Aviation disaster in which a pilot intentionally crashes the aircraft
This Airbus A320, operating as Germanwings Flight 9525, was deliberately crashed into the Alps by a suicidal co-pilot on 24 March 2015, killing all 150 people on board.United Airlines Flight 175 was deliberately crashed into 2 World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks.
Suicide by pilot is an aviation event in which a pilot deliberately crashes or attempts to crash an aircraft as a suicide act, with or without the intention of causing harm to passengers on board or people on the ground. If others are killed, it may be considered a type of murder–suicide.[1] It is suspected to have been a possible cause in several commercial flight crashes and has been confirmed as the cause in other instances. Determining the motives of pilots can be challenging for crash investigators, as pilots may intentionally disable recording devices or engage in other actions to impede future investigations.[2] Consequently, definitively proving pilot suicide can be difficult.[3][4]
Investigators do not classify aircraft incidents as suicides unless there is compelling evidence indicating that the pilot intended suicide. This evidence may include suicide notes, past suicide attempts, explicit threats of suicide, or a documented history of mental illness. A study conducted on pilot suicides between 2002 and 2013 identified eight cases as definite suicides, along with five additional cases of undetermined cause that may have been suicides.[5] In some cases, investigators may collaborate with terrorism experts to investigate potential connections to extremist groups, aiming to ascertain whether the suicide was an act of terrorism.[6][7][8]
A Bloomberg News study conducted in June 2022, focusing on crashes involving Western-built commercial airliners, revealed that pilot murder-suicides ranked as the second most prevalent cause of airline crash deaths between 2011 and 2020. Additionally, the study found that deaths resulting from pilot murder-suicides increased over the period from 1991 to 2020, while fatalities due to accidental causes significantly decreased. However, most cases of suicide by pilot involve general aviation in small aircraft, where typically the pilot is the sole occupant of the aircraft. In approximately half of these cases, the pilot had consumed drugs, often alcohol or antidepressants, which would typically result in a ban on flying. Many of these pilots have concealed their mental illness histories from regulators.[5]
^Charles Bremner (Paris), March 26, 2015, The Times, Locked door boosts pilot suicide theory Archived March 27, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 26, 2015
^Richard Lloyd Parry, December 16, 2000, The Independent, "Singaporean air crash that killed 104 was suicide by pilot, say investigators" Archived September 25, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 26, 2015, "...An airliner which crashed into an Indonesian swamp, killing all 104 people on board, was an apparent suicide attempt by the pilot, ... the cockpit voice and data recorders had been switched off half a minute before the aircraft began its descent."
^Toby Young, March 16, 2014, The Telegraph, Could a four-year-old thriller unlock the mystery of flight MH370? Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 26, 2015, "...If this was a case of "suicide-by-pilot", why do we still know so little about the motive? I..."
^March 31, 2014, The Guardian, MH370: authorities release new account of pilot's final words: Malaysia's civil aviation authority say pilot's final words heard by air traffic control were 'goodnight Malaysian three seven zero' Archived April 10, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 26, 2015, "...Malaysia says the plane, which disappeared less than an hour into its flight, was likely to have been diverted deliberately far off course. Investigators have determined no apparent motive or other red flags among the 227 passengers or the 12 crew. ..."
^ abLewis, Russell; Forster, Estrella; Whinnery, James; Webster, Nicholas (February 2014). "Aircraft-Assisted Pilot Suicides in the United States, 2003-2012" (PDF). Civil Aerospace Medical Institute. NTL.BTS.gov. Federal Aviation Administration. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 3, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
^March 2015, The Independent, ... Co-pilot of crashed Germanwings flight 9525 'wanted to destroy plane in suicide and mass murder mission' Archived September 25, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
^Jane Onyanga-Omara, January 19, 2015, USA Today, No evidence of terrorism in AirAsia crash Archived August 21, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 27, 2015, "...Investigators have found no evidence so far that terrorism was involved in the crash of AirAsia Flight 8501, ..."
^March 27, 2014, The New Zealand Herald, Flight MH370: Terrorism expert backs theory of pilot suicide flight Archived February 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 27, 2015, "...University of Canterbury Professor Greg Newbold, who lectures on terrorism, said the only person who could have changed MH370's computerised flight plan and switched off its electronics was someone who was highly experienced...."
Suicidebypilot is an aviation event in which a pilot deliberately crashes or attempts to crash an aircraft as a suicide act, with or without the intention...
suicide method is any means by which a person may choose to end their life. Suicide attempts do not always result in death, and a non-fatal suicide attempt...
Vehicular suicide is the use of a motor vehicle to intentionally cause one's own death. Suicideby carbon monoxide poisoning may be attempted by running...
The 2010 Austin suicide attack occurred on February 18, 2010, when Andrew Joseph Stack III deliberately crashed his single-engine Piper Dakota light aircraft...
original on November 27, 2005. Retrieved November 27, 2019. "Teen Pilot'sSuicide Note". The Smoking Gun. February 6, 2002. Archived from the original...
at the controls, such as a forced landing, an act of terrorism, or suicidebypilot, are also excluded from the definition of CFIT. According to Boeing...
crash determined it to be pilotsuicide. Flight recorder data revealed that the ATR 42's autopilot was intentionally disconnected by Captain Khayati, who then...
on, they thought it was murder-suicideby the pilot." The murder/suicide theory is consistent with the suggestion, by retired British aviation engineer...
quickly through suicide. Military and espionage organizations have provided their agents in danger of being captured by the enemy with suicide pills and devices...
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders...
a suicidebypilot (in this case the captain) via a letter sent on 11 December the same year. However, the first aviation accident investigated by the...
Motivated by the fear that blindness would cause him to lose his pilot's licence, he began conducting online research about methods of committing suicide before...
suicide attack pilots ("kamikaze" was not a term used by the Japanese themselves). Late in the war, as the tide turned against Japan, kamikaze pilots...
you can help by expanding it. The following people died bysuicide. This includes suicides effected under duress and excludes deaths by accident or misadventure...
accident or a suicide. The pilot had been the victim of a scam that brought him close to bankruptcy, so the possibility of a public suicide is plausible...
targeting civilians. Suicide attacks have occurred in various contexts, ranging from military campaigns—such as the Japanese kamikaze pilots during World War...
Rail suicide is deliberate self-harm resulting in death by means of a moving railway vehicle. The suicide occurs when an approaching train hits a suicidal...
is an often used suicide method. The 2023 ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for jumping from a high place is X80*, and this method of suicide is also known clinically...
and manually changed its autopilot settings, making this a suicidebypilot. After the co-pilot left the cockpit, two minutes passed before the captain decided...
sometimes extended to include suicide attacks such as kamikaze and suicide bombings, whose perpetrators actively die bysuicide during the execution of the...
inputs "most likely by the captain". While the Indonesian NTSC investigators found "no concrete evidence" to support the pilotsuicide allegation, and the...
in the United States § Tennessee Suicidebypilot Horizon Air Flight 2059, a similar unsuccessful hijacking attempt by a jumpseating crew member. Continental...
incidents involving airliners by location § Botswana List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft "Suicidepilot destroys Air Botswana fleet"...
History of Crashes Caused byPilots' Intentional Acts". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 April 2015. Seiji Katagiri, 35, the pilot of a Japan Air Lines DC-8...
Global Information
