Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Carol Costello 20150327

Revealed that the copilot was hiding a medical condition from his employers and that he was deemed unable to work even on the very day he killed 149 people aboard his flight. Now this new evidence apparently seized in a Police Search of his apartment and the home of his parents. Investigators are searching for a motive. Was this an act of terror or a twisted mind hell bent on suicide and mass murder . Cnns Fred Pleitgen is in cologne, germany. Fred . Reporter hi anderson. All of this comes from a statement that the Public Prosecutor in the town of dusseldorf gave out. One of the things that you read when you read that language in german is that its very blunt for german standards. Theyre very clear about the fact that Andreas Lubitz was hiding the condition from his employer. Hiding it from his employer. They didnt elaborate whether it was Mental Illness or more physical illness. However, they did say that they did find several doctors notes that have been torn up including one that covers the day of the doomed flight. Now all of this as you said took place after they searched the homes, both in montebaur and in dusseldorf. The indication is that the medical records were found in the apartment in dusseldorf. They said there was no goodbye note. There doesnt seem to be any sort of political or religious motive but this seems to be due to the fact that he had this medical condition that they didnt elaborate on. The statement that the Public Prosecutor gave out was not something that they said on camera it was something that they gave out a written statement. It wasnt very long but it was very very clear, especially if you know the way that German Authorities normally communicate. They were very blunt about the fact that they believe that he was trying to hide this condition and that that might have something to do or very probably has something to do with why the plane crashed on tuesday, anderson. German privacy laws prevent somebody from giving out medical information. Does that still apply when the person is deceased and in a case like this . Reporter yeah it certainly still does. It still is the case that medical records wont be given out. Its one of the issues theyre having. One of the things that were being told by lufthansa as well. We were asking about personal information about the pilot. Something that they cannot disclose. On top of that of course you also have the fact that all of this is part of a criminal investigation right now. That might also be one of the reasons why the prosecutor isnt elaborating more on what that medical condition might be because, of course at this point this time what theyre going to be doing is speaking to the doctor that treated him. Theyre going to be speaking to relatives, to friends to see whether or not they knew something about this condition that he was trying to hide from his employer anderson. That was my next question. Do we know have they interviewed his parents at this point . Reporter were not sure about the parents. Again, this comes from that statement as well. Were not sure if the parents are part of it. We do believe that the parents were interviewed at some stage of the game. Im not sure if it was about this medical condition per se but the authorities have been saying that yes, they have been in touch with the parents. Keep in mind that the parents were also one of the ones who were flown to france for that day when all the relatives of those that were deceased were brought very close to where the crash site was. And it was at that point in time that the authorities said well we have this new information. So they have been questioned. Friends have been questioned. What the authorities are saying in this letter now from the Public Prosecutors office is that there are interviews that are ongoing and also of course records that are being checked. So certainly they are going in many directions with all of this but most certainly the direct relatives of Andreas Lubitz and the ones where he was living because he was living at his parents house with his parents and his brother are going to be very much the focal point of them trying to get Additional Information as to what exactly that illness was as to how much it contributed to him steering that plane into the mountains. And, fred do we have any idea of how long hes had this condition or this illness, how long hes known about it . How long how far these nodes from doctors go back . Reporter you know, we dont have any substantial information as to how long hes already had this condition, however, of course there is this information that weve been talking about for a while now, that in 2008 when he was going through his Pilot Training that he took some time off during that Pilot Training and for several months. There have been some media elements that said it might have been due to some depression might have had some psychological issues there. That has not been substantiated yet. It does appear that he has had this medical condition for a very long time. The prosecutor said this was something that was an ongoing illness that was also requiring ongoing medical attention from some sort of doctor as well. And, fred you talked about, you know interviews coming ahead. Do we know anything are there more locations for authorities to search or have they pretty much exhausted all the locations where this copilot lived, where he would have spent time or had documents . Reporter well thats a you know thats actually a very good question because there will be other places where theyre going to search as well. Keep in mind this mans a pilot so he is someone whos been traveling considerably. He had his hometown in montabaur which is about 100 miles from where i am. Its a fairly rural suburban area. Theyre obviously going to be asking questions there. Then you have his apartment in dusseldorf. Thats obviously a place where he knew people. You have the flight school, theyou have the lufthansa school. Were there signals. He spent time in arizona. We know that at well. At least half a year. This was something i was told by lufthansa. He had to spend half a year at the academy at lufthansa Flight Training there. So thats another place they would potentially look. Then of course you have the place where i am now. The germanwings headquarters in colog fl cologne. His colleagues are here. A lot of the Germanwings Flights originate from her. This is the hub. He will have spent considerable time here. Frankfurt. A lot of places theyre looking at. Being a pilot he travels to a lot of places. He deals with a lot of other individuals. There is still a lot of information that the authorities will try to get speaking to his colleagues speaking to 23re7bds speaking to people that he might have met along the way. Obviously theyll be wanting to check any kind of medication that he may have been taking if it was something, a Mental Health issue, if it was Something Like depression. Obviously there are many medications he could have been taking if he was actually actively trying to treat this or a therapist that he was trying to talk to. Again, well have to wait and see on that. Fred pleitgen well continue to check in with you over the next couple of hours. Before this latest information his employer stressed that the copilot showed no signs of being unfit to fly. The lufthansa ceo said hes proud of the companys Safety Record and even the best safety nets are not fool proof. That something of this kind would ever happen to us is uncomprehendible and i think we need to understand this is a single case which every Safety System in the world cannot completely rule out. I think thats what we take as an explanation if you want to call it that. Of course once we know more about what the medical condition of this copilot was, it will be interesting to see what sort of policies lufthansa has to try to help somebody deal with that whether it is something that he could have gone to his employer with or whether he feared repercussions if he did go to his employer. Cnns Rosie Thompkins is in montabaur, germany, which is the hometown of Andreas Lubitz. Obviously it has to be an extraordinarily difficult time obviously for family members but for all those who knew this young man. Rosie, are investigators have they finished the search of his familys house, of his property there . Obviously were having a problem getting in touch with rosie. Well check back in with her. The german prosecutor spoke a short time ago. I want to bring our panel in this morning. Flight instructor former pilot for Northwest Airlines scott miller. Former managing director for the ntsb peter goelz and miles obrien. Miles, it will be very interesting to see, again, how much the employer actually knew about any medical condition that this copilot had. Clearly it seems he was trying to hide it from the employer according to the prosecutor. Yes. Really frankly, probably more common than wed like to think. Generally, you know pilots of course in the u. S. And i believe in europe as welling have to have twice annual medical exams in order to receive their faa first class medical certificate. Generally they go to one doctor for that and then they have a personal doctor for the rest of their medical requirements and theres not communication necessarily between those two doctors. Theres sort of two paths that go on. Pilots are reluctant to selfreport a lot of conditions because ultimately it can ground them and derail their careers. Theres plenty of track record of airlines not being understanding of some of these conditions put it that way. So its a difficult situation and i think the theres got to be a solution here that allows the pilots to freely volunteer this kind of information without fear of some sort of incrimination in their careers. I understand miles, that were getting some more sound from german prosecutor. Lets listen in. Translator we have secured documents of medical nature and that indicate to a medical illness, Mental Illness. And we also found sick notes that were torn to pieces sick notes that also included the day of the act, and this is why we assume that the killed person kept secret his illness before his employer. So there you have from the employer talking about the illness. Scott, how difficult is it for a pilot, depending on the severity of the mental condition, if its Something Like depression how difficult is it for a pilot to seek out help . Well it can present a large challenge. It is true that the aviation medical examiner issues those first class medical certificates. Pilots are required to disclose during those investigation or during those examinations any sort of problems theyve experienced since their prior examination. True it is a selfreporting issue, but most pilots that im aware of are very conscientious about that. In most cases, we want to make sure that were providing the highest level of safety for our passengers and ensuring were fit to fly is the best way to do that. There can be some repercussions and it can be difficult. Most airlines are developing some programs right now that allow pilots to proactively seek treatment that wont affect their employment status. Peter, obviously this is something thats going to get a lot of attention now moving forward. You just had the german prosecutor there talking about a Mental Illness. Theres a huge range that he could be referring to you know on one side it could be something as severe as schizophrenia or Something Like that. Obviously theres also depression and a whole host of possibilities. It would not be surprising peter, if this copilot had a separate doctor away from the Company Position that he was trying to or that he was getting these notes from. Well thats right. And, you know frankly, this whole topic needs to be examined with a great deal of candor. Lets be honest about this. You know pilots shop around good flight surgeons to take their medicals from, and pilot unions historically have had very tough relationships with management and they are rightfully fearful that if they selfreport on issues like fatigue, on alcohol abuse, on drug abuse, on Mental Health issues they are terrified that their careers are going to be hurt. And, frankly, companies have the right to say, listen if this guys drinking i dont want him in the cockpit. It is a very tough issue, but the first thing we have to do is start to have some real candor on everybodys part to examine it so that the flying public can be made safer. Miles, its very possible other colleagues would also say to somebody i dont want to be in the cockpit with this person this person has a mental condition, this person is depressed, this person is whatever the case may be. Well thats a key point, anderson. You know historically this is how aviation has policed its own. Pilots evaluate each other. They spend a lot of time together in a very small room after all, and thats a key point to consider in this case. Youve got a very very green pilot, only 600 hours, 100 hours only in the airbus a320. Thats a very lobar to be in that seat. You would need twice as many hours to fly in that seat in the United States and have to have a rating called an atp, Airline Transport pilot, which is kind of a ph. D. Of flying. The point in that is that it takes more time more hours, more vetting along the way, more opportunity for pilots to evaluate the new pilot. This pilot was an unknown quantity because he was so new. That undermines that selfreporting capacity that pilots have amongst themselves. And if hes ripping up notes from the doctor notes which would have excused him from work again, that raises a question of how seriously was he taking his own illness, how seriously was he taking his own treatment and was he actually pursuing treatment . A lot we dont know at this hour. Scott miller peter goelz, miles obrien, were on until the 11 00 hour this morning. Still to come like a fortress that is how one expert described the strength of that cockpit door. Why some post 9 11 security features designed to keep pilots safe in this case may have backfired aboard Germanwings Flight 9525. Major heres our new trainer ensure active heart health. Heart i maximize good stuff like my potassium and phytosterols which may help lower cholesterol. New ensure active heart Health Supports your heart and body so you stay active and strong. Ensure, take life in. The promise of the cloud is that every organization has unlimited access to information, no matter where they are. 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If you have any of these symptoms stop taking farxiga and seek medical help right away. Do not take farxiga if you have severe kidney problems, are on dialysis, or have bladder cancer. Tell your doctor right away if you have blood or red color in your urine or pain while you urinate. Farxiga can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast infections in women and men, low blood sugar, kidney problems, and increased bad cholesterol. Common side effects include urinary Tract Infections changes in urination and runny nose. Do the walk of life yeah, you do the walk of life need to lower your blood sugar . Ask your doctor about farxiga. And visit our website to learn how you may be able to get every month free. This is cnn breaking news. Welcome back. We have two new pieces of information to tell you about. First of all, weve just gotten word that lufthansa has changed its rules that will now require two people to be in the cockpit at all times. This would seem an obvious change given what has happened on board flight 9525. We heard at a press conference yesterday from lufthansa officials that there was no regulation in europe that would mandate vk twohaving two people in the cockpit. The lufthansa ceo said there was no consideration of changing that yesterday, that they felt their procedures in place had worked well up until obviously the germanwings crash. Now they are changing their rule of mandating there have to be two authorized people in the cockpit at all times. That could be a cabin crew member if one of the pilots needs to leave for any reason to go to the bathroom or any kind of a break. A flight crew member would come into the cockpit until the pilot returned. The other piece of information, we now have prosecutor on camera saying that the copilot did have a mental condition, a Mental Illness and this is the first time were actually hearing directly from the prosecutor talking about the Mental Illness though he didnt go into great detail. Heres what he said. Translator we have secured documents of medical nature and that indicate to a medical illness, a Mental Illness. And we also found sick notes that were torn to pieces that were sick notes that included the day of the act, and this is why we assume that the killed person kept secret his illness before his employer. I want to bring in Cnn National Security analyst julia kayem. Former assistant of homeland security. You wrote on cnn. Com, we had built no backup plans into the secure cockpit programs you wrote, no system of security should rely on a single point of entry while the post9 11 security planning made sense then it may have outlived the threat now. Peter goelz is joining us now. Explain that lufthansa is changing its policy. That seems obvious. Absolutely obvious. No one should think that everything is solved. Look Airline Travel given the nature of Global Travel look at how many countries were represented on this flight is only as strong as its weakest link. One airline doing it isnt going to be solving it. It has to be across the board. It has to be across the board, International Rules and regulations as we have in many areas. In Counter Terrorism efforts, the attack in 2009 you can have as much rigorous security as you want in one country, but if the guy gets on in yemen or tunisia, wherever it doesnt work. So thats part. What we need to do is get universal rules. One airline doing it is great given what we saw happen this week but its not the world is too globalized to think that one fix like this is going to stop the threat. Peter goelz, we have heard some other european carriers have already begun to change their policies. To julias point, this really does need to be something thats across the board. Well it needs to be thought through, too. What exactly are you asking the Flight Attendant or cabin crew member to do while he or she is sitting in the cockpit . Are they now going to be assessing the Mental Health of the pilot . What happens if the what are they expected to do if something untoward happens . Remember in the United States as juliette knows, upwards of 20 to 25 of the pilots are armed. What exactly are we asking Flight Attendants to do . Well im wondering, does this case make people reassess the idea of arming pilots . It might. I mean, the look, any security measure can also be used to create fear or to create harm. I mean we know that. Look at the cockpit door scenario. We thought after 9 11 this makes sense, weve got to protect the pilots. It does make sense. It does make sense. The tragedy and irony is we have where pilots are locking themselves in and destroying airplanes. The same is true of guns. They can be used to protect 200 people on the planes and they can be used to kill them. No single security effort is going to solve or make us perfectly safe. Youre not ever going to have Airline Travel be 100 secure. Two pilots all the in the cockpit, none of them is going to be perfect. Peter, the ceo of lufthansa said all the security procedures you have in place, in the end it is the pilot or copilot whos at the controls of this aircraft and no matter what all the security precautions are, somebody has to fly the plane and the person who flies the plane can also destroy that plane. Well thats right. Its a very vexing problem. I think what needs to be done is there needs to be some thoughtful reassessment of the cockpit policy the Security Policy whether its wise to have guns in the cockpit in the United States. You know if you carry a gun in the cockpit, youre not allowed to leave the cockpit with it. Its not as though youre going to go into the cabin and start a shootout. Its there to defend the dock pilt cockpit. Weve seen that the cockpit door does a great job, unfortunately. We have to review what we need the flight crew to do but it has to be coupled with a review of how pilots and other people in the Transportation Industry who have the responsibility of hundreds of lives, how do we get them to honestly believe that there will be no retaliation if they admit that theyre having issues . Well that frankly, thats an issue which exists far beyond just the airline industry. Yes. For any employee in any company look at the military the same problem. There are concerns about reporting, about acknowledging. I mean look at the stigma that Mental Health issues have in this country for anybody to come forward and say, ive suffered from depression i have a mental condition. The challenge for a big institution like an airline or even the military is if someone does come forward, you want them to come forward, but maybe they shouldnt be flying the plane with 200 passengers on it. Thats a challenge for institutions and that sort of suggests that there should be continuous review on psychology. I want to pick up on what was said. Thats exactly right. Our security tends to be static on the last threat which was of course 9 11. Not the last threat but the last major attack. We need to be more nimble given the kinds of threats we have and that includes i think reexamining the cockpit door. Reexamination of the cockpit door what would that look like . Either this is appropriate, right . This is actually right. And that we figure out another way to protect ourselves from suicidal sociopathic pilots or it is that you have some sort of mechanism on the ground or outside the cockpit door that at least someone can get in. And maybe its not possible but certainly it has to be examined. Our security measures have been used against protecting people. Peter, the chance of a pilot doing Something Like this it has happened to other incidents, silk air, there is a far greater chance of a deranged passenger or a passenger with evil intent rushing the cockpit door than there is you know the one or two people on the other side of the cockpit door doing harm to the aircraft. Absolutely. And, you know the arming of the of the the arming of the cockpit door has been enormously successful. A terrorist cannot enter the cockpit now, and thats it. But there has to be a continuous reassessment and we do that as we do that in intelligence all the time. You know we are continually assessing the threats, and in this case i think its been its been a while since weve looked at these policies and procedures and we need to do it again and we need to include all the stakeholders. Not just the pilots not just the security people but we need to talk to the Flight Attendants because theyre really on the front line arent they . No doubt about it. Incredibly tough job. Thank you both. We learned just moments ago from the prosecutor that Andreas Lubitz had been hiding an ongoing Mental Health condition from his employer. The exact nature of that condition we do not know but that the first time now weve been getting that directly from the prosecutor. He had a note from his doctor that would have allowed him to take time off from work including the day of the crash. That note was found discarded and apparently torn up. Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is following this story. Elizabeth, obviously this getting a little bit more another piece of the puzzle though theres still a lot we dont know about the nature of his medical condition, his mental condition. Reporter right, anderson. Thats going to be key in understanding why this man did what he did. I want us to be very very careful here because many people suffer from Mental Illness, but they dont, excuse me drive a plane into a mountain top. So i think it would be fassel and a big mistake to say lets say if it turns out that he has depression oh, he has depression thats why he did it. I think we need to be very very careful that Mental Health diagnoses are very complex, they can be very difficult to make and they are, you know rarely when you have this kind of outlook theyre rarely simplistic. The whole range of Mental Illnesses, Mental Health issues can be treated. To your point, there are plenty of people millions of People Living lives, productive lives, able to work in very complex jobs who have experienced this and who have had successful treatment. Right. And so that certainly begs the question why didnt he seek treatment. It sounds like if there was a doctors note if he did, you know why if there was treatment, why didnt it work . But the last thing that we want to do is discourage people from seeking treatment. I know many of your other guests have said unfortunately in the Aviation Industry when you go in for that yearly physical and they ask you questions pilots know that if they suffer from anxiety, anxiety. One who was suffering the kind of depression that doesnt result in any behavior. Appreciate you being on. A tiny town in the shadow of the alps has been the center of recovering the crash of flight 9525. We will take you there next. 80 of the poor in africa are rural farmers. 96 of them are doing rainfed agriculture. Theyre all competing with each other; theyre all making very low margins making enough to survive but not enough to get out of poverty. So kickstart designs low cost irrigation pumps enabling them to grow high value crops throughout the year so you can make a lot of money. 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We want your sticky notes, sketchbooks, and scribbles. Lets pin em to the wall. Kick em around. Kick em around, see what happens. Because were in the howdoigetthisstartup offtheground business. The takingyourbusiness globalbusiness. Were in the problemsolving business. 400,000 people ready to help you solve problems while theyre still called opportunities. From figuring it out to getting it done were here to help. The workers attempting to recover the victims remains, an incredible challenge lies ahead. The debris field in a mountainous area steep slopes icy weather. So rugged that workers have to be dropped down from helicopters by cable to actually reach it. The helicopters cant land. Cnns Nic Robertson is in the alps in the village that has become the headquarters of the Recovery Efforts as well as the first stop for families making the difficult trip to the site where the loved ones died. Nic, yesterday we saw a number of families coming to the staging ground getting as close as they are allowed to get to the site where their loved ones remain. What is happening there today . Reporter there is a memorial we talked about it yesterday, in the field thats the closest location that the french authorities are able to get the families of victims of the air crash, and the families are still continuing to arrive. A spanish family visited the site there just in the last half an hour or so. The memorial itself they came to lay flowers at the memorial. The memorial itself it says in memory of those who died in the air disaster 24th of march 2015. So this really is becoming now the first stop for the families of victims of the air crash. There also have been other developments here today that were learning from the recovery teams. They say they are now being able to bring some of the remains of some of the victims off the mountains. Theyve got a Laboratory Set up here. They are taking those remains to the lab ra toreoratories there for testing. This is an ongoing part of the process, but it seems to be a step forward. It is windy today. Concerns br the weather, but the Recovery Mission continues today. Were expecting more family members as well but really again, the watch word here that we hear from all the officials is that this will take time. Some of those involved directly with the recovery today have described how its done. Essentially there are two members on each team. One is there as part of the investigation and recovery and the other person is there to make sure theyre safe on the mountain. It is so dangerous. Thats the way they have to work anderson. And where are the pieces of the aircraft that are being picked up . Where are they being brought . Theres this is the staging site where we are here for the helicopters picking up the air crews and going into the site. Theres a secondary location deeper into the mountains where there is the initial dropoff for the debris and for the victims. The victims are then brought into the town where were standing right now, which is where the laboratories are set up for the testing thats been described to us. And the pieces of the aircraft itself are being stored locally as well not quite clear where that is. So its a multistep process here anderson. Nic, this may be an obvious question but im curious. The plaque that was made does it have the names of all the passengers on it . Reporter yesterday we were told that there was a plaque at the memorial that had all the names of the victims and from what we were the briefing we were given yesterday or the information we were given yesterday said that the families were able to read the names, that all the names were there. The memorial that weve been able to see today appears to be a very simple memorial that says quite literally, in memory of the victims of the air disaster 24th of march 2015. But yesterday we understand there was a list of the names of all the victims. It seems to be very much a work in progress anderson. This is something the french authorities put together quickly. Its their effort to help the families come to terms with what has happened to help them through this grief and to give them something to hold on to to show that every effort is underway to help them at the moment anderson. Yeah. I guess the reason i was asking is because im wondering if when they made this memorial when they made that plaque if they included the name of the copilot because at that point nobody knew that it was the copilot that brought this plane down. Im wondering if they had taken that name off or if they had changed the name of the plaque ormon umt. Monument. Well have to see how that develops in the next several days. Nic, i appreciate it. Reporter indeed. That was my question as well. I think, yeah no, i have the same thought as you, anderson. I mean how would it be for the families who only yesterday morning learned that this was that the crash was a result of the direct intervention with the aircraft of the could piepilot how would they react. Were not sure if that list of names has been taken away. Certainly yesterday when we understood a list of names had been prepared it was before that information had been made public about the actions of the copilot. So its certainly a very pertinent and poignant question at this moment. Nic robertson, appreciate you being there. Thank you, nic. The crash is raising so many questions for so many people. We do want to give you some answers. Were going to try to answer your questions. You can tweet us using germanwingsqs. Joining us is Scott Miller Peter goelz and former ntsb managing director and paul callan cnn analyst. Weve gotten a number of questions already. I want to start putting them to you. Peter and scott, can pilots and their trade associations reasonably continue to resist cockpit cameras now . Peter, thats something that was discussed a while back the notion of having cameras in the cockpit. A number of pilots pilot union from what i understand resisted that idea. David soucie has made the point that that resistance before was really kind of years ago when the u big wittbiquity, when people hadnt gotten used to the cameras. Do you think that is something that may change now . I think that position is becoming more and more untenable. I dont think theres any real rationality at this to opposing cockpit cameras. The protections that have been provided over the past decades to cockpit voice recorders have been very rarely breached and i think the same protections can be put for the cameras. So i think but id be interested in hearing what the captain has to say. Scott, what do you think about that . Because there is the issue of having cameras then of course also how are those cameras monitored, how are they used . Is it done is it in real time that people have access to it on the ground or is it something that is just sort of stored on a data recorder that can be viewed later . You know thats true. Finding out what the details are may certainly color the argument. The pilot associations that we have here in the United States and worldwide have always been in the forefront of safety and have never opposed any changes that would improve safety. The issue with cameras is were not quite sure what that could add to the safety equation. A camera in this case of the germanwings accident would have changed absolutely nothing about it and the technology thats increased with the flight data recorders, the cockpit voice recorders and the ability to analyze these, the National Trans Transportation Safety board has put together excellent animations that virtually duplicate what a camera would be able to tell us. When you think of the expense and the complexity of installing cameras in all of our airlines fleet, is there really going to be any increase in safety as a result of that added expense . Im not trying to make this a dollars and sense question but were not quite sure that the cameras would really add anything to safety at this point. And i guess its also a question of technology what is actually technologically whats capable, but if it was possible to stream in real time so you have a real time recording inside the cockpit, isnt that something that if there was an accident if there was some sort of reason to need to check that authorities on the ground would have faster access to that video if it was able to be streamed and recorded somewhere rather than having to wait to get the data recorders . Well its a very interesting idea and one that i think should be investigated but, again, the devils in the details. If we start streaming, especially video from every single flight at any given time theres anywhere from 5 to 10,000 aircraft in the air worldwide. Thats an incredible amount of data. Where are we going to stream it . Where are we going to store it . What happens when data dropouts inevitably occur . If something is safety sensitive as tracking Aircraft Movement we simply cant afford any sort of data dropout. Another question we received please advise the liability of lufthansa and germanwings for damage repayment . Well people who were injured and families devastated have a remedy under the montreal convention. Theres a guarantee of 157,000 per passenger. Thats if the airline has no liability at all. No liability at all and they cant prove a case. However, here i think youre going to have a strong negligence claim against germanwings and its owner lufthansa saying that the screening process for pilots was improper. Obviously were hearing now about Mental Health issues with respect to the copilot. There is also evidence that there have been prior pilot suicides. You had that air silk crash and there was the egypt air crash, maybe suicide, maybe terrorism involved. So theyre on notice that when you leave somebody alone in the cockpit, theyd better be mentally stable. And if there is liability found on the part of the airline, if theres something that the airline could have prevented or could have done better then there is no cap for potential damages . Itll depend on which country you bring the lawsuit in. For instance there were two americans i believe on the flight. They might have the right to bring it in an american court. Three americans. Three americans. But there were Spanish Citizens french citizens and they may choose to bring in their own countries. There are different limits in different countries. Bottom line youre talking about millions of dollars per passenger and youre talking about liability for lufthansa which, by the way, is the Largest Airline in europe and is privately owned. People think of it as a german airline. Since 1994 its been privately owned. You mentioned it depends what kurn country and what court the claim is brought in. When you talk about liability, how is that determined . Is it based on the potential earning power of a person over the course of the rest of their life that they could have reasonably been expected to earn . It differs from place to place. In the United States there would be two things one would be pain and suffering. That is what the passengers felt they call it fear of impending death. Those moments when you know the plane is about to crash. American courts have sanctioned awards of millions of dollars just for that fear. The second thing is, yes, how much would you earn over your remaining lifetime and how much would your heirs inherit. That would be the standard in some american courts. It may differ in other parts of the world. We have another question from twitter. Why dont the air Traffic Controllers have more power to override the security or Communication System of aircrafts . Peter . What about that . Well thats technology thats discussed but its years in the future and it presents a whole series of other unintended consequences. The idea of having pilotless planes we have drones now, but its many years away from actually putting that into the cockpit with passengers and pilots. Theres also scott, obviously the concern of the more complex you make this the more people who could override a security system. Theres dangers inherent in that the simpler system is by limiting the number of people who have access to it who can override it is greater protection. Thats definitely true. The demonstration of drone power worldwide has been quite impressive. Drone pilot operator here at biel air force base in Northern California can quite competently control an aircraft over the skies of afghanistan. Whats not talked about a whole lot in the scope of military operations is the loss rate that they have due to again, data dropout and loss of communication. For a drone in an inhospitable area that is something that can be taken care of. For an aircraft that would be something that would be completely unacceptable. So i dont see Remote Control being a solution to this problem. Scott miller peter goelz, paul callan thank you. Well try to answer more questions coming up the next hour. Please keep on senting those questions. Tweet cnn using germanwingsqs germanwingsqs cnn. You see it there. Well be right back. This is my body of proof. Proof of less joint pain. And clearer skin. This is my body of proof that i can fight Psoriatic Arthritis from the inside out. With humira. Humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. Its proven to help relieve pain, stop further joint damage and clear skin in many adults. Doctors have been prescribing humira for nearly 10 years. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. 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Earlier, we played a video from the german prosecutor in which the reuters translator said in which the copilot had a Mental Illness and there was a mistake by the reuters translator that it was a medical illness and not a Mental Illness and the importance of that is had it been a Mental Illness as translated by reuters it would have been the first time that the prosecutor acknowledged the exact nature of the illness or given the nature of the ill thans the copilot faced, but he did not say that according to reuters and the new translation, so right now shgs, we do not know if it was a Mental Illness or some other kind of medical condition. In other news, Senate Minority leader harry reid has announced he will not be running for rehe election. This has caused us to have a little down time. I have had time to ponder and to think that we have to be more concerned about the country, the senate the state of nevada than us. And as a result of that, im not going to be running for reelection. So he is not seeking reelection and the question is who is the next top democrat in line. Im joined by democratic strategist jeff zeleny. We saw him there with the glasses and the bruises on the face face, and he is recovering from a serious injury that he had in january, and he has been unable to see, and he has had few eye surgeries and up there in age, and it is a tough reelection seat there in nevada and not that much in a surprise but we were a little bit caught off guard, and he told Mitch Mcconnell im not gone yet, and i am here for two years, and so he is there for two more years, but it sets off a little scram scramble. And who are the top, dick durbin or senator shumer . Well dick durbin is probably in the best position here and he has been by harry reids side through it all, and he has effectively risen as the top the or the right hands for senator reid in his injury and others, but but it is far too the soon to see if he gets the seat. But the big question is if the democrats win control of the senate. Of course, they lost control in the last fall and now they only have a 54 seat control in the senate and if the democrats win control, who is most helpful to that, and so senator schumer is probably in the top position, but far too soon to say if he will get it. And a picture of dick durbin there, and Chuck Schumer has released a statement saying that the harry is one of the best human beings i have ever met, and his character and fundamental decency is at the core of why he is a successful and beloved leader and he is so beloved by the the caucus by his acumen and his honesty and his determination. And he has left a mark on this body body. 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Its an easy way to give listerine® total care to the total family. Listerine® total care. One bottle, six benefits. Power to your mouth™. Good morn ging. Im anderson cooper, and welcome to the viewers in the United States and around the world. We begin in germany where police have found evidence torn up medical records where Andreas Lubitz was hiding a medical condition from his employers, and he never should have bneen in the cockpit on the day that he slammed the airplane into the phren french alps, and the nature of the medical illness has not been made clear to the authorities. And the Parent Company of germanwings has made it clear that the as a result of the traj tragedy, all of the airlines will be authorized to have two people in the cockpit at all times. And this is a mandate, because lubitz seized control the after the pilot left the cockpit to go to the bathroom. And we will get control of the details this morn ging. Fred pleitgen is in germany. Fred . Hi anderson and yes, a lot of information that you have said most of it coming from the prosecutor are from the town of dusseldorf and he is saying that there is evidence that Andreas Lubitz is hiding an illness f