France urges tougher pilot checks after Germanwings crash

REUTERS: French investigators have recommended tougher medical checks for pilots after uncovering fresh evidence of unreported concerns over the mental state of a German pilot who crashed his jet into the Alps last year, killing all 150 people on board.

France’s BEA air accident investigation agency said a doctor consulted by Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz had recommended two weeks before the disaster that he should be treated in a psychiatric hospital.

The unidentified private physician was one of a number of doctors seen by the 27-year-old as he wrestled with symptoms of a “psychotic depressive episode” that started in December 2014 and may have lasted until the day of the crash, it said.

Investigators believe Lubitz, who had a history of depression, barricaded himself into the cockpit and deliberately propelled his Airbus jet into a mountainside on March 24, 2015.

The BEA said in its final report on Sunday that neither Lubitz nor any of his doctors had alerted aviation authorities or his airline about his illness, for which he was being treated with anti-depressants.

It urged the World Health Organization and European Commission to draw up rules to oblige doctors to inform authorities when a patient’s health is very likely to impact public safety: if necessary against the patient’s consent.

It also called for tougher inspections when pilots with a history of psychiatric problems are declared fit to fly.