if they were to self-report, they could be fired or lose their career or have their license revoked permanently. so many questions as a result of this and so many families suffering tonight, also as a result. erin? will ripley thank you very much. i want to bring in our aviation correspondent david soucie and neuropsychiatrist dr. lawrence tucker. dr. tucker let me begin with you. your area of expertise is at the heart of this. lubitz s doctor says that his vision problems were psychosomatic. in other words, to oversimplify it it was in his head. it was a psychological problem as opposed to a physical one. how is that possible? well when you have an anxiety disorder like it sounds he had, ptsd multiple traumas, he was very anxious. so anxiety and depression can
lufthansa said they didn t get any indication nothing was brought to tlearheir attention that he had any problems. it s up to him to self-report. we learned that he went to an eye doctor for vision problems and it turned out, according to a source this doctor diagnosed him with a psychosomatic order. we don t know when that happened in relation to this questionnaire filled out this past summer. the prosecutor said that he was suicidal before he became a pilot and continued to seek psychotherapy treatment after that to the years leading up to the crash that happened just a few days ago. erin? pamela thank you very much reporting live from germany. that s deeply troubling when you think of somebody suicidal before they even became a pilot and managed to get through the system. tonight, as investigators dig deeper into andreas lubitz s past possible motives are beginning to emerge and our will
two, it was at least seven minutes. there are microphones in that cockpit. so for seven minutes while the captain is desperately trying to get in human beings are screaming. lubitz is hearing all of this and he does nothing. even his rate of breathing does not change. what causes someone to do that someone to have whatever is wrong with him, to have no empathy for those 149 lives? it s almost a form of what we call a disassociation where they kind of check out. and apparently at this point in time he was intent on doing what he was doing and thought it was reasonable so disassociated from reality and circumstances, really not hearing or thinking about what is going on behind him. totally oblivious. and richard, one thing that we know here the plane the captain went to the bathroom. about a minute after he left the cockpit, maybe he stopped to talk to a flight attendant, whatever. a minute after that descent started. but it took him, from our understanding of the timeline
ripley is outfront with more. reporter: chilling video of andreas lubitz in a cockpit seven years ago as investigators confirm severe psychological problems before in his past problems that threatened to ground his piloting career. had, at that time been in treatment of a psychotherapist because of what is documented as being suicidal. reporter: german prosecutors say there s no evidence that lubitz was suicidal or acting aggressively aggressively in the days before he flew flight 9525 into the french alps. cnn has learned that problems were diagnosed as psychosomatic caused by his mental state. we don t have any
maybe they can make it up in the air. he had no chance to use the restroom in spain and lubitz says he can do so while the flight is under way. that information coming from a transcript of their conversation published by the german tabloid. the plane is at cruising altitude 38,000 feet. lubitz says you can go now. the captain s seat is heard being pushed back and tells lubitz you can take over. moments later, at 10:29, air traffic control notices the plane is descending and controllers try to contact the crew. no response. an alarm goes off in the cockpit warning about the sink rate of the aircraft. then banging is heard and people screaming and the pilot saying for god s sake open the door. loud metallic bangs begin as if someone in the cabin is trying to smash the cockpit open.