a French mountainside on March 24. All 150 people on board the plane were killed.

German airline Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings, confirmed Tuesday it knew six years ago that Lubitz had suffered from an episode of “severe depression” before he finished his flight training, but said he passed all his medical checks since then.

A spokeswoman for Germanwings, where Lubitz started work in September 2013, said Thursday didn’t know about the depressive episode when Lufthansa did.