Pastor says community stands by co-pilot
MONTABAUR, Germany – The pastor of the Lutheran church in Andreas Lubitz’s hometown said Sunday that the community stands by him and his family, despite the fact that prosecutors blame the 27-year-old co-pilot for causing the plane crash that killed 150 people in southern France.
The town of Montabaur has been rattled by the revelation that Lubitz, who first learned to fly at a nearby glider club, may have intentionally caused Tuesday’s crash of Germanwings Flight 9525.
“For us, it makes it particularly difficult that the only victim from Montabaur is suspected to have caused this tragedy, this crash – although this has not been finally confirmed, but a lot is indicating that – and we have to face this,” pastor Michael Dietrich said. “The co-pilot, the family belong to our community, and we stand by this, and we embrace them and will not hide this, and want to support the family in particular.”
He added that there is no direct contact with the family at the moment, but that he believes they are receiving good assistance.
French prosecutors haven’t questioned the family yet “out of decency and respect for their pain,” Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said.
Theater director fired over opera
MOSCOW – Russia’s culture minister on Sunday fired the director of a Siberian theater whose modern staging of Wagner’s opera “Tannhauser” offended the powerful Russian Orthodox Church.
The announcement was made as several thousand people rallied outside the Novosibirsk theater to protest the opera, which they said was offensive to Christians and reflected the values of a decadent West.
“Orthodox Christianity is the foundation of the great Russian culture,” said one of the signs held by the protesters in Novosibirsk, a city of 1.5 million and the third-largest in Russia.
They waved patriotic flags, including some with a picture of President Vladimir Putin imposed upon the Russian tricolor and others in the orange and black stripes of the St. George ribbon. Long associated with commemorations of the victory in World War II, the ribbon is now worn to express support for the Russia-backed separatists fighting in Ukraine.
The Russian Orthodox Church has played an active part in Putin’s efforts to consolidate Russian society by appealing to what are described as traditional Russian values as opposed to the liberalism of the West.
Air Canada plane skids off runway
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia – An Air Canada plane made a hard landing short of the runway at the Halifax airport during a snowstorm, crashing into a bank of antennas and shearing off its main landing gear, nose cone, and an engine as it skidded on its belly, officials said. The airline said Sunday that 25 people were taken to hospitals for observation and treatment of minor injuries.
“They touched down 1,100 feet short of the runway so I’d say they’re pretty lucky,” Mike Cunningham, a regional manager for Canada’s Transport Safety Board, told a news conference.
Cunningham said the plane hit an antenna array, shearing the main landing gear off before sliding on its belly onto the runway for another 1,100 feet before coming to a stop. He said there was significant damage to the plane and could not rule out weather as a factor. He also said he believes a power line was severed, which led to a loss of power at the airport
Associated Press
