THE German pilot who deliberately flew his airliner into a mountainside last year had FAILED an important test while training to fly.

According to FBI interviews with his instructors, Andreas Lubitz was promoted despite the fact it should have been seen as a "red flag" by Lufthansa's flight school, based in Arizona, in the US.

And it should have caused investigations into his history of depression, according to attorneys representing families of crash victims.

Lubitz was a co-pilot for Germanwings, a regional airline owned by Lufthansa.

He locked Flight 9524's captain out of the cockpit and set the plane on a collision course with a mountain in the French Alps last year.

All 144 passengers and six crew members, including Lubitz, were killed.

Juergen Theerkorn, who was an instructor at the school, described Lubitz as "not an ace pilot," and said he failed one flight test because of a "situational awareness issue."

In aviation, loss of situational awareness usually means a pilot becomes absorbed in something and loses track of what else is happening with the plane.

Another instructor, Scott Nickell, told the FBI that Lubitz lacked "procedural knowledge" and had trouble with splitting his attention between instruments inside the plane and watching what was happening outside.

However despite his struggle, he got passing scores meaning he was able to carry on with training.

Lubitz did not pass one of his five check rides – these are an important test of flying skills. he also failed one of his 67 training flights.

Matthias Kippenberg, who is the president and CEO of the Airline Training Center Arizona,  dismissed the failures as unremarkable, saying students are given the opportunity to retake the tests.

The FBI did the interviews a week after the crash last year.

They were given to proscecutors in Germany but have been released to the press by  Kriendler & Kriendler in New York, the attorneys represent the families in a lawsuit against the flight school.

According to AP, officials did not respond to comment.

According to an investigation Lubitz was being treated for a relapse of severe depression and suicidal tendencies but hid it from Germanwings.

Germany's strict patient privacy laws meant his medical records could not be shared with the company unless he granted it.

In 2008 he had suffered from depression, and told Lufthansa – he took a leave of absence for two months.

However he started again ten months later after his doctors stated he had recovered.

Originally due to start in September 2009, Sherri Harwood, the school's administrative services manager, told the FBI he commenced training in November 2010 due to a "long illness."

Lubitz sent an email but there is no copy of it in the FBI report, so it is not known if the school was aware of the reason for his sickness.

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If the school had looked into his medical condition, it would have learned German authorities twice turned down applications from Lubitz for a pilot medical certificate because of his history of depression.

In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration also initially declined to grant Lubitz a student pilot medical certificate because he did not reveal his past medical problems and that he had been treated for mental disorders.

It was only when this was picked up in Germany that he was forced to refile.

He provided a statement from his doctor that he was fit to fly and his depression medication had been discontinued.

John Goglia, an aviation safety expert and former National Transportation Safety Board member, said the warning should have highlighted issues with the school.

However he added it was not unusual for students to fail a single check ride, and their washout rate of one to two percent seemed low.

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