Co-pilot 'obsessed' with Alps; flew crash area as a boy

Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot who authorities say flew a Germanwings plane with 150 people aboard into the French Alps, was "obsessed" and "passionate" about the mountainous region and had flown it several times as a child, French and German media report.
Lubitz and his family, along with other members of a gliding club in his hometown of Montabaur, Germany, would take trips with other members to a club in the town of Sisteron, France, about 30 miles from where the Airbus A320 went down Tuesday,

The area, with its numerous peaks and valleys and stunning panoramas, is popular with glider pilots. In the final moments of the Germanwings flight, Lubitz overflew the major turning points for gliders flying from one peak to another, according to local glider pilots, the Associated Press reported.
French investigators said the plane, with Lubitz at the controls and the locked-out pilot trying desperately to break through the cockpit door, flew for about 10 minutes after leaving its 38,000-feet cruising altitude, finally descending into the side of the mountains.

Francis Kefer, a member of the local French gliding club, told France's i-Tele television that the Lubitz family and other members of the Montabaur club came to the region regularly between 1996 and 2003.

Dieter Wagner, a member of the Montabaur club, said he recalls that Lubitz had participated in one of the gliding courses in the Alpine region with Wagner's niece, who was a good friend, Le Parisien reported.


"He was passionate about the Alps and even obsessed," Wagner said. "I'm sure he knew the crash area because he had flown it in a glider."

Ernst Müller, 70, and another member of the German club, said he is "certain that Andreas has participated in at least one or two internships with us in Sisteron," Le Parisien reported. Officials at the club would not comment Saturday, the AP reports.