What We Can Learn From the Germanwings Tragedy

Written by Joshua Travers

The tragedy of Germanwings Flight 9525 shocked the world. Amidst the horror of what amounted to a mass execution, we can learn to avoid the same tragedy in our personal lives.

On March 24, 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525 was deliberately crashed into a mountainside in the French Alps by copilot Andreas Lubitz, killing 149 people (plus himself). With the pilot desperately trying to get in, the copilot dropped the plane from 38,000 feet to 6,000 feet in an eight-minute dive that reportedly left nothing of the plane bigger than a small car.

The crash was first thought to be an accident; but further investigation revealed the crash was a deliberate choice made by the copilot. The discovery has appalled the world and led to speculation about the whys of his action—what was his motivation and what was wrong with him?

There is an important lesson we can learn from this tragedy.

In some ways our lives are similar to that of Andreas Lubitz. We, too, have the ability to affect other people with our choices—but we can choose a different ending than Lubitz did that fateful morning.

The impact of our actions

We may not realize it, but we can have a lot of impact on people in our lives. We might think of ourselves as being shy and alone, but we likely influence hundreds of people in our lives: family, friends, coworkers, schoolmates, and the list goes on.

One of the greatest lessons of life is the principle of cause and effect. The Bible teaches this principle throughout its pages, such as: “Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7). The sower is not the only one who reaps what is sown. Our actions can affect those around us—people we hardly know and especially those who are the closest to us.

Oftentimes, our position will help determine how we impact the lives of others. Just as the copilot used his position to end 149 lives instead of giving them a safe journey, we can use our position in life to either help or harm those we encounter. This applies very directly to those in positions of leadership and influence over others.

Of course, the vast majority of people won’t do something like Andreas Lubitz did. But the lesson is that our decisions in life affect others. Think of the countless examples of drug addicts, gamblers, alcoholics and others who have irreparably changed the lives of those around them because of bad decisions.

So how can we prevent ourselves from making decisions that harm others?

Locked out

The black box recording revealed the captain desperately pleading for Lubitz to “open the door,” with the screams of panicking passengers in the background. If the pilot had been able to enter the cockpit, the lives of all onboard might have been saved. Despite all of his efforts to get through that locked door (investigators believe he tried to break the door down with an ax), he couldn’t get in and retake control of the plane.

There is a powerful lesson for us to learn from this heartrending part of the tragedy. Sometimes, our life decisions put us in a descent—taking us down (and possibly others with us). Oftentimes there is help available. Yet, instead of allowing others to help us, we essentially barricade ourselves in the cockpits of bad decisions and refuse help.

“Everyone fights their own silent battles,” some will say. But when the consequences of those battles are destroying us (and others), we cannot keep the battle silent any longer! One person did, and 150 people died as a result. It is always better if we share our struggles with others whom we trust and seek the help we need. When there is no human we can rely on, we can rest assured that we can always rely on God (1 Peter 5:7).

Our course

Each of us is the pilot of our own life. Where our course takes us is up to us. The journey often gets rough; but when it does, it is time to let others in instead of locking them out.

The tragedy over the French Alps occurred because one individual made a series of bad decisions—and never reached out for help. His personal descent took the lives of 149 innocent people (and his own) and left hundreds of others in grief.

The tragedy of that flight doesn’t have to be ours.

For more information on the problem of depression and suicide read:

Photo by Jose Ramon/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0