Prosecutors in France, after listening to the cockpit voice recorders, offered no motive for why Andreas Lubitz, 27, would take the controls of the Airbus A320, lock the captain out of the cockpit and deliberately set it veering down from cruising altitude at 3,000 feet per minute. BERLIN The pilot who appears to have deliberately crashed a plane carrying 149 others into the French Alps received psychiatric treatment for a "serious depressive episode" six years ago, German tabloid Bild reported on Friday. Citing internal documents and Lufthansa sources, Bild said Lubitz spent a total of one and a half years in psychiatric treatment and that the relevant documents would be passed to French investigators once they had been examined by German authorities. Mr Lubitz's employers have confirmed that his training was interrupted for several months six years ago. His flying abilities were flawless," Spohr said. Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr told a news conference on Thursday that Lubitz had taken a break during his training six years ago, but did not explain why and said he had passed all tests to be fit to fly. "He passed all the subsequent tests and checks with flying colours," Mr Spohr was quoted as saying. A Lufthansa spokeswoman said on Friday the airline would not comment on the state of health of the pilot.
– Police last night searched Germanwings co-pilot's Andreas Lubitz's apartment in Duesseldorf, Germany, and the home he shared with his parents in the small town of Montabaur, removing boxes of possessions and what one investigator called a potentially "significant clue" that will be taken for testing, reports the BBC. German prosecutors later announced that they found medical documents in the 27-year-old's home that indicate "an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment," reports the AP. Prosecutor Ralf Herrenbrueck further said that torn-up sick notes for the day of the crash "support the current preliminary assessment that the deceased hid his illness from his employer and colleagues." It's not clear if the notes and the "clue" are the same. Herrenbrueck says no suicide note or evidence of any political or religious motivation for Lubitz's actions were uncovered. An unconfirmed report in Germany's Bild newspaper stated that Lubitz was diagnosed with a "severe depressive episode" in 2009 and had to repeat flying classes because of depression. The German paper says Lubitz was having relationship problems with his girlfriend, and police are looking into whether he was having a "personal life crisis," the Guardian reports. So far, airline chiefs have said only that there "was a lengthy interruption in his training" six years ago and he passed all subsequent checks with "flying colors," reports Reuters.