Sympathy for Flight 9525 victims; rage for co-pilot
The guy on the telephone sounded angry and said something odd, at least I thought so at first.
"I wish the pilot had lived," he said, referring to Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 who officials say "intentionally" crashed the jet into the side of a mountain, killing 144 passengers and five other crew members.
"I wish he had lived," the man continued, "so that we could find out what the (expletive) he was thinking, and then kill him."
I understand the feeling.
All those innocent people, from 15 different countries, ranging from opera singers to high school kids to regular working stiffs.
According to The New York Times, the French chief prosecutor for the investigation, said, "At this moment, in light of investigation, the interpretation we can give at this time is that the co-pilot through voluntary abstention refused to open the door of the cockpit to the commander, and activated the button that commands the loss of altitude."
The prosecutor said Lubitz appears to have decided "to destroy the aircraft."
Investigators say the voice recorder proved that the co-pilot had been breathing until before the moment of impact, suggesting that he was conscious and calculated.
We can't imagine that.
Was it mental illness? The articles about him don't yet appear to hint at that, or about any terrorist ties, which has become our go-to assumption in things like this. We know that he completed some of his training in Arizona. The Internet world in which we live has made us impatient. We want to know everything. Now.
Was it simply suicide?
If so, he could have gone to a municipal airport on his day off and rented a small plane. He could have flown up to 5,000 or 6,000 feet, looked for a nice open field and sent the aircraft into a kamikaze-like dive.
That would have been tragic, but it would not have been 149 counts of murder.
We must be patient, of course. We must wait for all the facts to come in,
But that guy who called me?
I understand his rage.