Suicide by pilot: Difference between revisions

[[File:Airbus 320-Germanwings D-AIPX 2014-06-08 retouched.jpg|thumb|280x280px|This [[Airbus A320 family|Airbus A320]], operating as [[Germanwings Flight 9525]], was deliberately crashed into the [[Alps]] by a suicidal co-pilot on 24 March 24, 2015, killing all 150 people on board.]]

'''Suicide by pilot''' is an [[aviation accident|aviation event]] in which a [[Pilot (aeronautics)|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]].<ref name=tws>Charles Bremner (Paris), March 26, 2015, The Times, [http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article4393641.ece Locked door boosts pilot suicide theory] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150327070641/http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article4393641.ece |date=March 27, 2015 }}. Retrieved March 26, 2015</ref> It is suspected to have been a possible cause in several [[commercial flights|commercial flight]] crashes and has been confirmed as the cause in other instances. Determining the [[motive (law)|motives]] of pilots can be challenging for crash investigators, as pilots may intentionally disable [[Flight recorder|recording devices]] or engage in other actions to impede future investigations.<ref name=twsIndependent>RICHARDRichard LLOYDLloyd PARRYParry, December 16, 2000, ''The Independent'', [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/singaporean-air-crash-that-killed-104-was-suicide-by-pilot-say-investigators-627579.html "Singaporean air crash that killed 104 was suicide by pilot, say investigators"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925184711/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/singaporean-air-crash-that-killed-104-was-suicide-by-pilot-say-investigators-627579.html |date=September 25, 2015 }}. 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."</ref> Consequently, definitively proving pilot suicide can be difficult.<ref name=twsTelegraph2>Toby Young, March 16, 2014, The Telegraph, [http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyyoung/100263838/could-a-four-year-old-thriller-hold-the-key-to-unlocking-the-mystery-of-malaysian-airlines-flight-370/ Could a four-year-old thriller unlock the mystery of flight MH370? ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304110225/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyyoung/100263838/could-a-four-year-old-thriller-hold-the-key-to-unlocking-the-mystery-of-malaysian-airlines-flight-370/ |date=March 4, 2016 }}. Retrieved March 26, 2015, "...If this was a case of "suicide-by-pilot", why do we still know so little about the motive? I..."</ref><ref name=twsGuardian1>March 31, 2014, The Guardian, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/31/mh370-pilot-last-words-malaysia-airlines-plane 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'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410220650/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/31/mh370-pilot-last-words-malaysia-airlines-plane |date=April 10, 2017 }}. 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. ..."</ref>

Investigators do not classify aircraft incidents as suicides unless there is compelling evidence indicating that the pilot intended to commit suicide. This evidence may include [[suicide note]]s, 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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|url = http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/51000/51100/51188/201402.pdf|title = Aircraft-Assisted Pilot Suicides in the United States, 2003-2012|last1 = Lewis|first1 = Russell|date = February 2014|access-date = March 29, 2015|last2 = Forster|first2 = Estrella|last3 = Whinnery|first3 = James|last4 = Webster|first4 = Nicholas|publisher = Federal Aviation Administration|department = Civil Aerospace Medical Institute|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150403234302/http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/51000/51100/51188/201402.pdf|archive-date = April 3, 2015|url-status = live|df = mdy-all|journal=NTL.BTS.gov}}</ref> 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]].<ref>March 2015, The Independent, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germanwings-crash-suicide-and-mass-murder-by-copilot-10135713.html ... Co-pilot of crashed Germanwings flight 9525 'wanted to destroy plane in suicide and mass murder mission'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925190440/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germanwings-crash-suicide-and-mass-murder-by-copilot-10135713.html |date=September 25, 2015 }}</ref><ref>Jane Onyanga-Omara, January 19, 2015, ''USA Today'', [https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/01/19/no-evidence-terrorism-airasia/21988747/ No evidence of terrorism in AirAsia crash] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821085510/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/01/19/no-evidence-terrorism-airasia/21988747/ |date=August 21, 2017 }}. Retrieved March 27, 2015, "...Investigators have found no evidence so far that terrorism was involved in the crash of AirAsia Flight 8501, ..."</ref><ref name=twsNZHerald>March 27, 2014, The New Zealand Herald, [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11227090 Flight MH370: Terrorism expert backs theory of pilot suicide flight] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150222021816/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11227090 |date=February 22, 2015 }}. 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...."</ref>

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. Notably, if [[China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735]] is confirmed to be an intentional act, it would indicate that deaths caused by intentional acts have surpassed all other causes since the beginning of 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 13, 2022 |last=Levin |first=Alan |title=Murder-Suicides by Pilots Are Vexing Airlines as Deaths Mount |language=en |work=Bloomberg.com |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-13/murder-suicides-by-pilots-are-vexing-airlines-as-deaths-mount |access-date=September 12, 2022}}</ref> 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 history of [[Mental health in aviation|mental illness histories]] from regulators.<ref name=":0" />

During [[World War II]], the Russian aviator [[Nikolai Gastello]] was the first Soviet pilot credited with a (later disputed) "[[fire]] [[aerial ramming|taran]]" in a suicide attack by an aircraft on a ground target, although his aircraft had been shot down and was in a rapid partially controllable descent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.airwar.ru/history/aces/ace2ww/pilots/gastello.html|title=Гастелло Николай Францевич|access-date=March 30, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317120754/http://airwar.ru/history/aces/ace2ww/pilots/gastello.html|archive-date=March 17, 2015|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Another early example took place during the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] where [[First Lieutenant]] Fusata Iida told his men before taking off, that if his aircraft were to become badly damaged he would crash it into a "worthy enemy target".<ref>Axell, p. 44.</ref>

In the following years there were more [[suicide attacks]]; the best known by [[military aviation|military aviators]] are the attacks from the [[Empire of Japan]], called ''[[kamikaze]]'', against [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] naval vessels in the closing stages of the [[Pacific War|Pacific campaign]] of World War II. These attacks were designed to destroy [[warship]]s more effectively than was possible with conventional attacks; between {{dts|1944-10}} and {{dts|1945}}, 3,860 kamikaze pilots committed suicide in this manner.<ref name=Zaloga>{{cite book|last=Zaloga|first=Steve|title=Kamikaze: Japanese Special Attack Weapons 1944-45|date=June 21, 2011|page=12|publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=9781849083539|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E95PKAJWMiAC&pg=PA12|access-date=September 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140704171843/http://books.google.com/books?id=E95PKAJWMiAC&pg=PA12|archive-date=July 4, 2014|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

'''Legend:'''<br />

|AttackAttempted on aircraftsuicide halted

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|Pilot engaged number 2 and 3 [[turbojet engine|engines]]' [[thrust reversal|thrust-reversers]] in flight. The [[First Officer (civil aviation)|first officer]] and [[flight engineer]] were able to partially regain control, but the aircraft crashed into [[Tokyo Bay]], killing 24 of the 174 people on board.

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|While on a training mission, Button flew off course and ceased radio contact. The [[A-10 Thunderbolt II]] later crashed into a mountain in Colorado. The United States Air Force declared his death a suicide because no other generally accepted hypothesis explains the events

|[[File:B737, 9V-TRD B737-3M8TRF, Silk Air MAN MAY92 (6181415754).jpg|100px]]

|After the captain left the cockpit, the [[cockpit voice recorder]] recorded the relief first officer [[Gameel Al-Batouti]] turnedpraying, as he offdisengaged the autopilot and enginesshut whiledown repeatedly saying "Ithe rely on Allah" in Arabicengines, causing the plane to go intoenter a [[Descent (aircraft)#Dives|dive]] and crash into the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. The reasonreasons for his inputsactions waswere not determined.<ref name=ntsb2>{{cite web|title=NTSB Releases EgyptAir Flight 990 Final Report|url=https://www.ntsb.gov/news/2002/020321.htm|publisher=[[NTSB]]|date=21 March 2002|access-date=January 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010185346/https://www.ntsb.gov/news/2002/020321.htm|archive-date=October 10, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Suicide by Plane Crash Is Rare but Not Without Precedent|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/27/world/europe/few-precedents-are-seen-as-germanwings-investigation-points-to-deliberate-crash.html|access-date=March 28, 2015|author=Erica Goode|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=March 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150327193247/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/27/world/europe/few-precedents-are-seen-as-germanwings-investigation-points-to-deliberate-crash.html|archive-date=March 27, 2015|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/2015/3/26/8294971/pilot-suicide-crash|title=The disturbing history of pilots who deliberately crash their own planes|author=Brad Plumer|work=Vox|date=March 26, 2015|access-date=June 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821045533/https://www.vox.com/2015/3/26/8294971/pilot-suicide-crash|archive-date=August 21, 2017|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> The U.S. [[National Transportation Safety Board]] concluded that the crash was a suicide, while the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority blamed a fault in the elevator control system caused by deliberate actions by the First Officer.<ref name=ecaa>{{cite web|title=Report of Investigation of Accident: EgyptAir 990 |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/events/ea990/docket/ecaa_report.pdf |publisher=[[Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority|ECAA]]|date=June 2001|access-date=January 11, 2019|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622102818/https://www.ntsb.gov/events/ea990/docket/ecaa_report.pdf|archive-date=June 22, 2011 }}</ref>

| Phillip Daniel Rogers deliberately crashed his single-engine [[Beechcraft Bonanza]] [[light aircraft]] into the south side of [[Stone Mountain]] in [[AtlantaStone Mountain, Georgia|Stone Mountain]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], United States.

|Stolen [[Cessna 172 Skyhawk|Cessna{{br}}172S Skyhawk]]

| On May 17 the ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' reported that investigators believe the airliner was intentionally crashed. There was no response to repeated calls from air traffic controllers, Chinese investigators found no major safety problems, and China Eastern resumed flying the Boeing 737-800 in April after grounding its fleet for less than a month. Cockpit intrusion was also considered, but China Eastern said it was unlikely, as no emergency signal had been received. Official investigation still open / ongoing.

|After having killed three passengers, the hijackerhijackers intended to crash the aircraft into the [[Eiffel Tower]] in Paris. When the aircraft reached [[Marseille]], a counterterror unit of the French [[National Gendarmerie]] ([[National Gendarmerie Intervention Group|GIGN]]) raided the aircraft and killed all four hijackers.

|Aircraft hijacked and crashed into the South Tower of the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] by hijackers as part of [[September 11, 2001 attacks]].

|Aircraft hijacked and crashed into [[the Pentagon]] by hijackers as part of [[September 11, 2001 attacks]].

|Aircraft hijacked as part of [[September 11, 2001 attacks]]. Passengers revolted against the hijackers, resulting in the jet crashing in [[Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania|Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania]]. Although all aboard died, the passengers prevented the hijackers from reaching their target, thought to be the [[White House]] or the [[United States Capitol|Capitol Building]].