Disturbing history of pilots who crashed planes deliberately

LAHORE: French prosecutors believe that co-pilot of the ill-fated Germanwings Flight 9525, which had crashed on March 24 in the 1200-kilometre long European mountain range system of Alps, had deliberately brought down the plane, adding to the list of such global incidents where pilots have intentionally crashed airplanes under their control during the last four decades.
Issued a flying certificate by the European Aviation Safety Agency, the 28-year old Germanwing co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, had locked the chief pilot out of the cockpit, ultimately resulting in the demise of all the 150 passengers aboard.
The voice recorder indicated that co-pilot Lubitz had been breathing up until the moment of the crash, suggesting he meant to destroy the plane. Although pilot suicides are very rare but they do happen occasionally, as is evident from a 2014 Federal Aviation Administration report, which states that eight out of 2,758 fatal aviation accidents between 2003 and 2012 were suicides.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, an operating mode of the US Department of Transportation, all pilots involved in this context were male, with a median age of 46. In seven of the eight crashes, the pilot was the sole occupant of the downed aircraft. Four of them tested positive for alcohol, and two of them were positive for antidepressants.
Apart from the September 11, 2001 attacks, there have been quite a few instances where pilots appeared to have committed suicide while carrying dozens or hundreds of passengers on board, though most of these incidents didn’t appear to involve overt terrorism.
Here follows a list of such incidents where pilots had crashed planes deliberately:
On November 29, 2013, Mozambique Airlines Flight TM470 had crashed in Namibia, killing 33 people on board. Investigators initially couldn’t figure out why the plane had crashed, since the weather was perfect for flying. The plane was flying from Mozambique to Angola. The unfortunate plane’s black box recorder had revealed that the co-pilot had left the cockpit for the bathroom only to find that the door was locked when he returned.
The pilot had then altered the autopilot to bring it to below ground level and manually switched it to maximum speed. Someone was pounding on the cockpit door as the plane went down. The pilot never once called for help. The plane started losing altitude at 38,000 feet and went down swiftly; Namibia’s Civil Aviation Department had told CNN when the crash happened.
On October 31, 1999, Egypt Air Flight 990 (New York to Cairo) had crashed near Massachusetts, killing 217 people. According to CNN, the plane had plunged almost 14,000 feet in 36 seconds. The Egyptian officials had denied that accusation, and had blamed a mechanical error.
Before the crash, the plane’s pilot had apparently excused himself to go to the washroom. The black box recorder had then picked up unintelligible commotion and banging on the door.As the plane crashed, the captain was heard trying to right the plane, saying, “Pull with me. Pull with me.”
On October 11, 1999, an Air Botswana pilot, who had been grounded for medical reasons, had boarded a plane and took off. A March 27, 2015 CNN report adds: “Once in the air, he made several demands, including speaking with the country’s President. Attempts were made to negotiate with him, but the pilot had stated he was going to crash into other planes that were parked at the airport. That’s what he did. He was the only fatality in the incident.”
On December 19, 1997, Silk Air Flight 185 (Jakarta to Singapore) had crashed in Indonesia, killing 104 people on board. The plane had made a steep descent from its cruising altitude of 35,000 feet and crashed. Indonesian authorities weren’t sure exactly what had happened, though US investigators suggested the captain might have switched off the flight recorders and caused the plane to dive - possibly after his co-pilot had left the cockpit.
At the time of the crash, investigators noted, the pilot had been experiencing significant financial difficulties and had work-related problems.On August 21, 1994, a Royal Air Maroc Flight 630 had lost control and crashed into the Atlas Mountains, the 2,500-km long mountain range passing through Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. En route to Casablanca from the central Moroccan city of Agadir, this flight had 40 passengers and four crewmembers on board.
The pilot was said to have disconnected the autopilot and flown the plane into the mountain on purpose. The Moroccan Pilot’s Union denied that the pilot would have done that deliberately.