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MONTABAUR, Germany (AP) — According to those who taught Andreas Lubitz how to fly, there was never a sign that he was anything but thrilled to have landed a job as a co-pilot with Germanwings.
But French prosecutors now say Lubitz "intentionally" crashed Flight 9525 into the side of a mountain in France this week after locking the pilot out of the cockpit.
Lubitz began flying gliders as a teenager from a grass runway in the hills of western Germany. Members of his hometown flight club say when he came back to the club last fall to renew his gilder pilots' license, he appeared to be happy with the job he began a year earlier.
A longtime member of the glider club says he "can't remember anything where something wasn't right" with Lubitz.
The club's chairman is rejecting the conclusion that Lubitz intentionally brought down the plane.
At the house believed to be the one where his parents live, the curtains are drawn and four police cars are parked outside. Police are keeping reporters away. Neighbors refused to comment.
The airline says Lubitz trained in Germany before starting to fly for Germanwings in September of 2013. A glider club member says Lubitz also trained in Arizona. According to the airline, he had logged 630 hours of flight time before the crash.
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140-c-17-(Angela Charlton, AP correspondent)-"let him in"-AP correspondent Angela Charlton reports that Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin says that the co-pilot was fully responsible for the Germanwings disaster. ((Brice Robin is pronounced brees roh-BAN')) (26 Mar 2015)
<<CUT *140 (03/26/15)££ 00:17 "let him in"
143-c-09-(Angela Charlton, AP correspondent)-"in the cabin"-AP correspondent Angela Charlton reports that Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin says says painfully clear that the passengers were terrified as the plane plummeted toward the mountains. ((Brice Robin is pronounced brees roh-BAN')) (26 Mar 2015)
<<CUT *143 (03/26/15)££ 00:09 "in the cabin"
141-c-12-(Angela Charlton, AP correspondent)-"was breathing normally"-AP correspondent Angela Charlton reports that Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin says that the co-pilot did not pass out in the cabin. ((Brice Robin is pronounced brees roh-BAN')) (26 Mar 2015)
<<CUT *141 (03/26/15)££ 00:12 "was breathing normally"
137-a-14-(Brice Robin (brees roh-BAN'), Marseille prosecutor, at news conference)-"down the plane"-Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin says it appears that the co-pilot of the Germanwings flight that slammed into an Alpine mountainside deliberately crashed it. (26 Mar 2015)
<<CUT *137 (03/26/15)££ 00:14 "down the plane"
138-a-08-(Brice Robin (brees roh-BAN'), Marseille prosecutor, at news conference)-"ten last minutes"-Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin confirms that the co-pilot was completely silent after the commanding pilot left the cockpit. (26 Mar 2015)
<<CUT *138 (03/26/15)££ 00:08 "ten last minutes"
APPHOTO FOS205: Police hold media away from the house where Andreas Lubitz lived in Montabaur, Germany, Thursday, March 26, 2015. Lubitz was the copilot on flight Germanwings 9525 that crashed with 150 people on board on Tuesday in the French Alps. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) (26 Mar 2015)
<<APPHOTO FOS205 (03/26/15)££
APPHOTO FOS204: Aviation club member Peter Ruecker stands beside a glider that was flown by Andreas Lubitz in the hangar of the club in Montabaur, Germany, Thursday, March 26, 2015. Lubitz was the copilot on flight Germanwings 9525 that crashed with 150 people on board on Tuesday in the French Alps. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) (26 Mar 2015)
<<APPHOTO FOS204 (03/26/15)££
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