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Pilot Who Downed Airliner Vowed 'To Do Something' To Be Remembered

By Scott Neuman

Published March 28, 2015 at 7:59 AM EDT

A German police investigator carries a box after searching an apartment believed to belong to the crashed Germanwings flight 4U 9524 co-pilot Andreas Lubitz in Duesseldorf, on Thursday.

Updated at 11:05 a.m. ET

The co-pilot who deliberately downed an airliner over the French Alps this week, killing all 150 aboard, had told a girlfriend sometime last year that he would "do something" that would make people remember his name, a German newspaper reports.

Andreas Lubitz, 27, who reportedly had hidden a note declaring him medically unfit to fly on the day he crashed the Germanwings A320, told a former girlfriend and flight attendant, identified by Bild only as "Mary W." that: "One day I will do something that will change the whole system, and then all will know my name and remember it."

She was quoted by the newspaper as saying she didn't understand what he meant by the remark until she heard of the crash on Tuesday.

She also told Bild that Lubitz had nightmares and had woken up at night and screamed "We're going down!"

Meanwhile, The New York Times says that Lubitz sought treatment for vision problems that could have prevented him from flying. That follows earlier reports that prosecutors found a torn-up doctor's note in Lubitz' apartment that pronounced him unfit to fly.

According to the Times: "It is not clear how severe his eye problems were or how they might have been related to his psychological condition. One person with knowledge of the investigation said the authorities had not ruled out the possibility that the vision problem could have been psychosomatic."

According to Euronews:

"Germanwings said Lubitz had not given them a sick note that would have grounded him on the day of the crash.

"German law requires workers to immediately tell their employers if they are unable to work."

And, The Guardian writes:

"No suicide note or claim of responsibility had been found, the prosecutors said.

"Legal experts said that on the evidence that has emerged so far – which suggests the co-pilot may have had a history of depression and psychiatric problems – the airline would find it difficult to prove that the crash was not its fault."