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German Police Search Co-Pilot's Home for Clues; Details of Co- Pilot's Life Emerge; Victims' Families Visit Crash Site; Saudi-led Airstrikes Pound Iran-Backed Houthis; Should Pilots Undergo Routine Psych Tests?. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 27, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: A single person was responsible for taking down this flight.

[05:58:52] CARSTEN SPOHR, CEO, LUFTHANSA: To tell you the truth, we have no explanation at this point.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A number of airlines have since changed cockpit rules.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: That door was designed for a purpose. That purpose had consequences.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There's no doubt that we would like to see a functioning central government in Yemen. We don't see that right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is really a war to defend religious government of Yemen and to protect the Yemeni people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fight to recapture the Iraqi city of Tikrit from ISIS militants.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They asked the U.S. to get involved, because the Iraqi air force does not have the same air power capabilities.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY, with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Friday, March 27, 6 a.m. here in New York.

We know what happened to Flight 9525. The mystery now surrounds why. German police searching the home of the co-pilot, who authorities say deliberately crashed the plane into the mountains, killing himself, but murdering is 49 others on board. Investigators focusing on whether a 27-year-old Andreas Lubitz was mentally ill, and clues that he was planning to not just take his own life, but to cowardly take so many innocent lives with him. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We're also learning more about what went

on inside the cockpit. Lubitz locked the door, and he reprogrammed the plane's autopilot after the pilot stepped out. This as some airlines around the world changed their protocols because of this senseless tragedy.

CNN has this story covered the way only CNN can. We begin with senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen. He is live in Cologne, Germany -- Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Alisyn.

And certainly a lot of new information coming out after that big day yesterday, when we found out that Andreas Lubitz did, in fact, apparently deliberately steer that aircraft into the mountains.

We were able yesterday to speak exclusively to the CEO of the parent company of Germanwings, of Lufthansa. And he said the airline is shocked, and the airline is trying to get to the bottom of what happened. They also say they believe they had no indication that he might have had any sort of mental issues.

Let's have a look at how the investigation is unfolding.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Investigators say they found what may be evidence while combing through 27-year-old co-pilot Andreas Lubitz's home. Police say they took several objects and papers, possible clues as to why the German national deliberately crashed Flight 9525 into the French Alps.

Audio from the aircraft's mangled cockpit voice recorder revealing the chilling steps Lubitz took to kill all 150 on board. Thirty minutes into the flight from Barcelona, the captain steps out of the cockpit once the plane hit cruising altitude, presumably to use the rest room.

Lubitz, now alone with the door locked, reprograms the autopilot from 30,000 feet to 100 feet, sending the jetliner straight toward the Alps. The pilot, heard on the recording, first knocking, then banging on the cockpit door. Lubitz didn't utter a word, investigators say and was breathing normally.

Passengers only heard on the recording during the final minutes before the crash, screaming.

Lufthansa's CEO says Lubitz had more than 600 hours of flight experience and showed no signs of mental instability.

SPOHR: The pilot has passed all his tests, all his medical exams. All the safety nets we are so proud of here, have not worked in this case.

PLEITGEN: Until the last moments, Lubitz seemed to live a normal life. Lubitz ran a fast half-marathon, liked nightclubs, and popular music. And there are reports he may have had a girlfriend.

The co-pilot's flight history also unremarkable. He was accepted into Lufthansa's pilot training program in 2008, training in Germany and Phoenix, Arizona. He joined Germanwings in September 2013, with only one flag on his resume. Lufthansa's CEO says there was an interruption during his training, said to have lasted several months, something the airlines says is not uncommon. Lubitz even a member of a flight club near his home.

"He was a lot of fun," says one member. "He was just another boy like so many others here."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: And of course, investigators are now spending their time scanning Lubitz's background. One thing that, of course, is invaluable to them is the documents that they found inside those two places where Lubitz was staying.

We have learned this morning that all those documents are going to be turned over to the French prosecutor. Apparently as we speak right now, there are French police officers on their way from Marseille to here, in Germany, to pick those documents up and bring them back for the investigation -- Chris.

CUOMO: Fred, so many affected by the acts of one man. We'll check back with you.

The co-pilot's hometown in shock over the news that he has the blood of 149 incidents -- innocents on his hands. Many saying he was a normal guy, as you heard, and certainly not a mass murder. But authorities say that is not the case anymore.

CNN's Rosie Tomkins is there in Montabaur, Germany, his hometown. Rosie, what do we know from there?

ROSIE TOMKINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: HI, Chris.

Yes, well, as you can see, global media gathered outside what, until last week, until the last few days, was just a normal home in Germany. And today, the focus of global scrutiny, as people search for answers as to why this young man who grew up here, Andreas Lubitz grew up here with his parents, why he would do such a thing.

The local community in shock, as you say. They cannot understand it. People that knew him, by all accounts, described him as a normal young man, polite, friendly. He had friends at the local flying school. He says he was so excited since he was a teenager about becoming a pilot. And he was realizing those dreams now. And everybody just searching for clues, any clues, as to why he would have done that.

We have had these reports that he took a break in his training, and then some reports saying there may have been some kind of breakdown there. But no confirmation about the airline, only able at the time to confirm he took that break. And neighbors and residents here not only in shock but also expressing

some sympathy for the family here, who of course, are not only dealing with the terrible loss of their family member like others, but also the incredibly shocking news that it was their son that, it appears, deliberately plunged this aircraft to death with all these people on board.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, our thanks for that look.

The grief-stricken families, meanwhile, of Flight 9525 have been flown to France by the airline to attend a memorial service near the crash site. This as the grim task of recovering remains and debris is being hampered by worsening weather conditions.

CNN's Nic Robertson is live nearby in the French Alps with more for us -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes good morning, Michaela. It is very windy here this morning, but the helicopters are still flying. Every couple of minutes, a helicopter goes over our heads into the mountains as part of the recovery effort.

We've seen the recovery teams preparing to get on more helicopters. They have backpacks on. They have ropes and harnesses with them. The families who came here yesterday and the families who came -- who will come today, yesterday they attended a memorial service. It was as close as the French authorities could get them to the crash site.

The French authorities really going out of their way to try and help the families with their grief. Help with the shock of the knowledge that they were intentionally killed by the co-pilot. But one father saying more important to look at their whole lives than the last few minutes. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT TANSILL OLIVER, FATHER OF CRASH VICTIM ROBERT OLIVER CALVO: I would encourage them to not focus on those last ten minutes of the final crash. Well, I'd like to encourage them to think about the wonderful years that they have enjoyed life together. Those wonderful moments, happy moments with the family, with friends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: The recovery teams are bringing pieces of aircraft and recovering some of the bodies from the crash site. But it is expected to take a long time. If the wind increases, then that could affect the operations today. And really, that's the major concern right now, to accelerate the recovery as fast as they can. And that is what we're seeing, a lot of helicopters passing overhead this morning, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Nic, keep us posted on how all that is going. Thank you for that report.

CAMEROTA: Let's turn now to David Soucie. He's our CNN safety analyst and former FAA safety inspector. And Tom Fuentes, CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director.

Gentlemen, thanks so much. Let's talk about all of the new developments.

Tom, in fact, I want to start with you. Investigators went to the co- pilot's home in Germany. And they say that they found something, quote, "significant." But they wouldn't say what it was. Only that it was not a suicide note.

Do you have any information on what exactly they've unearthed or what they would be looking for there at his house?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I don't have any information about that, Alisyn. But obviously, they would be looking for anything that indicates he's -- you know, his mental frame of mind. Does he have -- does he belong to some extremist group of any kind. Does he have financial problems? Does he have any other personal problems that may have affected his mental state and caused him to want to take his life and take 149 other innocent people with him?

So documents, computer records, any of that that they can find that helps. And apparently, they must have found something, because they're having it transported to the prosecutor in Marseille.

CAMEROTA: David there are reports in German media that the pilot was suffering from depression. And maybe, in fact, he had had a previous bout of depression that interrupted some of his pilot training. All of this is speculation; no one has confirmed it. Do pilots routinely undergo psychological testing?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Not routinely. There's a couple of things that they do, however. What they do is, it's a fit for departure or a fit for duty exam, basically, that you take before you get everything for every single flight. The idea is to make the pilot aware and cognizant of his environment of himself before he actually says, "I'm going to take the responsibility of flying this airplane."

CAMEROTA: What does that look like?

SOUCIE: It's basically a check box.

CAMEROTA: So you get a -- you get some paperwork and you say...

SOUCIE: It's on the computer. And you check it. But then there are some airlines that you do have a piece of paper, that you sign it and you say, "I am fit for duty."

CAMEROTA: So it's self-reporting?

SOUCIE: Yes.

CAMEROTA: What about when they're going through training? When they're -- before they become pilots, is there some sort of psychological examination? SOUCIE: It's more of a psychological test, honestly. I mean, you're

being pushed to the limits as far as what you can and cannot do. You're put in simulators. You're constantly grilled. You're -- it's like a very intense college, where you're going through these things step after step after step. And they're intentionally compressed into areas where eventually, at the end of the training, this pilot has been submitted to a lot of stress, a lot of problems. So I think that's probably the most intense.

CAMEROTA: So once you're a pilot, how do they monitor mental health?

SOUCIE: Other than this fit for duty, which is a Federal Aviation Administration regulation, actually, right now; it has to be done. So as far as mental health continuing, there are what we call crew resource managements in the cockpit. That's very intense. And this is an intimate relationship, really, that goes on in that cockpit between the pilot and the co-pilot. So that in itself produces a certain level of awareness of each other. You're watching out for each other.

[06:10:11] You look at these police shows where they say, "This is my partner. I'm not going to do anything without my partner." That kind of relationship is what goes on in the cockpit, although you have different people rotating in and out.

CAMEROTA: Tom, we also understand in terms of background checks, in terms of any sort of examination, it varies from country to country and maybe even airline to airline.

FUENTES: That's true. But Lufthansa has one of the best reputations in the world for, you know, all of their operations of that airline. So you know, if this can happen to Lufthansa, think of all the other airlines out there that it could happen to, as well.

CAMEROTA: David, do you think things need to change in terms of the mental health examination or is it going pretty well?

SOUCIE: I most certainly do, and every pilot I talk to says, "You know, it's a good system. It works; it's safe. We're meeting the minimum, what would be the considered the minimum requirement." And that's, by the way, what regulations do. They say this is the minimum thing that you have to do.

What it doesn't say is how you have to do it. And that's what -- that's why things are different throughout the country and the world, is the way that they're done. Almost every regulation at the end of it says "or other means acceptable to the administrator."

CAMEROTA: Meaning what? You'd like to see more uniformity?

SOUCIE: I would, yes. I think that it could be better. But we have to approach it cautiously and in the manner of a safety improvement. Part of the safety management system, which every airline has. And that safety management system will weigh the alternatives of what needs to be done. Instead of just saying, "Hey, this is a problem, and here's a fix that

we should do," what's often skipped in that during the dramatics of what's going on is they say, "Here's the problem; here's the fix." Well, between that, there's a lot of work that has to be done. A lot of analysis, or you'll end up doing something that just makes safety worse instead of better.

CAMEROTA: Tom, I know as an investigator you're always looking at the human factor. If, in fact, this co-pilot was depressed, this is beyond a suicide. This is a mass murder. What would you do as an investigator to begin trying to really sort of unlock who this person was?

FUENTES: Well, they'll be looking at everything in his life, as I mentioned earlier, trying to find out if there's some indication that he's having personal problems or that he's had them in the past.

You know, as David mentioned, when they go through flight training, that's one of the most stressful environments they're ever going to face in their life. And you would think at that point, if he had issues, that classmates, instructors, others would notice it and, you know, take steps to remove the person from the environment, knowing that they would, you know, maybe not, you know, be healthy enough mentally to fly.

In this case, this is not a situation where he was dealing with a stressful situation at the moment. You know, clear day, good weather, clear flight, no problems. But the depression was a creeping insidious illness that he may have had, that caused this to come about over a period of time. The decision to crash that plane may have been made weeks ago and just waiting for the right moment, the right time to actually execute his plan.

CAMEROTA: That's all so troubling to think about. David Soucie, Tom Fuentes, thanks so much. We'll check back in with you. Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Alisyn. There's other news developing right now. We've learned that Yemen's president is taking refuge in Saudi Arabia, forced out of a country that is now up for grabs. As for the chaos he leaves behind, a Saudi-led Arab coalition keeps pounding Iran-backed Houthi rebels with airstrikes, a dynamic that further destabilizes the entire region, as well as the United States' dealings with Iran.

So let's check in with CNN senior international correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, joining us from Kabul, Afghanistan, with the latest -- Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Chris, a troubling regional dimension, as you were saying, to this. We're now seeing, of course, the second night passing of Saudi -- predominantly Saudi airstrikes against those Houthi rebels. They seem to be targeting the northern stronghold of the Iranian-backed Houthis.

And the Houthis saying ten civilians were killed in these strikes, one hitting a market, one hitting a house near a Houthi leader, who presumably was the target there.

But while the anger builds clearly on the ground, as well, potentially the devastation, too, the enduring question is does that Saudi coalition have to send in ground troops to achieve their aims on the ground, which are to restore the government of President Hadi, as you mentioned, who has now fled to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. He hopes to attend, along with the rest of the key leaders in this Sunni Arab coalition now attacking the Houthis, a key Arab League meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh on the way imminently.

Now what we are vitally seeing at this point is that group suggesting they may need a joint reaction force to militarily intervene in what they refer to as hot spots around the region. That's the key issue here. We're seeing the Sunni states here getting their act together on one side against in this case in Yemen the Shia, as you mentioned, that replicates the violence across the Middle East.

The U.S., despite their peace talks with Shia Iran now coming to a vital moment, are actually giving intelligence backing up militarily, the Sunni coalition here. That's a very messy place for Washington to be, and we're in very dangerous uncharted territory here for the Middle East as a whole -- Chris.

[06:15:13] CUOMO: All right. Nick, thank you very much. We'll keep checking in with you -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: Breaking news out of Amsterdam at this hour. A major power outage has hit the Dutch capital. All outgoing flights from Schiphol Airport are on hold, we understand they should be resuming soon and operations should continue. Incoming flights are being diverted to other regional airports. The outage reportedly was caused by an overload on the power grid. The affect will be widespread. Schiphol is one of the biggest international airports, of course, in Europe.

CAMEROTA: The Republican-led U.S. Senate passing a budget plan that would cut spending by $5.1 trillion over ten years. Raise military funding and attempt to repeal Obamacare. This passed after a marathon 15-hour debate session before recessing for the Easter holiday. The House passed a similar spending plan Wednesday. The bills will have to be reconciled before any budget can be sent to the White House.

CUOMO: A massive explosion here in New York City. Two buildings burst into an inferno. Both collapsed, two other row buildings severely damaged.

Good Samaritans went into action, helping people escape after the blast. We have video showing a woman's dramatic rescue from a fire escape. You're looking at it right there. Nineteen people injured, four still critically. New York City's mayor says the cause, a gas leak. Now it seems random, but almost exactly the same thing happened in Harlem just over a year ago.

PEREIRA: So frightening for somebody who's not accustomed to living in a city when those buildings are so close together. That was a concern, that the other buildings would be affected. They had to evacuate several. CUOMO: Common problem in the city. That architecture is old down

there. There's been a lot of renovation. I went down there, and I'll tell you, you could feel the heat.

PEREIRA: For blocks, right?

CUOMO: From blocks away. But, you know, something not unique to you in New York, but special here. People flew to that scene instead of flying away. Seeing if there was anyone: throw out of the window. Let us catch. They got that woman down. There was like ten people on the ground.

PEREIRA: It's amazing nobody was killed.

CAMEROTA: That's so great. I love the good Samaritan stories.

PEREIRA: A little good stuff early on in the show.

CAMEROTA: I like that. It's really nice.

So please stay with CNN for continuing coverage of the French Alps crash investigation, including a closer look at how airlines manage their flight crews, should pilots undergo routine psychological screenings? We'll discuss that.

CUOMO: And here's a question. Was the cure worse than the disease? Did security changes after 9/11 make this mass murder of Flight 9525 possible? We'll take a look at why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: The big question now is why, why did this co-pilot do this? And how do we stop it from happening again? "The Wall Street Journal" reporting that the co-pilot now accused of mass murder was battling some kind of medical condition that could have been a mental health issue.

A spokesperson for Germany's aviation office wouldn't say if it was physical or mental. So what does that mean? Was it depression? And if it were, let's take that assumption. And should pilots have to undergo routine psychological tests? Is that the answer? Few do that.

So let's have someone weigh in who understands the situation well. His name is Justin Green, private pilot, president of the International Air and Transportation Safety Bar Association, meaning he's also an attorney.

Justin, we're looking for a quick fix. We want this to be a fail- safe, psychological evaluations, regular ones where pilots have to be evaluated by someone who understands stability. Would that be the perfect answer?

JUSTIN GREEN, PRESIDENT, IATSBA: Well, first of all, I don't think there's any perfect answer to this situation. And secondly, what has to happen is something to be put in place

that's actually effective. And I think that there has to be a really big study on whether regular psychological examinations would actually catch people like this. Because what you're talking about is looking inside someone's mind and trying to figure out what they're going to do. And I'm just not sure about that.

CUOMO: Why not do it?

GREEN: Well, I think you've got to say how massive an undertaking this is. And David Soucie was talking about before, that the FAA puts out minimum standards.

In this case, the FAA would have to act. Because what you'd be requiring is pilots, every airline to require its pilots to undergo these psychological testing. There's going to be a huge pushback by the pilots' unions, pilots, you know...

CUOMO: Why?

GREEN: Think about this: You're a pilot. One of the reasons I -- when I got out of the Marine Corps, I didn't become an aviation, airline pilot and went to law school with you instead, was because your livelihood is based on your health. Mental health, physical health. If you have a problem with your eye, you might be out of the cockpit for the -- you know, for the rest of your career. If you go and self-report -- and I think this is a big part of the story -- pilots who have mental health issues are going to be very reluctant to go and say, "Look, I'm having a mental health issue." Because once they are tagged with that label, they actually have to fight their way back into the cockpit. They got to get signed off by...

CUOMO: It's not just a stigma, it's practical.

GREEN: It's practical. They have to go through a really tough process to prove once they self-report and say, "Look, I have a psychological issue." Then they've got to convince a psychiatrist and a medical doctor to -- that they're fit for duty.

CUOMO: All right. So there's a burden you're saying. Let's see if the burden is justified. The numbers frightening. But then you put them into context. Here they are. Twenty-four crashes that were seen as deliberate. And that is almost, you see that label up on the top. Aircraft-assisted suicide. Twenty-four sounds like a big number, even since 1993. Less than 1 percent, because there have been so many plane crashes that are seen as deliberate, 7,244.

So when you see that, even though it's such a small percentage, it seems like a lot of them. To you does that justify the burden, based on what's done now?

Let's put up the graphic of what you have to do now. All right. The FAA guide for medical examiners. You ask pilots if they're depressed, anxious. You observe a pilot for bizarre behavior. Is the pilot delusional, hallucinating? Here's the problem, though. The medical examiners not often with the pilot. The other pilots are, so there's a self-reporting requirement. You say that gets tricky.

GREEN: Well, it's not just self-reporting, which we just talked about.

CUOMO: I mean, self, among pilots.

[06:25:06] The other pilots would have to report somebody acting a little strange, and I think that just human nature is that's going to -- you're going to be very reluctant to say, you know, "First Officer Smith, I'm not so sure about him."

CUOMO: Why? You don't want to go down in the plane any more than you want anyone else to.

GREEN: Well, it's like police. It's not going to be something obvious. If somebody is muttering under their breath and are hearing voices, you know, you're going to report that. But what we're talking about is someone who looks down, and you may ask someone, "Hey, you know, you look a little down."

"Oh, I had a tough weekend." Or -- it's just not human nature to go out of your way to report something unless it's obvious.

CUOMO: right.

GREEN: And I doubt very much we're talking about something really obvious here.

CUOMO: Here is -- here is something that is really obvious -- you can't do nothing. Because we're seeing all the time in so many different realms of society here -- forget about in Europe and elsewhere. Mental health is becoming something that is more recognizable, whether we want it to be or not.

So what do you see as potential changes, not in place now, meaning, that would help minimize this risk.

GREEN: But this is actually a relatively low risk.

GREEN: And aviation safety is a zero sum gain. There's no acceptable rate of aviation safety accidents. So what I'd say here is pilots are screened. They're observed by their fellow pilots. I think one thing that is really important is that airlines encourage self-reporting. Don't penalize people who take themselves out of the cockpit. Encourage other pilots to speak up if they see a problem.

The second thing is you have to figure out what is effective. Here, you know, putting every pilot through a wringer, a psychological testing exam every year...

CUOMO: You don't like that. What would have worked better? What would have stopped 9525?

GREEN: I think the easiest thing is to have two people in the cockpit. That is much more efficient. It can be done today. It could have been done the day before this accident. CUOMO: Couldn't you just take me out, if you were on a suicide

mission?

GREEN: Any time, there's no silver bullet. We said before. But two pilots in the cockpit is much more less likely one pilot is going to be able to crash the airplane than a pilot alone in the cockpit.

So what we're talking about is what is effective. It may not be someone who wants to do this, most likely get through a psychological exam. A psychological exam may, you know, lower the risk. Having someone in the cockpit clearly would lower the risk.

CUOMO: Justin, thank you very much. Appreciate you.

GREEN: Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: What do you think about this. A lot of is engaging the dialogue that's going on among all of this with this. Send us your questions. You can tweet us. Use the hashtag #GermanwingsQs. You can also get us on Facebook individually or by the show, and we'll deal with some of your questions later on -- Mick.

PEREIRA: All right, Chris. We have a CNN exclusive with the CEO of Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings. Does he think the co- pilot had anything in his background that suggested that he could do something so sinister?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)