Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Prosecutor: Co-Pilot Declared Unfit To Work; "The New York Times": Lubitz Sought Treatment for Vision Problems; Recovering Victims A Grim, Grueling Task; Safety Experts Call For Cameras In Cockpits. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired March 28, 2015 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[12:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: -- surveillance video. Police say an African-American man started throwing punches at a white man when he refused to talk about the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson.

They say two more African-American men joined in on the attack. Police are asking for help identifying the suspects. The victim walked away with bruises on his face.

We've got so much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM, and it all starts right now.

The crash of the Germanwings flight has taken a toll on the families of the victims. Relatives and friends of the deceased gathered today in an area near the site where their loved ones died.

They held prayers in Le Vernet near the Alps. That is the village serving as a staging post for the recovery operations. Loved ones brought flowers and pictures as they mourned the lives lost.

CNN's Karl Penhaul joins us now -- actually, we are going to go to Fred Pleitgen I understand. We are going to him first on the latest of what is being reported. We know, Fred -- sorry about that.

We know that in a German newspaper there are reports about a conversation with a former girlfriend as it relates to the co-pilot and then, of course, we know prosecutors have said that there have been doctors' notes located that said he was unfit to work.

So to you now, Fred, what is the latest on the investigation of what investigators are trying to piece together?

All right, Fred, hopefully you can hear me now. I think we're having some audio problems and a few other technical problems. So Fred, if you can hear this in Atlanta, what's the latest on the investigation involving the co-pilot in particular?

All right, well, we did lose that shot so sorry about that. We'll try to revise that report as soon as we can. All right, so let's try and piece together some of the information that we are learning with the help of our panel now. Let's bring in Diane Damos, a psychologist involved in pilot selection for the U.S. military for more than 40 years. She also is a pilot and has worked with commercial airlines.

And Mary Ellen O'Toole is a former senior FBI profiler and special agent, and David Soucie is a CNN safety analyst and a former inspector for the FAA, and Les Abend is a CAA aviation analyst and contributing editor for "Flying" magazine.

All right, so thanks so much for all of you joining us right now. There is also a "New York Times" report that is indicating that the co-pilot, Lubitz, also had some kind of visual problems.

That together with these initial reports coming from German prosecutors, who say that they found a doctor's note when going through his personal belongings at his apartment and the doctor's note that was torn up and apparently never given to the airline that he worked for, said that he was unfit to work.

So Diane, to you first, what is the obligation that anyone in the medical community would have to reveal to an employer, particularly when you're talking about a job, like being a pilot, and there are many lives in your hands, what's the obligation that a doctor might have to reveal that, not count on self-reporting, but to reveal that to an airline?

DIANE DAMOS, AVIATION PSYCHOLOGIST: In our country, the doctor really can't reveal that because of the HIPAA laws, and in Germany, they have even stricter laws concerning personal data. And I would also like to point out that it said unfit to work. It's never been clear to me that the doctor understood that this person was a pilot.

WHITFIELD: Wouldn't that -- that would seem pretty natural that a doctor would know what someone's employment is, though, in most circumstances. Wouldn't you think?

DAMOS: I would but, you know, I wouldn't assume that. He may not have told the doctor or may have given the doctor false information.

WHITFIELD: OK, Mary Ellen, to you. What is peculiar about these reports that we're hearing? Again, you know, CNN is not able to authenticate, you know, verify a lot of information being reported by other outlets.

But this is the kind of information that is floating around about what they're trying. What investigators are trying to better understand about this individual?

In your view, especially when you're talking about a pilot, would it seem as though there is a greater obligation for anyone around that working pilot to help reveal any kind of medical information that would keep them from being a fit person to work?

MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FORMER SENIOR FBI PROFILER: Certainly there could be both here in the United States, as well as in Germany. And we don't know at this point, since the co-pilot had been seen by doctors over a period of at least a couple weeks, based on what his condition or conditions were.

[12:05:06] The doctor may have said to him, the day that he was flying or the day before, look, I'm going to -- I have to find you unfit because of a, b, c and d. And if you don't tell your employer, I'm obligated to tell them.

We don't know if that could have happened, which certainly would have been a precipitating stressor, but I think, you know, the thing that's really important is, no matter what his medical condition was, psychiatrically or physically, his response to that information was so completely disproportionate to his medical condition, to go in and to do what he did.

That really goes to the kind of personality that he has. It's just completely disproportionate to any bad news medically or psychiatrically.

WHITFIELD: OK, and David and Les, I want to get to you momentarily, but I also understand our signal with Fred Pleitgen is now strong again enough to talk with him.

So let's get the latest on what Fred Pleitgen has been able to uncover there as investigators try to pore over details with Fred and then we'll continue our panel conversation so to you, Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Yes, certainly, in this investigation, of course, keeps moving forward. We know there are French investigators, who are here in the Cologne in Dusseldorf area right now, liaising with the German investigators, which is important because the investigation is being headed from France because that's where the plane went down.

But of course, the German investigators are very important, as well because this is a place where Lubitz lived. This is where the apartments are where he stayed at, one, of course, in Mantabaur, Germany, where he was with his parents, as well as his brother, and then the one in Dusseldorf.

And we know that medical records have been retrieved from at least one of those sites. We know that they show he was in a long-standing medical treatment that had been going on.

And we also know that's the place where multiple sick notes had been found that apparently -- at least some of them he destroyed in an effort -- the public prosecutor says to hide his illness from his employer.

The "New York Times" is reporting that he was apparently seeking treatment for some sort of vision issue. They got that from they say two sources close to the investigation. There are other media outlets reporting he apparently had psychological issues, as well.

We have not been able to confirm that just yet. But we do know he had been seeking medical treatment for quite a while, and that, of course, they say he was hiding that from his employer. And one of the things that Germanwings has said, they say they never got a sick note from him, especially on the day that that flight happened. When, of course, he was not supposed to fly as well.

So a lot of new information is coming out. We do expect to hear more from the public prosecutor over the weekend to shed more light as to why possibly Andreas Lubitz did what he did -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much. Giving us more to chat with our panel now so let's bring them back, David Soucie and Les Abend, haven't had a chance to get back with you to continue with our conversation with Diane and Mary Ellen here.

So I wonder, Dave, just listening to what Fred was saying, if the airline is saying, look, we didn't know anything about his condition, we hadn't received any notes as of recent.

What is the obligation of the medical community in which to report this kind of information, particularly -- we know in the U.S., you've got HIPAA laws and that prevents that kind of interaction from happening.

Your medical information is to remain private, but in Europe and perhaps in a circumstance like this, if he, this co-pilot, was going to a doctor that was not necessarily recommended by the airline.

Would there still be an obligation for that doctor or the medical community to reach out to the airline to share that information, especially if someone is of a mental or physical state in that they are volatile? You can't necessarily trust they are going to self- report?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Well, back to the medical community directly, Fredricka, the FAA and the safety systems that we have in place, whether it's the United States or worldwide, is what we consider a safety umbrella.

Within that safety umbrella are certificates that grant you the authority to operate within the air space. So that's what a pilot certificate does. It says you will operate within the air space.

The medical community that maintains the authenticity or the certification of those licenses rely on designees. They're medical examiners, doctors, just like a GP, general practioner, but those doctors are specifically trained and authorized to do these inspections or to do these medicals that we do every six months or year depending on the requirement.

Now, if you talk about a medical community, another doctor, he goes outside of that umbrella, and he goes through these doctors and tries to shop for different diagnoses. Mostly -- he's obviously been very good at hiding things within himself.

So I don't -- I doubt there was any kind of external communication outside of this safety umbrella to that doctor on the outside that said, yes, he's diagnosed with this or that. [12:10:10] And there's no legal responsibility that I'm aware of, unless there is something that he's going to commit suicide or hurt other people that would obligate that doctor to say, he had to get glasses or had slight depression. I don't see that -- there is a disconnect between that safety system.

WHITFIELD: So Les, if it wasn't the aviation medical authority, where, you know, this co-pilot received his medical attention or even a recommendation, and the airline just simply didn't even know, would the airline still be in some way held responsible or culpable?

Would there be any way in which to monitor someone's fitness on a regular basis for this particular airline so that there may have been some observations made, or if it's the case of everything was overlooked?

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, Dave Soucie kind of addressed some of that with reference to our medical examiner. That's the only way, going through that examination for myself personally every six months and pretty much for all my colleagues the same way.

WHITFIELD: We don't know if that is the standard there.

ABEND: Correct. I believe it is because these folks do fly in the states and they want to keep the same standards at least to the states. But let me just take it from a personal level.

The bottom line is, if I have a cold, I'm not going to work because it's detrimental to the people behind me. This is something that's very simple. We're obviously -- talking something more tragic than a cold at this point in time.

But we're all extremely good about that and why should I subject other -- my other colleagues to my cold, for instance. So it has worked very well over the last several years. This man, unfortunately, tragically, fell through the cracks and yes, let's address the issue.

WHITFIELD: And that's why it seems like the self-reporting doesn't make any sense to me. I mean, if you're talking about a line of work in which you are responsible for hundreds of lives, why would it -- would the onus be put on, you know, the pilot, the person whose responsibility it is to take care of these people when flying abroad or even locally.

Why would the onus be put on that person to self-report, to reveal they may be potentially unfit, and know they could lose their work, they're going to lose pay? I mean, it just seems pretty ridiculous, quite frankly. Anyone could answer that one, Diane, Mary, or David or Les.

ABEND: Fredricka, if you don't mind -- and I appreciate that, what you're saying there and it's certainly a very valid concern. However, we were hired to be that responsible individual. And this -- like I've mentioned before, this individual was a total anomaly.

The system has worked well. I'm not saying it's a perfect system, and just because it's worked we should do answer -- it indeed worked to such a degree because these are the people that airlines hire.

WHITFIELD: Right. OK, go ahead, David, real quick.

SOUCIE: Yes, I was just going to say -- Les, I agree with you 100 percent about that responsibility by the pilot. What I have a difficult time with is that, you know, you diagnosed your own cold so that you wouldn't go to work today.

What's the capability of an average person, even though it's a highly trained pilot, of being able to diagnose his own mental illness? You know, I say that's a stretch. So thereby --

WHITFIELD: But it sounds like that came after, you know, the medical community did at least weigh in already on this co-pilot, if, indeed, investigators found the notes from doctors as they say they did.

SOUCIE: Yes, exactly. So what my point is, there is a really good system in place to recognize and identify and report any kind of abnormal behavior with pilots because you're sitting in the cockpit forever.

And I know many cases in which the pilots discuss things and then the other pilot comes back and says, this guy ain't right, and will report it to the chief pilot and the chief pilot puts this other person -- discusses with him and brings in professionals to assess that. That happens all of the time in the airlines whenever it arises as a behavioral issue.

WHITFIELD: All right, we still have so much to talk about, Ladies and Gentlemen. We'll all be back again and talk some more. For now, we take a short break. Diane Damos, Mary Ellen O'Toole, David Soucie, and Les Abend, thank you so much.

So after the break, a memorial service bringing so many families close at that site of that tragic crash.

And later, we'll answer more of your questions, perhaps, about the crash. You can submit them on Twitter at #germanwingsqs at CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:13:02]

WHITFIELD: The families of the victims are trying to come to terms with the Germanwings crash. Relatives and friends of the deceased gather today in an area near the site where they're loved ones died. They held prayers near the Alps.

That is a village where crews have set up recovery operations. And loved ones brought flowers and pictures to the service, as they mourned the lives lost.

CNN's Karl Penhaul joins us now from near that site, so Karl, you made your way, got to see firsthand just how difficult it is for those searchers. What is the latest on their search? KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, once again today, up there in the mountains around 40 rescue workers continuing this very arduous task of both collecting the human remains and also important fragments of the plane, trying to bring those back for analysis to shed more light on this crash.

But very difficult work they're doing and that is why yesterday we decided to hike up into the mountains. It was tough going. But we thought it would help us better understand why this recovery operation could take many more days and possibly several more weeks. This is what we found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL (voice-over): Swinging on a wire, they recover the remains. Hundreds of feet below, emergency crews cling to the mountainside, just so they don't fall. Investigators say the speed of the crash pulverized plane and passengers.

The recovery operation, they say, is bit by bit, bag by bag. You can just pick out the small red flags rescuers dig into the earth when they discover new fragments and that looks like a scorch mark. The French prosecutors said the plane hit the mountain, bounced off, and then disintegrated. It's a tough hike through rugged mountains and steep valleys.

(on camera): Just a little while before dawn, but we're going toward a trail head.

[12:20:07] (voice-over): In order to understand why some rescuers described this as their biggest-ever challenge, we try to get closer to the crash zone.

(on camera): There is a little bit of frost this morning, now the sun is coming down, certainly no sign of snow just yet. Few people except shepherds live up here. Conditions are too inhospitable.

Getting up here is literally hanging on to trees and grass. You can see why they're going to have to fly anything out of the crash site by helicopter.

(voice-over): The whir of rotor blades helps us pinpoint. From high above, we see forensic teams working with expert mountaineers to keep them safe. High winds make flying treacherous saying farewell is never easy.

But perhaps those grieving could find a little consolation amid these krags. Peace by the running water. Peace of snow-capped peaks. Peace to loved ones lost.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL: Now this is an incredibly difficult recovery operation, but it is a determined bunch of emergency workers, doing this task. In fact, CNN was talking to one of the helicopter pilots this morning, and he was saying yesterday wind gusts were just so tough, making it very treacherous to fly into those valley ravines.

And he was saying at one point he just decided to fly on his instincts. He took his eye off the control panel and literally looked at the birds around him and little bit of string dangling outside his cockpit to get a sense and feeling of what the wind was doing that would enable him to better fly his helicopter, get out his colleagues off the ground and bring out the body bags as well -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: My goodness. All right, Karl Penhaul, thank you so much. Of course, we're going to have much more on the crash straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:26:17]

CHRIS DERCON, DIRECTOR, TATE MODERN: Abraham Cruzvillegas is one of the leaders of the pack of reinventing sculpture hearing through his local background and his own tradition of modernity.

ABRAHAM CRUZVILLEGAS, SCULPTOR: I'm not a traditional sculptor like carving marble or wood. I use my own hair, shoes, roots, plants, everything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For Cruzvillegas even a simple glass has potential. It made its way from the scrap heap to the gallery floor, because of an idea formed some years ago.

CRUZVILLEGAS: I took my own experience for making some that I call out. I relate it to the way people create houses sometimes called a shanty town. A process in which people do things they can with whatever they find at hand so that way my balance as a sculptor.

DERCON: Sculpture is a challenging kind of thing. It has an amazing history, and it's very different from painting. It challenges history, because sculpture was made of wood, made of bronze. But it was never made of, for instance, dirt, or rejects.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, checking our top stories now. Amanda Knox says she is glad to have her life back now that her eight-year legal battle is over. Italy's Supreme Court overturned her murder conviction, clearing her in the death of her college roommate. While studying abroad in Italy, Knox was convicted of murdering Meredith Kercher in 2007.

She and her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito initially served four years in Italian prison, but they were acquitted and then retried and found guilty again in 2013. Knox then returned home to Seattle, would have faced 28-1/2 years behind bars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANDA KNOX, CLEARED OF ROOMMATE'S MURDER: I just wanted to say that I'm incredibly grateful for what has happened for the justice I've received, for the support that I have had from everyone, from my family, from my friends, to strangers, to people like you. I -- you saved my life and I'm so grateful. And I am so grateful to have my life back. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Knox's former boyfriend was also cleared Friday night.

Officials believe Germanwings co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, was alone in the cockpit as he reprogrammed the plane to crash into the French Alps. After the disaster, some are asking if cockpit cameras would improve security and safety. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:32:30]

WHITFIELD: Hello again and thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Major developments in the deadly Germanwings crash, we now know the name of the plane's captain. A relative confirms his identity as Patrick Sondenheimer.

The pilot the officials say can be heard on the voice recorder trying to bang down the locked cockpit door, this as the "New York Times" reports that the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, sought treatment for vision problems before the crash.

Another piece of the puzzle as investigators try to determine what may have driven Lubitz to crash the plane intentionally into the French Alps. Officials say they found a ripped up doctor's note in Lubitz's apartment declaring him unfit to work.

And the "Wall Street Journal" and "New York Times" are both reporting that Lubitz had a mental illness, which he kept secret from the airline this as crews rush to recover the remains of the victims.

They say they are making some progress, and the weather at the crash site is now improving. The crash has reignited the debate over cameras inside the airplane cockpit. Some say it's a good idea. Others consider it a violation of pilot policy. Here's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Andreas Lubitz had locked himself alone in the cockpit as the captain pounded on the door. Now safety experts are calling for a bold move to avoid another disaster, cameras in the cockpit.

The cameras would not be on the face of either of the pilot or the co-pilot. They would focus on the instrument and on the manipulations of -- that are made.

TODD: Former NTSB Chairman Jim Hall says cameras in the cockpit would be a deterrent to bad behavior or careless piloting and would be a key investigative tool. What could cameras on the control panel detect?

LYNN SPENCER, FORMER COMMERCIAL AIRLINE PILOT: You can see the instruments. You can see what they're seeing on their instrument panels, on their screens. You can see what they're doing with their hands.

TODD: Cameras on the instruments wouldn't necessarily give investigators much help in the Germanwings crash probe. They already know how that plane went down technically. But former commercial pilot, Lynn Spencer, says cameras trained on pilots' faces could catch certain moments that cockpit voice and flight data recorders might miss.

SPENCER: Was the pilot choking? Is the pilot having a seizure?

TODD: The technology is already on the market, but one manufacturer told us no airlines have bought their cameras. Cameras are already used to monitor key missions, like Friday's launch to the international space station. They're used to watch some train operators, taxi drivers, and bus drivers, including this one, caught looking at his phone, then crashing.

[12:35:07] Cockpit video could even be live streamed back to controllers on the ground in real-time although the expense of installing and streaming thousands of live cameras could be prohibitive. Spencer says cockpit cameras could have provided key evidence in some of the most infamous disasters in aviation, including 9/11.

SPENCER: If we had had cameras in the cockpits 9/11, we would have been able to see how the hijackers took over the cockpit, how they killed the pilots, how they tried to manipulate the controls.

TODD: The top pilots union in America is staunchly against the idea. In a statement to CNN, it says cockpit video, quote, "is subject to misinterpretation and may, in fact, lead investigators away from accurate conclusions."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Pilot union officials also say they're worried about a video leaking. They say voice data recorder clips have been made public in past cases, especially overseas and no pilot wants their final moments to be posted all over the internet. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

WHITFIELD: And next, the legal issues surrounding the Germanwings crash, who will be held responsible for what happened? We'll ask our legal guys, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:40:52]

WHITFIELD: The Germanwings crash is likely to land its parent company, Lufthansa, in court, and the legal battle with the families of the victims could be long and expensive.

The big question here, should the co-pilot have been allowed to fly at all? A torn-up note found in his apartment indicated that he was unfit to work. There are a number of legal issues here.

To sort them all out, let's bring in our legal guys, Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor in Cleveland, and -- good to see you. And Richard Herman, a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor from -- I feel so sorry for you -- Hawaii. Aloha.

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Life is tough.

WHITFIELD: It is tough, isn't it? You put your surfing, you know, plans on hold for this segment, I hope?

FRIEDMAN: I hope so too.

WHITFIELD: OK, all right, so gentlemen, lots to delve in here. So we know in the U.S. you've got HIPAA rules. So your doctor should not reveal anything about your health. That's something you would need to volunteer.

We don't necessarily know if that's the case here, though, right, Avery? If, indeed these were doctors' notes that were uncovered by prosecutors and they said unfit to work, and maybe revealed something more about his medical condition.

Is the onus strictly up to that pilot to report it to the airline, or should the doctor have involved him or herself in reporting it to the airline? Does that change the culpability, responsibility, even of the airline at this point?

FRIEDMAN: It does not. Every year, pilots generally certify that they have gone back and had a checkup and done what they have had to do other than the initial one. And that's where the hole is here.

Because in this case, what's so terribly significant is that Andreas Lubitz is, as far as everyone was concerned, was completely healthy. He hid this information. And that triggers the question of liability and the primary focus of that, Fredricka, is the 1999 Montreal Convention.

The treaty that will assign liability to Lufthansa, a base amount of money, and because Lubitz was an employee, the sky is going to be the limit when it comes to the obligation of the carrier to these 149 families.

WHITFIELD: Gosh. But Richard, clearly, Lufthansa, you know, Germanwings, will try to lay the case out that they are not negligent. What would they have to say or do to remove themselves from responsibility here?

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: How about this, Fred. Even if they are found to be negligent, under German law, cases like this bring about $20,000 to $40,000 per family. That's it. It's not like lotto in the United States.

That's under the German system. So when Avery references the Montreal Convention, that's going to give each family about $150,000 per person. The family then has the right to either accept that, sign a release, and it's over.

Or reject that claim, and sue for negligence, and they have the option to sue in Germany, because most of the people -- passengers were German. There is some French law, and because it happened in France, criminally speaking, that's the sole jurisdiction.

But from everything we've seen it does not appear there is going to be any criminal prosecution. But civilly, they would have to prove that the airline was negligent and as a result of the airline's negligence, people died.

When there is crumpled up and ripped up notes in the pilot's house, how did the airline know about this? What procedures did they incorporate to protect the pilots to make sure that they're suitable for flying, and the big thing, should they have had the two-person regulation in the cockpit. They did not. Germany did not have that. That's a big issue.

WHITFIELD: So Avery, here we are talking about the culpability, responsibility of the airline, Germanwings or Lufthansa. What about the doctors? Would the victims say, wait a minute, the doctors knew about his situation, potentially they knew what kind of job he had.

That they didn't report or share that if they're able to substantiate or prove that, does that mean the doctors, the medical community, those who saw this co-pilot, would also be subject to potential lawsuits?

FRIEDMAN: No. I don't think so. As professionals, there's a confidentiality that attaches to the patient/doctor relationship. There is absolutely no legal duty. But I need to say, Fredricka, I'm not in agreement with Richard.

I think negligence is an element, but the reason that the Montreal Convention was created was if you have evidence of behavior by the carrier -- and Lubitz was an employee. There is strict liability.

So I'm not convinced at all that there is going to be a restriction on the -- on damages for these 149 families. I think it is going to be sky high and I think the consequences are going to be literally in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

WHITFIELD: Wow, all right.

HERMAN: Absolutely -- Fred, that's wrong. It's not. It's going to be --

FRIEDMAN: That's not wrong.

HERMAN: You sign a release, and it's over, Fred. It's over. Once you sign that release.

[12:45:11] FRIEDMAN: German law does not trump an international treaty, Richard.

WHITFIELD: All right, we shall see. FRIEDMAN: We disagree.

WHITFIELD: Well, surprise there. All right, Richard, Avery, thank you so much. Mahalo. Appreciate it. Enjoy Honolulu and Cleveland.

All right, still ahead, our viewers have still a lot of questions about the crash of the Germanwings plane, and we'll be able to answer them for you, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:54:19]

WHITFIELD: All right, we know you have lots of questions about the Germanwings plane crash, and we have asked to you submit your questions on Twitter. Now we have some answers.

So let's bring in our panel, from Chicago, aviation psychologist, Diane Damos, in Washington, Mary Ellen O'Toole, is a former senior FBI profiler and special agent. And from New York, we have CNN's safety analyst, David Souzie, and Les Abend, who is a CNN aviation analyst and contributing editor to "Flying" magazine.

All right, welcome back to all of you. Diana, Jim writes this. "Why can't the airlines EGHP, or your employer group health plan, notify them when a pilot is receiving mental health treatment?

[12:50:02] DAMOS: It's because of our HIPAA laws, and that concerns the release of private medical information, and that's the main restricter of the diffusion of this information.

WHITFIELD: All right, and to you, Mary Ellen, Sherry asking this, "Is there a radio in the cabin, not in the cockpit, that crew can use to notify ground control there is a problem on board?"

O'TOOLE: I would have to say that's well beyond my expertise. As a profiler, I would not know that. You may want to ask one of the other gentlemen.

WHITFIELD: I'm sorry about that. OK, so David, how about to you? What is the answer to that? Is there some sort of, you know, way in which the crew can contact ground control, you know, without having to be in the cockpit?

SOUCIE: In this aircraft, there was not and in many and most aircraft, there is. But it's through a maintenance communication thing, where if you have something go wrong in the cockpit, you can put that information in. But you can also contact from the back now, but in this aircraft, that wasn't available.

WHITFIELD: OK, and then Les, this question to you. Do you think this accident will affect or change the process of pilot hiring within the airlines?

ABEND: It's certainly possible. It's going to be a consideration, I think. They'll reevaluate the application process. It's already been reevaluated by virtue of September 11 and all the background checks that have to be done. But, you know, this process is probably, like I said, going to be reevaluated.

WHITFIELD: And then Mary Ellen, I imagine, you know, every pilot who now is getting in the cockpit and, you know, sizing up their co-pilot or vice versa, that is happening, do you suppose at this point airlines are now trying to comfort or talk to pilots about maybe these are some of the things you need to think about or look for or, you know, raise a red flag on if you observe something?

O'TOOLE: Well, that really is a good point, because there is an area of research and work called threat assessment. And people all over the world are involved and get training in there. And there are red flags that precede these kinds of incidents.

And there's absolutely no reason that that kind of training can't also be provided to pilots and flight attendants and other people in the airline industry.

WHITFIELD: All right.

ABEND: Fredricka, could I address that also? Do we have time?

WHITFIELD: Yes.

ABEND: Within my airline, we do have that. It works with the union. It's a program that either unanimously or publicly will allow the pilot to report somebody that might have some problems and do it you know under the radar, and it's been working very well with our program.

WHITFIELD: All right, Les Abend, Diane Damos, Mary Ellen O'Toole, and David Soucie, thanks to all of you. Appreciate it. We'll see you again.

All right, also straight ahead in the newsroom, Hillary Clinton's e- mails. The GOP lawmaker who subpoenaed the messages says they have been deleted. Is it a political witch hunt or did Clinton break the rules?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:57:01]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got the idea for my business back in college when I was doing my own laundry, trying to find a Laundromat I felt comfortable in. It's always really boring, nothing to do, and not very clean.

I got my MBA in business, and I did my thesis project on the Laundromat and started thinking that the Laundromat uses so much water and energy, there had to be a better way.

I started Spin Laundry Lounge in 2014 and it's the first bar and cafe. The first thing I did was get high-efficiency machines. The washers will save up to 30 percent of the water that traditional washers use and use less energy as well.

One of my favorite features is our text messaging capabilities. If you send the washer a text message, it will respond back to you when it has 10 minutes left and when it's finished. There are many ways to pay for the washers and dryers.

You can use good old fashioned quarters or a credit or debit card or your smartphone. While waiting for your laundry, you can enjoy food or drinks in the cafe. You can go up to the mezzanine. We have pinball and arcade games and shuffle board table and a nice couch for reading.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sometimes I stay even after my laundry is done to read a book and have a cup of coffee.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I definitely think it's been successful and I hope it's an example for future laundry mats. It's very important to continue to save water and energy and make a big impact on the environment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And there's a new development in the Hillary Clinton e- mail saga. The GOP lawmaker who subpoenaed her e-mail messages says Clinton deleted all of them from her private server. CNN's Chris Frates is in our Washington Bureau.

So Chris, Congressman Trey Gowdy of South Carolina is requesting the emails as part of this probe into the attack in Benghazi, Libya, but how do we know what he is saying is true, that all of these e-mails have been deleted?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, we know that because we saw the letter that he wrote to Clinton saying essentially Clinton has deleted all these emails and what Gowdy wanted, Fred, remember, they wanted Clinton to turn over her server to a neutral third party.

And they wanted this independent arbiter to go through Clinton's emails and make sure what she turned over, every work related email to the State Department and that she didn't hold any of those emails back.

So Republicans arguing she shouldn't be the sole arbiter of what is a public record and now they are questioning why she erased the server nearly two years after leaving the State Department.

Now Clinton's lawyers in this letter to Gowdy shot back and said that under federal law governing records retention, it's every federal employee's responsibility to determine what emails must be preserved and that's exactly what Clinton did.

Now it's worth noting that most federal employees use an official email address, Fred, so if Congress goes looking for something, they can usually find it on a government server. WHITFIELD: All right, Chris Frates, thanks so much from Washington. We still have so much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM and it all starts right now.