Five airline crashes linked to deliberate pilot action
Three cases confirmed, two remain disputed.
At least five commercial airline crashes have been linked to deliberate actions by pilots, with three cases confirmed by official investigations and two remaining disputed.
The incidents, spanning more than four decades, involved pilots or co-pilots allegedly or deliberately taking actions that caused their aircraft to crash. The five crashes collectively killed 618 people, reports Firstpost.
In 1982, Japan Airlines Flight 350 crashed into Tokyo Bay while approaching Haneda Airport. The captain deliberately pushed the McDonnell Douglas DC-8 toward the water, according to the investigation. The other pilots attempted to counter his actions, but the aircraft crashed, killing 24 of the 174 people on board.
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In 2013, LAM Mozambique Airlines Flight 470 crashed in Namibia after the captain was left alone in the cockpit when the first officer exited. The Embraer 190 entered a sustained descent before crashing, killing all 33 people aboard. An investigation concluded that the captain intentionally caused the crash.
Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed in the French Alps in 2015 after the co-pilot remained alone in the cockpit when the captain left. The co-pilot changed the Airbus A320's autopilot settings to initiate a descent and locked the cockpit door.
France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) concluded that the crash was a deliberate and planned act. All 150 people on board were killed.
Two other crashes remain disputed.
SilkAir Flight 185 crashed in Indonesia in 1997 after the Boeing 737-300 entered a high-speed descent, killing all 104 people aboard. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that the evidence was consistent with deliberate pilot inputs, while Indonesian investigators were unable to determine the cause of the crash.
EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 1999, killing all 217 people aboard the Boeing 767. The NTSB concluded that control inputs by the relief first officer caused the aircraft's descent.
Egyptian investigators, however, attributed the crash to a mechanical problem involving the aircraft's elevator control system, leaving the cause disputed.
