Andreas Lubitz, the Germanwings co-pilot believed to have deliberately crashed flight 4U9525 killing 150 last week, was treated for suicidal tendencies "several years ago", before he received his pilot's licence, German prosecutors said Monday.
"In the ensuing years and up until recently, he had doctors' visits and was written off sick but showed no sign of suicidal tendencies or aggression towards others," said Ralf Herrenbrueck, spokesman for the prosecutor's office in the western city of Duesseldorf.
The prosecutors' office added that since then he had not shown any signs of suicidal behavior nor aggressive tendencies towards others in visits to doctors.
Lubitz had "an obsession" with the Alps and was well-acquainted with the crash area, French newspaper Le Parisien reported on Saturday. "Andreas participated in courses in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence with my niece, who was a good friend to him. He was passionate about the Alps, and even obsessed. I am sure that he knew the crash area well as he had flown over it in a glider," Dieter Wagner, a member of Montabaur flight school, said. On Monday ITV aired the video of Lubitz as a trainee pilot taken around ten years ago:
