1. they found an "unfit for duty" torn up note in his trash? Assuming the wording is correct, is that the kind of note a German private physician would give a patient? Does that sound right to anyone familiar with German procedure? Cause it sounds more like an excuse from an airline
PR person than an actual note from a private physician. I'm talking about those specific words. Just asking.
The real name is "Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung" or more commonly used "Krankschreibung". The first term is pretty well translated as "unfit for duty". It just contains the start and end date of the time needed off duty, no diagnosis or anything else.
2. 600 hrs? really? does that sound like normal time for A 320 first officer new hire at even a low cost carrier in Germany? anyone know?
Yes, that would be normal for a pilot at the end of his first or in his second year on the line.
3. he got a years LOA due to a medical problem in initial training? Is that right? If you couldn't hack initial training at any airline I've ever heard about, you were terminated. Are the germans different, or is the info wrong?
Initial training is the lufthansa flight school where he was in the process of training for his Multi Pilot License (MPL). Not to be confused with initial training for airlines that hire direct entry pilots.