but it had to divert to albuquerque after the copilot became ill and at one point lost consciousness. now just a day earlier, 57-year-old american airlines pilot, captain michael johnston collapsed and died in the cockpit as he flew from phoenix to boston. that plane was diverted to syracuse. now captain johnson apparently suffered a heart attack. every commercial pilot has to be medically certified by the faa. those under 40 have to renew their certification every 12 months. for pilots over who, it is every six months. but it is not just physical he recent incidents just such as deliberate crashing of german wings flight 9525 in the alps by a pilot suffering with mental issues put a strong focus on emotional stability much pilots too. the mental health of the pilots in the still-unexplained disappearance of malaysia
from descending it into the ground, making sure that nobody would see him. according to the report, the selected alty due decreased to 100 feet for three seconds and then increased to the maximum value of 49,000 feet. less than two minutes later, the selected altitude was 100 feet until it stabilized at 25,000 feet. the flight never left its scheduled path, so air traffic control didn t notice the altitude changes. the less the plane is equipped to stream the data and they decide to stream the data of the performance from the flight and someone is monitoring it, they wouldn t have noticed. it was clear that the pilot didn t notice. for another reason, the front lav was inoperative and he went to the back. he was gone for four minutes. it appears it was a dry run for what he would do later that morning on board the same plane during flight 9525.
notice the altitude changes. unless the plane is equipped to stream the data and they decide to stream the data of the aircraft performance from the flight and some one is monitoring it, they wouldn t hatch noticed. it is clear the pilot didn t notice for another reason. the front lab was not operative. he was gone four minutes. reporter: it appears it was a dry run for what he would do later the same morning on board the plane during flight 9525. lubitz waited until the captain left, locked the door, set it to 100 feet. directed the jetliner into the mountains killing all 150 people on board. awe thought was cnn aviation correspondent renee marsh reporting from washington. a north korean insider gives us a rare look at the reclusive regime. no topping w inic was off-limit
incident seems to shed light into the planning, co-pilot, he did before steering the jet into the french alps, the initial findings indicate that lubit practiced the crash during the flight. reporter: it appears it was a dry run for what he would do later the same morning on board the plane during flight 9525. lubitz waited until the captain left, locked the door, set it to 100 feet. directed the jetliner into the mountains killing all 150 people on board. awe thought was cnn aviation and increase to the maximum value of 49,000 feet and stabilized again at 35 feet.
i want you to take note of all the red at the zero level. you see here? because that is how often and how long lubitz according to this report set the plane to drop toward 100 feet. the same auto pilot setting flight 9525 was at when it collided in the french alps. the report said lubitz did these dry runs over a period of five minutes when the pilot had apparently left the cockpit briefly and after air traffic control had directed the plane to go to a lower altitude. with me now, aviation attorney daniel rose and cnn analyst mary schiavo. welcome to both of you. i have a lot of questions. mary to you first. the fact we know this co-pilot repeatedly set that altitude at 100 feet a couple times during that previous flight is that something that folks on the ground air traffic control, should have or could have detected? no that s a problem.