Germanwings pilot surfed for ways to die

The day before he crashed an Airbus 320 carrying 149 passengers and crew members into the French Alps, Andreas Lubitz safely flew an empty jet from Düsseldorf, Germany, to Berlin, then returned home to his iPad to search terms including "living will," "suffering" and "dying."

Christoph Kumpa, the Düsseldorf prosecutor, confirmed the discovery of the search terms first reported by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. He said they indicated that the 27-year-old pilot, who was alone at the controls on March 24 when the Germanwings flight slammed into the mountain, had considered other means of killing himself, but may have feared he would not succeed. The information gleaned from Lubitz's search activity in the weeks before the crash, including looking up information about obtaining poisons and Valium, forms part of the growing body of evidence gathered in an effort to determine whether anyone could be charged with wrongdoing for failing to adequately monitor Lubitz's mental health.

Unlike in France, where charges can be brought against a company, only individuals can be prosecuted under German law. With Lubitz dead, prosecutors must establish whether he alone was responsible for the crash. A French public prosecutor formally opened a criminal inquiry into whether Germanwings; its parent company, Lufthansa; or any other individuals should bear responsibility for the crash.

German prosecutors said that Lubitz was treated for a depressive episode in 2009 that led him to withdraw from Lufthansa's elite flight-training school for treatment. He was reinstated after a company doctor found him fit to return to the cockpit and was hired by Germanwings in 2013.

©2015 The New York Times News Service