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Suicide by pilot is anaviation event in which apilot deliberately crashes or attempts to crash anaircraft as asuicide 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 ofmurder–suicide.[1] It is suspected to have been a possible cause in severalcommercial flight crashes and has been confirmed as the cause in other instances. Determining themotives of pilots can be challenging for crash investigators, as pilots may intentionally disablerecording 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 includesuicide 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 ofterrorism.[6][7][8]
ABloomberg 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 involvegeneral 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 theirmental illness histories from regulators.[5]
DuringWorld War II, the Russian aviatorNikolai 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 theattack on Pearl Harbor whereFirst 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 moresuicide attacks; the best known bymilitary aviators are the attacks from theEmpire of Japan, calledkamikaze, againstAllied naval vessels in the closing stages of thePacific campaign of World War II. These attacks were designed to destroywarships more effectively than was possible with conventional attacks; betweenOctober 1944 and1945, 3,860 kamikaze pilots committed suicide in this manner.[11]
This list excludesWorld War II suicide attacks on ground and naval targets (see section above).
Legend:
| Confirmed suicide | |
| Believed to be suicide | |
| Possible suicide | |
| Attempted suicide halted |
| Crash date | Flown by | Flight Type | Flight | Fatalities | Theories | Aircraft | Refs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 27, 1972 | Pilot | General aviation | Stolen aircraft | 1 (pilot) | Timofei Shovkunov crashed anAeroflotAntonov An-2 into his own apartment inVoroshilovgrad. He was the only casualty. |  | [12][13] | |
| Mar 23, 1976 | Pilot | General aviation | 1976 Tokyo suicide attack | 1 (pilot) | Movie actorMitsuyasu Maeno attempted aKamikaze attack against right-wing political figureYoshio Kodama in Tokyo using a rentedPiper PA-28 Cherokee; Kodama survived unhurt. | [14] | ||
| Sep 26, 1976 | Pilot | General aviation | Stolen aircraft | 5 (pilot, 4 on the ground) | Vladimir Serkov attempted to pilot hisAntonov An-2 plane into his ex-wife's parents' apartment inNovosibirsk where she and his two-year-old son were visiting; 4 residents were killed (his wife survived). SeeAn-2 incidents. | | [15][16] | |
| Jan 5, 1977 | Pilot | General aviation | Connellan air disaster | 5 (pilot, 4 on the ground) | Colin Richard Forman, a disgruntled former employee ofConnellan Airways (Connair), flew aBeechcraft Baron into the Connair complex at theAlice Springs Airport,Northern Territory, Australia. |  | [17] | |
| Aug 22, 1979 | Pilot | General aviation | Stolen aircraft | 4 (pilot, 3 on the ground) | A 23-year-old aircraft mechanic working atBogota El Dorado Airport stole aSATENAHawker-Siddeley HS-748 and crashed it into a Bogota suburb, killing 3. | [18][19] | ||
| Jun 1, 1980 | Pilot | General aviation | Barra do Garças air disaster | 7 (pilot, 4 passengers, 2 on ground) | After an argument with his wife and mother-in-law, Brazilian pilot Mauro Milhomem attempted to crash hisEmbraer 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. | [20] | ||
| Feb 9, 1982 | Pilot | Commercial flight | JAL Flight 350 | 24 | Pilot engaged number 2 and 3engines'thrust-reversers in flight. Thefirst officer andflight engineer were able to partially regain control, but the aircraft crashed intoTokyo Bay, killing 24 of the 174 people on board. |  | [21] | |
| Sep 15, 1982 | Pilot | General aviation | Bankstown Airport incident | 1 | Philip Henryk Wozniak, a student pilot, stole aSOCATA Tobago and killed himself by deliberately crashing intoBankstown Airport in theCity of Bankstown,New South Wales, Australia. Two aircraft on the ground were also destroyed. | [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] | ||
| Mar 23, 1994 | Pilot | General aviation | Unscheduled solo flight fromSpirit of St. Louis Airport inChesterfield, Missouri. | 1 | Bob Richards was having marital and other personal problems. He deliberately crashed hisPiper Cherokee single-engine airplane onto the ground. He was alone in the plane, and the only fatality. |  | [27] | |
| Jul 13, 1994 | Pilot | Military | Stolen aircraft | 1 | A Russian air force engineer stole anAntonov An-26 atKubinka air base outside Moscow. He circled the aircraft until it ran out of fuel and crashed. | [28] | ||
| Aug 21, 1994 | Pilot | Commercial flight | Royal Air Maroc Flight 630 | 44 | Crashed intentionally by pilot |  | [29] [30] | |
| Sep 12, 1994 | Pilot | General aviation | Stolen aircraft | 1 | Crashed intentionally byFrank Eugene Corder on theWhite House south lawn. |  | [31] | |
| Apr 2, 1997 | Pilot | Military | Craig D. Button incident | 1 | While on a training mission, Button flew off course and ceased radio contact. TheA-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 | [32] [33] [34] | ||
| Dec 19, 1997 | Pilot | Commercial flight | SilkAir Flight 185 | 104 | The United States'NTSB ruled the incident a suicide, but the IndonesianNTSC listed the cause as undetermined. A private investigation blamed a flaw in the plane's rudder. |  | [35] | |
| Sep 6, 1998 | Pilot | General aviation | Stolen aircraft | 1 | Crashed intentionally by off duty flight instructor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. |  | [36] | |
| Oct 11, 1999 | Pilot | Stolen commercial aircraft | 1999 Air Botswana incident | 1 | Pilot commandeered and then crashed an Air Botswana aircraft into a group of aircraft atSir Seretse Khama International Airport inGaborone, 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. |  | [37] | |
| Oct 31, 1999 | First officer | Commercial flight | EgyptAir Flight 990 | 217 | After the captain left the cockpit, thecockpit voice recorder recorded the relief first officerGameel Al-Batouti praying, as he disengaged the autopilot and shut down the engines, causing the plane to enter adive and crash into theAtlantic 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] |  | [42] | |
| Jan 5, 2002 | Pilot | General aviation | 2002 Tampa airplane crash | 1 (pilot, damaged an office) | Crashed intoBank of America Plaza. The pilot, teen Charles J. Bishop, credited and praisedOsama bin Laden for September 11, 2001 attacks in his suicide note. |  | [44] | |
| Apr 18, 2002 | Pilot | General aviation | 2002 Pirelli Tower airplane crash | 3 (pilot, 2 on ground) | 65-year old Luigi Fasulo piloted his aircraft, aRockwell Commander 112, and crashed into thePirelli Tower inMilan, Italy. | [45] | ||
| Sep 16, 2003 | Pilot | General aviation | Stone Mountain | 1 | Phillip Daniel Rogers deliberately crashed his single-engineBeechcraft Bonanzalight aircraft into the south side ofStone Mountain inStone Mountain,Georgia, United States. | [46] | ||
| Jul 22, 2005 | Pilot | General aviation | 2005 Berlin airplane crash | 1 | A 39-year old pilot deliberately crashed his ownlight aircraft, aPlatzer Kiebitz, in a field right in front of theReichstag inBerlin. | [47] | ||
| Feb 18, 2010 | Pilot | General aviation | 2010 Austin suicide attack | 2 (pilot, 1 on the ground) | Andrew Joseph Stack III deliberately crashed his single-enginePiper Dakotalight aircraft into Building I of the Echelon complex housingIRS offices inAustin, Texas, United States. | | [48] | |
| Jul 17, 2012 | Pilot | Stolen commercial aircraft | Stolen aircraft | 1 | A suspendedSkyWest Airlines pilot, under investigation for the stabbing death of a woman in his home, stole aCanadair CRJ200ER regional jet atSt. 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. | [49] [50] [51] | ||
| Jul 22, 2013 | Pilot | General aviation | Shannon Airport Cessna 172 crash | 1 | The pilot took off in aCessna 172M fromShannon Airport inFredericksburg, 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. | [52] | ||
| Nov 29, 2013 | Pilot | Commercial flight | LAM Mozambique Airlines Flight 470 | 33 | The pilot intentionally crashed the aircraft. The co-pilot was locked out of the cockpit, according to the voice recorder. |  | [29] | |
| Mar 8, 2014 | Pilot | Commercial flight | Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 | 239 | 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 ofmurder–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] | _9M-MRO_-_MSN_28420_404_(9272090094).jpg) | ||
| Mar 24, 2015 | First officer | Commercial flight | Germanwings Flight 9525 | 150 | 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 nearPrads-Haute-Bléone, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France. | .jpg) | [58] | |
| Oct 11, 2016 | Student pilot | General aviation | East Hartford Piper PA-34 Seneca crash | 1 | Jordanian student pilot Feras Freitekh was killed and his instructor injured when theirPiper PA-34 crashed into a utility pole during the landing approach inEast 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 manufacturerPratt & Whitney, but theFederal Bureau of Investigation ruled out terrorism due to a lack of evidence. | [59] | ||
| Mar 15, 2017 | Pilot | General aviation | Manitouwadge Cessna 172 crash | 1 | Experienced pilot Xin Rong departed fromAnn Arbor, Michigan, in a Cessna 172P and disappeared. The aircraft was found wrecked late that night nearManitouwadge,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 inChapin Township, Michigan, and identified in December 2021 through DNA analysis and dental records. | [60] [61] [62] | ||
| Aug 10, 2018 | Ground service employee | Stolen commercial aircraft | 2018 Horizon Air Q400 incident | 1 | Horizon Air ground service employee Richard "Beebo" Russell took off without authorization in aBombardier Dash 8 Q400 fromSea-Tac International Airport and performed aerobatic maneuvers over Sea-Tac andPuget Sound whilst being pursued by fighter jets. Though theair traffic controller attempted to convince Russell to land the plane safely, Russell instead crashed the plane intoKetron Island in the South Puget Sound. | .jpg) | [63] [64] | |
| Aug 13, 2018 | Pilot | Stolen private aircraft | StolenCessna 525 CitationJet | 1 | A man who was released after arrest for domestic assault charges stole an aircraft then crashed at his own home inPayson, 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. | [65] | ||
| Mar 23, 2019 | Pilot | General aviation | Beechcraft B200 Super King Air | 1 | A man who was an uninvited guest at a private party earlier that day crashed the airplane into a clubhouse atMatsieng Air Strip,Botswana. The clubhouse was evacuated prior to the crash and the perpetrator was the sole fatality. | [66] | ||
| Sep 10, 2021 | Pilot | General aviation | StolenCessna 172S Skyhawk | 1 | 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. | [67][68] | ||
| Mar 21, 2022 | Pilot | Commercial flight | China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 | 132 | On May 17 theWall 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. | _B-1791_HKG_(cropped).jpg) | [69] [70] | |
| Jul 29, 2022 | First officer | Commercial flight | CASA C-212 Aviocar | 1 | The first officer (FO) of a commercialskydiving flight performed ahard landing, breaking off the right main landing gear, and immediately took off again. The captain declared anemergency and diverted to a larger airport. While en route overRaleigh, 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. | [71][72] | ||
| Aug 12, 2024 | Pilot | General aviation | StolenRobinson R-44 | 1 | A man under the influence stole a Robinson R-44 helicopter from a hangar atCairns Airport inAustralia and crashed it into aHilton hotel, killing himself and injuring several others. | [73] | ||
| Crash date | Attacker | Flight Type | Flight | Fatalities | Theories | Aircraft | Refs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 7, 1964 | Passenger | Commercial flight | Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 | 44 | Francisco Paula Gonzales, a depressed man in debt, shot both pilots before shooting himself, causing the plane to crash. All 44 people on board died. |  | [74] | |
| March 17, 1970 | Passenger | Commercial flight | Eastern Air Lines Shuttle Flight 1320 | 1 (first officer) | 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. |  | [75][76] | |
| February 22, 1974 | Terrorist hijacker | Commercial flight | Delta Air Lines Flight 523 | 3 (hijacker, co-pilot, police officer) | Samuel Byck intended to crash into theWhite House in the hope of killingU.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. | [77] | ||
| December 7, 1987 | Former employee | Commercial flight | Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 | 43 (all; five believed shot before impact) | The plane washijacked 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. | .jpg) | [78] | |
| September 29, 1988 | Passenger | Commercial flight | VASP Flight 375 | 1 (co-pilot) | The plane suffered a hijack attempt by Raimundo Nonato Alves da Conceição, who planned to attack thePlanalto Palace and kill the then Brazilian PresidentJosé Sarney. He was stopped by the commander Fernando Murilo de Lima e Silva, but killed the co-pilot Salvador Evangelista. | .jpg) | [79] | |
| April 7, 1994 | Employee and off duty pilot | Commercial flight | Federal Express Flight 705 | 0 (4 injured) | Deadheading Federal Express pilot Auburn Calloway smuggled weapons aboard and attempted to hijack the cargo jet and crash it in aninsurance fraud scheme for his family's benefit. Despite severe injuries inflicted by Calloway, the crew subdued him using a number of techniques including high-speedaerobatic maneuvers, and landed safely. | %2c_FedEx_JP7375978.jpg) | [80] | |
| December 24, 1994 | Terrorist hijackers | Commercial flight | Air France Flight 8969 | 7 (all 4 hijackers, 3 passengers) | After having killed three passengers, the hijackers intended to crash the aircraft into theEiffel Tower in Paris. When the aircraft reachedMarseille, a counterterror unit of the FrenchNational Gendarmerie (GIGN) raided the aircraft and killed all four hijackers. |  | [81] | |
| September 11, 2001 | Terrorist hijackers | Commercial flight | American Airlines Flight 11 | 1,390 (87 passengers and crew, 5 hijackers, about 1,303 on the ground) | Aircraft hijacked and crashed into the North Tower of theWorld Trade Center by hijackers as part of theSeptember 11, 2001 attacks. | .jpg) | [82] | |
| September 11, 2001 | Terrorist hijackers | Commercial flight | United Airlines Flight 175 | 1,363 (60 passengers and crew, 5 hijackers, about 1,303 on the ground) | Aircraft hijacked and crashed into the South Tower of theWorld Trade Center by hijackers as part ofSeptember 11, 2001 attacks. |  | [82] | |
| September 11, 2001 | Terrorist hijackers | Commercial flight | American Airlines Flight 77 | 189 (59 passengers and crew, 5 hijackers, 125 on the ground) | Aircraft hijacked and crashed intothe Pentagon by hijackers as part ofSeptember 11, 2001 attacks. |  | [82] | |
| September 11, 2001 | Terrorist hijackers | Commercial flight | United Airlines Flight 93 | 44 (40 passengers and crew, 4 hijackers) | Aircraft hijacked as part ofSeptember 11, 2001 attacks. Passengers revolted against the hijackers, resulting in the jet crashing inStonycreek Township, Pennsylvania. Although all aboard died, the passengers prevented the hijackers from reaching their target, thought to be theWhite House or theCapitol Building. |  | [82] | |
| July 7, 2021 | Passenger | Commercial flight | Ryan Air Services flight | 0 | A passenger grabbed the controls of aCessna 208 Caravan on approach toAniak 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 byAlaska State Troopers and admitted that the incident was an attempted murder-suicide. | [83][84] | ||
| Oct 22, 2023 | Employee and off duty pilot | Commercial flight | Alaska Airlines Flight 2059 | 0 | Deadheading pilot attempted to turn off engines. The flight was forced to divert atPortland International Airport, pilot later arrested and charged. |  | [85] | |
A 2016 study published inAerospace 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%).[86][inconsistent]
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.[87][88] Following the deliberate crash ofGermanwings Flight 9525 on March 24, 2015, some European, Canadian and Japanese airlines adopted a two-in-cockpit policy[89][90] as did all Australian airlines for aircraft with 50 or more passenger seats.[91]
...If this was a case of "suicide-by-pilot", why do we still know so little about the motive? ...
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.
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)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.