A True Story of One Pilot Being Grounded For An Illness: Is This What Happened to German Pilot?

Someone I know well was a pilot for a major transport/package company. Being a pilot isn't just a job for these guys---it's a way of life. If you've worked hard enough to get there, that's where you want to stay for the rest of your career.

First he was a navy pilot, then he joined this transport company. Two years in, he realized he had diabetes. His grandfather had had it and so did his brother. He recognized the signs: thirst, fatigue, etc. He went to his own doctor and was diagnosed and treated.

Did he tell the company he flew for?

No, he did not. He knew his physical for work was due in six months and at that time, his illness would be discovered. So, he kept flying, secretly on insulin.

The day of his physical, he went into work and gave his resignation. And that was that. His life as a pilot was over---at least as a commercial pilot. You are grounded for life if you have diabetes.

So, I have a theory about this guy who flew for Germanwings. I am guessing the illness they discovered was diabetes or something similar. Every pilot knows if you are diagnosed with this, it's all over. There's a list out there of illnesses that will take away your wings.

I might also, just for the fun of it, ask you to indulge this scenario:

When the co-pilot for Germanwings got on the plane that day, he was fine at first. The audio shows he was chatting amicably with the pilot at first, but something changed in him during the flight. He became terse.

Maybe, when the doctor went to the bathroom, the co-pilot locked the door and gave himself a shot of insulin. Maybe he went into a diabetic coma, and that's why the breathing seemed normal during the ten minutes of descent.

While this may seem to be a long shot (since the plane was taken off autopilot) I'm more proposing here that whatever illness he had it was one that would ground him for life. Pilots, who seem themselves as PILOTS for life and can't imagine doing anything else but fly, go through a horrendous period of depression when something like this happens. My friend was never really the same. He always thinks about what his life would have been like if he could have kept flying.

The authorities in Germany have just stated that this "illness" they've discovered was not depression. I'm venturing to guess it was one of the illnesses on the "no-fly" list---that horrible list that grounds a lot of pilots for various diseases and illnesses.

If you make that list as a pilot, you know your gig is up at your next physical. If you've been hiding it, it will be discovered then.

It wouldn't surprise me if this guy just decided to end it all as a result.

More theories that don't line up with the evidence.

The co-pilot was conscious during the descent because he had to manually press a button that continued to lock-out the pilot.

a reply to: Answer

Thanks for the answer, answer.

But you missed MY POINT.

The theory was a side thought: If you read my post, you'd see that my point was that pilots who get grounded for illnesses get very depressed.

Go back and read it again.

Thank you.

Hi MRuss,

this is exactly what the official version is now. And it is a comprehensible one.
That guy started in a glider pilot's club and only a few of them would make it to a real pilot on an Airbus.
When the club wrote it's condolescence (later it was taken from the web) they said, it was his dream that had come true.

From the sick certificate he was not meant to work that day, but still played normal. Maybe he really chewed on this all morning long and his fuse burned-out, when his colleague left the cockpit.

Since I didn't hear the original audio yet and didn't see any sick certificate, I have to rely on what they tell us. And I keep my salt in reaching area. Funnily they only asked the university hospital for Lubitz' health and they said, they only did normal diagnostics. So who is the doctor, who wrote the certificate?

No conspiracy, but still questions. Hope they find the data of the second blackbox.