The Germanwings first officer who intentionally flew his Airbus A320 into the ground in the French Alps had been diagnosed with a possible psychosis and given antidepressants days before the crash, but neither his employer nor civil aviation authorities were told about his mental state, crash investigators say.
The French Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA) — in its final report on the March 24, 2015, crash of Flight 9525 during a flight from Barcelona, Spain, to Düsseldorf, Germany — said that “the collision with the ground was due to the deliberate and planned action of the copilot, who decided to commit suicide while alone in the cockpit.”
The copilot was killed in the crash, along with all five other crewmembers and all 144 passengers. A post-crash examination of tissue taken from the copilot revealed the presence of two types of antidepressants as well as a sleep medication.
The BEA report, released in mid-March, singled out the medical certification process for…
