An analysis of cases in which pilots used their aircraft to commit suicide or murder-suicide reveals no identifiable pattern of motivations that could be used to help identify those most likely to perpetrate such events, according to a team of aeromedical researchers.1
Researchers from New Zealand and the United States reviewed medical and aviation safety databases, conducted internet searches and examined relevant articles to identify 65 cases of pilot suicide and 13 cases of murder-suicide committed by pilots during a 60-year period that ended April 17, 2015.2 They also identified six cases of passengers who jumped from aircraft and five cases in which people other than the pilots used aircraft in murder-suicide events — these people typically were passengers who disabled the pilots.
Generalizations about causes of suicide or murder-suicide involving an aircraft as the method, or weapon, were difficult, the researchers said in a report on their work, publish…
