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]
During World War II, the Russian aviator Nikolai Gastello was the first Soviet pilot credited with a (later disputed) "firetaran" 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.[9] 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".[10]
In the following years there were more suicide attacks; the best known by military aviators are the attacks from the Empire of Japan, called kamikaze, against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II. These attacks were designed to destroy warships more effectively than was possible with conventional attacks; between October 1944 and 1945, 3,860 kamikaze pilots committed suicide in this manner.[11]
List of declared or suspected pilot suicides
This list excludes World War II suicide attacks on ground and naval targets (see section above).
Vladimir Serkov attempted to pilot his Antonov An-2 plane into his ex-wife's parents' apartment in Novosibirsk where she and his two-year-old son were visiting; 4 residents were killed (his wife survived). See An-2 incidents.
After an argument with his wife and mother-in-law, Brazilian pilot Mauro Milhomem attempted to crash his Embraer EMB 721 Sertanejo, which was also carrying four passengers, into a hotel owned by a family member after he discovered that his wife had cheated on him. He failed to hit the hotel, and instead hit several objects before crashing the plane into another building. His wife killed herself a few days later. In total, seven people were killed and four were wounded.
Bob Richards was having marital and other personal problems. He deliberately crashed his Piper Cherokee single-engine airplane onto the ground. He was alone in the plane, and the only fatality.
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
The United States' NTSB ruled the incident a suicide, but the Indonesian NTSC listed the cause as undetermined. A private investigation blamed a flaw in the plane's rudder.
Pilot commandeered and then crashed an Air Botswana aircraft into a group of aircraft at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport in Gaborone, Botswana, destroying both the plane as well as the parked aircraft at their stands, effectively crippling the airline as they lost all their operational airliners during the incident.
After the captain left the cockpit, the cockpit voice recorder recorded the relief first officer Gameel Al-Batouti praying, as he disengaged the autopilot and shut down the engines, causing the plane to go enter a dive and crash into the Atlantic Ocean. The reasons for his actions were not determined.[38][39][40] 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.[41]
Crashed into Bank of America Plaza. The pilot, teen Charles J. Bishop, credited and praised Osama bin Laden for September 11, 2001 attacks in his suicide note.
Andrew Joseph Stack III deliberately crashed his single-engine Piper Dakotalight aircraft into Building I of the Echelon complex housing IRS offices in Austin, Texas, United States.
A suspended SkyWest Airlines pilot, under investigation for the stabbing death of a woman in his home, stole a Canadair CRJ200ER regional jet at St. George Regional Airport in Utah. The aircraft struck the terminal building while leaving the gate and the pilot taxied into a parking lot at high speed. He then fatally shot himself inside the aircraft.
The pilot took off in a Cessna 172M from Shannon Airport in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The pilot's fiancée summoned police, saying that she and the pilot had an altercation before the flight, and that he intended to kill himself. The aircraft went into a steep dive and crashed northwest of the runway.
The flight data recorder and CVR have never been recovered. Several possible explanations for the disappearance of the aircraft have been offered. A leading theory amongst experts is that either the pilot or the co-pilot committed an act of murder–suicide.[53] A Canadian air crash investigator also believes the crash was a murder-suicide.[54] Former Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, has also stated that Malaysian officials always believed the crash to have been caused by a suicidal pilot.[55][56] An investigation by the Malaysian government asserted that the plane was manually flown off course. The lead investigator was quoted as saying that the turns made by MH370 were "not because of anomalies in the mechanical system. The turn back was made not under autopilot but under manual control... We can confirm the turn back was not because of anomalies in the mechanical system".[57]
Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, previously treated for depression and suicidal tendencies, locked the captain out of the cockpit before crashing the plane into a mountain near Prads-Haute-Bléone, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France.
Jordanian student pilot Feras Freitekh was killed and his instructor injured when their Piper PA-34 crashed into a utility pole during the landing approach in East Hartford, Connecticut. The instructor said there was an argument and a struggle for control, and investigators concluded the crash was a suicide. The crash took place outside the headquarters of aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation ruled out terrorism due to a lack of evidence.
Experienced pilot Xin Rong departed from Ann Arbor, Michigan, in a Cessna 172P and disappeared. The aircraft was found wrecked late that night near Manitouwadge, Ontario, with a door open, but no human remains nor footprints in the snow were found. Investigators concluded that Rong deliberately jumped out en route and the Cessna later ran out of fuel. In October 2017, he was declared dead. His skeletal remains were found in September 2018 in a wooded area in Chapin Township, Michigan, and identified in December 2021 through DNA analysis and dental records.
A man who was released after arrest for domestic assault charges stole an aircraft then crashed at his own home in Payson, Utah, in an apparent attempt to murder his spouse. The man, who was an experienced pilot, was killed while no one in the house was harmed.
A man who was an uninvited guest at a private party earlier that day crashed the airplane into a clubhouse at Matsieng Air Strip, Botswana. The clubhouse was evacuated prior to the crash and the perpetrator was the sole fatality.
A man who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and was told that he had three months left to live crashed the aircraft into a field near Ashford, UK.
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.
The first officer (FO) of a commercial skydiving flight performed a hard landing, breaking off the right main landing gear, and immediately took off again. The captain declared an emergency and diverted to a larger airport. While en route over Raleigh, North Carolina, the "visibly upset" FO walked to rear of the aircraft saying that "he was going to be sick and needed air". The captain saw the FO lower the rear ramp and jump from the aircraft without a parachute and without attempting to grab the bar above the ramp.
Passenger John J. Divivo shot both pilots, but the first officer took Divivo's gun and shot him before succumbing to his own wounds. Despite gunshot wounds in both arms, the captain landed the aircraft safely. Divivo subsequently hanged himself while awaiting trial.
Samuel Byck intended to crash into the White House in the hope of killing U.S. PresidentRichard Nixon. He killed a police officer and hijacked the aircraft, but the aircraft never left the gate. Byck shot the co-pilot before being wounded by police in a shootout and committing suicide.
The plane was hijacked by David A. Burke, a disgruntled former employee of USAir, who is believed to have shot his former boss, both pilots, a flight attendant and the chief pilot of Pacific Southwest Airlines before crashing the plane near Cayucos, California, United States.
The plane suffered a hijack attempt by Raimundo Nonato Alves da Conceição, who planned to attack the Planalto Palace and kill the then Brazilian President José Sarney. He was stopped by the commander Fernando Murilo de Lima e Silva, but killed the co-pilot Salvador Evangelista.
Deadheading Federal Express pilot Auburn Calloway smuggled weapons aboard and attempted to hijack the cargo jet and crash it in an insurance fraud scheme for his family's benefit. Despite severe injuries inflicted by Calloway, the crew subdued him using a number of techniques including high-speed aerobatic maneuvers, and landed safely.
After having killed three passengers, the hijackers intended to crash the aircraft into the Eiffel Tower in Paris. When the aircraft reached Marseille, a counterterror unit of the French National Gendarmerie (GIGN) raided the aircraft and killed all four hijackers.
A passenger grabbed the controls of a Cessna 208 Caravan on approach to Aniak Airport and placed the aircraft in a dive. He was restrained by other passengers and the pilot regained control and landed safely. The hijacker was arrested by Alaska State Troopers and admitted that the incident was an attempted murder-suicide.
A 2016 study published in Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance analyzed suicide and homicide-suicide events involving aircraft. They state, "In aeromedical literature and in the media, these very different events are both described as pilot suicide, but in psychiatry they are considered separate events with distinct risk factors." In the years 1999–2015 the study found 65 cases of pilot suicide (compared to 195 pilot errors) and six cases of passengers who jumped from aircraft. There were 18 cases of homicide-suicide, totaling 732 deaths; of these events, 13 were perpetrated by pilots. Compared to non-aviation samples, a large percentage of pilot suicides in this study were homicide-suicides (17%).[85][inconsistent]
Prevention
U.S. regulations require at least two flight crew members to be in the cockpit at all times for safety reasons, to be able to help in any medical or other emergency, including intervening if a crew member tries to crash the plane.[86][87] Following the deliberate crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 on March 24, 2015, some European, Canadian and Japanese airlines adopted a two-in-cockpit policy[88][89] as did all Australian airlines for aircraft with 50 or more passenger seats.[90]
^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."
^ 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.
^Jane Onyanga-Omara, January 19, 2015, USA Today, No evidence of terrorism in AirAsia crashArchived 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 flightArchived 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...."
^Wolochatiuk, Tim (February 15, 2015), What Happened to Malaysian Flight 370? (Documentary, Crime, Drama, History), Stephen Bogaert, Von Flores, Adriano Sobretodo Jr, Adrian Nguyen, Galaxie Productions, NF Inc., archived from the original on April 2, 2021, retrieved December 4, 2020
^Godlewski, Meg (August 16, 2022). "NTSB Preliminary Report Sheds Light on Copilot Mid-Air Departure". Flying. Retrieved August 17, 2022. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the copilot of a skydiving aircraft that made an emergency landing July 29 at Raleigh, North Carolina, intentionally departed the aircraft in flight without a parachute. According to the surviving pilot, the copilot was upset about the hard landing that damaged the airplane.
^Phelps, Mark (August 16, 2022). "NTSB Preliminary Report Includes PIC Testimony In Fatal Copilot Plunge". AVweb. Archived from the original on August 17, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2022. According to the NTSB report, "...the SIC lowered the ramp in the back of the airplane, indicating that felt like he was going to be sick and needed air. The PIC stated that the SIC then got up from his seat, removed his headset, apologized, and departed the airplane via the aft ramp door. The PIC stated that there was a bar one could grab about six feet above the ramp; however, he did not witness the SIC grab the bar before exiting the airplane."{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^Peter Taylor (June 18, 2008). "The Paris Plot". Age of Terror. BBC World Service. Archived from the original on February 1, 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009. The plan foreshadows Osama bin Ladin's holy war on the West. Seven years before 9/11, the hijackers were planning to fly to Paris and crash the aircraft with over 200 passengers on board into the heart of the city.
^ abcd"We Have Some Planes". National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. July 2004. Archived from the original on May 11, 2008. Retrieved May 25, 2008.
^Kenedi, Christopher; Friedman, Susan Hatters; Watson, Dougal; Preitner, Claude (April 2016). "Suicide and Murder-Suicide Involving Aircraft". Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance. 87 (4). Aerospace Medical Association: 388–396. doi:10.3357/AMHP.4474.2016. PMID27026123.
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