Suicide by pilot

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]

This Airbus A320, operating as Germanwings Flight 9525, was deliberately crashed into the Alps by a suicidal co-pilot on March 24, 2015, killing all 150 people on board.

United Airlines Flight 175 was hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists, leading to it being deliberately crashed into 2 World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks.

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]

World War II suicide attacks

Main article: Kamikaze

Impact of two kamikazes on the USS Bunker Hill

During World War II, the Russian aviator Nikolai Gastello was the first Soviet pilot credited with a (later disputed) "fire 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.^[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).

Legend:

	Confirmed suicide
	Believed to be suicide
	Possible suicide
	Attempted suicide halted

By pilots in control of whole flight

Crash date		Flown by	Flight Type	Flight	Fatalities	Theories	Aircraft	Refs
	Mar 27, 1972	Pilot	General aviation	Stolen aircraft	1 (pilot)	Timofei Shovkunov crashed an Aeroflot Antonov An-2 into his own apartment in Voroshilovgrad. He was the only casualty.		[12][13]
	Mar 23, 1976	Pilot	General aviation	1976 Tokyo suicide attack	1 (pilot)	Movie actor Mitsuyasu Maeno attempted a Kamikaze attack against right-wing political figure Yoshio Kodama in Tokyo using a rented Piper 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 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.		[15][16]
	Jan 5, 1977	Pilot	General aviation	Connellan air disaster	5 (pilot, 4 on the ground)	Colin Richard Forman, a disgruntled former employee of Connellan Airways (Connair), flew a Beechcraft Baron into the Connair complex at the Alice 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 at Bogota El Dorado Airport stole a SATENA Hawker-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 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.		[20]
	Feb 9, 1982	Pilot	Commercial flight	JAL Flight 350	24	Pilot engaged number 2 and 3 engines' thrust-reversers in flight. The 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.		[21]
	Sep 15, 1982	Pilot	General aviation	Bankstown Airport incident	1	Philip Henryk Wozniak, a student pilot, stole a SOCATA Tobago and killed himself by deliberately crashing into Bankstown Airport in the City 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 from Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield, Missouri.	1	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.		[27]
	Jul 13, 1994	Pilot	Military	Stolen aircraft	1	A Russian air force engineer stole an Antonov An-26 at Kubinka 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 by Frank Eugene Corder on the White 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. 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		[32] [33] [34]
	Dec 19, 1997	Pilot	Commercial flight	SilkAir Flight 185	104	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.		[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 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.		[37]
	Oct 31, 1999	First officer	Commercial flight	EgyptAir Flight 990	217	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 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]		[42] [43]
	Jan 5, 2002	Pilot	General aviation	2002 Tampa airplane crash	1	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.		[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, a Rockwell Commander 112, and crashed into the Pirelli Tower in Milan, Italy.		[45]
	Sep 16, 2003	Pilot	General aviation	Stone Mountain	1	Phillip Daniel Rogers deliberately crashed his single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza light aircraft into the south side of Stone Mountain in Stone Mountain, Georgia, United States.		[46]
	Jul 22, 2005	Pilot	General aviation	2005 Berlin airplane crash	1	A 39-year old pilot deliberately crashed his own light aircraft, a Platzer Kiebitz, in a field right in front of the Reichstag in Berlin.		[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-engine Piper Dakota light aircraft into Building I of the Echelon complex housing IRS offices in Austin, Texas, United States.		[48]
	Jul 17, 2012	Pilot	Stolen commercial aircraft	Stolen aircraft	1	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.		[49] [50] [51]
	Jul 22, 2013	Pilot	General aviation	Shannon Airport Cessna 172 crash	1	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.		[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 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]
	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 near Prads-Haute-Bléone, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France.		[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 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.		[59]
	Mar 15, 2017	Pilot	General aviation	Manitouwadge Cessna 172 crash	1	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.		[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 a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 from Sea-Tac International Airport and performed aerobatic maneuvers over Sea-Tac and Puget Sound whilst being pursued by fighter jets. Though the air traffic controller attempted to convince Russell to land the plane safely, Russell instead crashed the plane into Ketron Island in the South Puget Sound.		[63] [64]
	Aug 13, 2018	Pilot	Stolen private aircraft	Stolen Cessna 525 CitationJet	1	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.		[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 at Matsieng 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	Stolen Cessna 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 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.		[69] [70]
	Jul 29, 2022	First officer	Commercial flight	CASA C-212 Aviocar	1	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.		[71][72]
	Aug 12, 2024	Pilot	General aviation	Stolen Robinson R-44	1	A man under the influence stole a Robinson R-44 helicopter from a hangar at Cairns Airport in Australia and crashed it into a Hilton hotel, killing himself and injuring several others.		[73]

By hijackers

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 the White House in the hope of killing U.S. President Richard 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 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.		[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 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.		[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 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.		[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 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.		[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 the World Trade Center by hijackers as part of the September 11, 2001 attacks.		[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 the World Trade Center by hijackers as part of September 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 into the Pentagon by hijackers as part of September 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 of September 11, 2001 attacks. Passengers revolted against the hijackers, resulting in the jet crashing in Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania. Although all aboard died, the passengers prevented the hijackers from reaching their target, thought to be the White House or the Capitol Building.		[82]
	July 7, 2021	Passenger	Commercial flight	Ryan Air Services flight	0	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.		[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 at Portland International Airport, pilot later arrested and charged.		[85]

Published studies

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%).^{[86][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.^[87][88] Following the deliberate crash of Germanwings 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]

See also

• Aviation accidents and incidents
• Aviation safety
• List of aircraft hijackings, for instances where a hijacker crashed the aircraft
• Vehicle ramming attack
• Mental health in aviation
• Suicide by cop
• John Verrept, the first person in history to commit suicide with a plane