Delaware County Classmate Remembers Germanwings Crash Victim
By David Spunt
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Delaware County resident Carol LaMon glued herself to the Germanwings crash story when she first heard the news. Soon after, she found out one of her high school friends was on the plane.
LaMon, who also works at U.S. Airways as a customer service representative, went to high school with Yvonne Selke, then known as Yvonne Carlo.
"She was just always a very studious person, highly intelligent, and very kind to everybody," said LaMon.
The two women once walked the halls together at Springfield High School in Delaware County. They both graduated in 1975.
Selke and her daughter Emily, a 2013 Drexel University graduate, both died in the crash. Emily spent time in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
As recovery crews work to locate the bodies and clean up the crash, investigators have their eye on the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz. The 28-year-old German national allegedly locked the captain out of the cockpit and intentionally crashed the plane, according to investigators.
In Europe, only one pilot has to be in the cockpit at a time. In the United States -- two. Aviation attorney Arthur Wolk specializes in plane crashes.
"There has to be someone else there to make sure that no one does something untoward and better yet, that the airplane itself doesn't do something that a single pilot can't control," said Wolk.
LaMon is one of many voices calling for an international policy change, and says she'll miss her old friend and classmate at October's 40th class reunion.
It's tough enough getting older, but then to lose them, and with this horrific situation, I mean I can't even fathom," said LaMon.
