Suicide by aircraft or aircraft-assisted suicide is an aviation event in which a pilot or another person onboard deliberately crashes or attempts to crash an aircraft as an act of suicide, with or without the intention of causing harm to passengers on board or civilians on the ground. If others are killed, it may be considered an act of murder–suicide or mass murder.Charles Bremner (Paris), March 26, 2015, The Times, Locked door boosts pilot suicide theory. Retrieved March 26, 2015 It has been confirmed as the cause in several commercial and private aircraft crashes. Determining a motive can be challenging and sometimes impossible for investigators to conclude, especially if the suspected pilot sabotages or disengages their in-flight recorder or in-flight tracker. Most cases of suicide by pilot involve general aviation in small aircraft, where 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 concealed their mental illness histories from regulators.
Investigators do not classify aircraft incidents as suicides unless there is compelling evidence, which may include suicide notes, past suicide attempts, explicit threats of suicide, or a documented history of alcohol abuse, drug addiction, depression, or other forms of mental illness. One study analyzing pilot suicides between 2002 and 2013 identified eight cases as definite suicides, and five cases that may have been suicides. 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.March 2015, The Independent, ... Co-pilot of crashed Germanwings flight 9525 'wanted to destroy plane in suicide and mass murder mission' Jane Onyanga-Omara, January 19, 2015, USA Today, No evidence of terrorism in AirAsia crash . 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 . 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...."
A Bloomberg News study 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. The study also found that such deaths increased over the period from 1991 to 2020, while deaths due to accidental causes significantly decreased.
World War II suicide attacks
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. Another early example took place during the attack on Pearl Harbor where First Lieutenant Fusata Iida, commander of the Japanese 3rd Air Group, told his men before taking off, that if his aircraft were to become badly damaged he would crash it into a "worthy enemy target".Axell, p. 44.
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 and , 3,860 kamikaze pilots died by suicide in this manner.
List of declared or suspected aircraft suicides This list excludes military and wartime suicide attacks on enemy targets (see section above).
By pilots in control of whole flight Classification Crash date Flownby FlightType Flight Fatalities Summary Aircraft Refs Confirmed suicide PilotGeneralaviation Stolenaircraft1 Samuel A. Wong, a U.S. Air Force private wanted by Honolulu police for shooting his wife, stole a Piper J-3 Cub from the Haleiwa airfield and crashed it into the ocean off Makapuʻu Point on Oʻahu. Wong was the only person on the aircraft. Confirmed suicide PilotGeneralaviation 1948 Idlewild Airport incident2 Jesus Meneau Monleon stabbed the passenger before shooting himself, causing the plane to lose control and crash into Jamaica Bay. Confirmed suicide PilotGeneralaviation 1952 Avenger Field crash1 A 23-year-old crashed a plane into a gravel pit in Sweetwater, Texas, United States. Confirmed suicide PilotGeneralaviation Stolenaircraft1 Timofei Shovkunov crashed an Aeroflot Antonov An-2 into his own apartment in Voroshilovgrad. He was the only casualty. Confirmed suicide PilotGeneralaviation 1973 Cockshot Wood plane crash1 Peter Martin flew his Beagle Pup into the ground in Cumberland, England. Confirmed suicide PilotGeneralaviation 1976 Tokyo suicide attack1 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. Confirmed suicide PilotGeneralaviation Stolenaircraft5(pilot,4 on theground)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; four residents were killed, but his wife survived. See An-2 incidents. Confirmed suicide PilotGeneralaviation Connellan air disaster(pilot,4 on theground)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. Confirmed suicide PilotStolen commercial aircraft Stolenaircraft(pilot,32 on theground)An aircraft mechanic working at Beijing Xijiao Airport stole a CAAC Hawker-Siddeley Trident and crashed it into a factory, killing 32. The motive is suspected to be revenge against the Chinese Air Force due the perceived unfair treatment he received during his service. Confirmed suicide PilotStolen commercial aircraft Stolenaircraft(pilot,3 on theground)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 three. Confirmed suicide PilotGeneralaviation Barra do Garças air disaster7(pilot, 4 passengers,2 people on the ground)Brazilian pilot Mauro Milhomem attempted to crash his Embraer EMB 721 Sertanejo, 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 committed suicide a few days later. In total, seven people were killed and four were wounded.Cinco mortos no choque do "Sertanejo" , Folha de S.Paulo (June 3, 1980) Morrem feridos no acidente , Folha de S.Paulo (June 5, 1980)