Add the Gazzetta del Sud as a source
While waiting to know in detail what happened on board the FlyDubai flight, it appears certain that the tragedy was prevented by the intervention of the passengers. In the past, however, the deliberate acts of pilots have caused death and destruction.
September 11, 2001
Starting from Tuesday 11 September 2001, when four United Airlines and American Airlines airliners were hijacked by 19 al Qaeda terrorists, led by the Egyptian Mohamed Atta – of Saudi origins like the majority of the commando – who, trained in piloting, took control of the planes after having barricaded themselves in the cabin. Two planes crash into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center in New York. A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, crashes into the Pentagon, while United Airlines Flight 93, en route to Washington, crashes into a field after passengers revolt against terrorists. Thousands of victims.
The cases of pilots and co-pilots
Accidents caused by pilots and co-pilots are of a different nature, often linked to mental or personal problems. On February 9, 1982, a Japan Airlines DC-8 crashed into the sea shortly before landing in Tokyo due to an incorrect maneuver made by the commander, Seiji Katagiri, who turned off the autopilot. Thanks to the intervention of the co-pilot and the flight engineer, who held back the commander and slowed the descent, the DC-8 ended up in shallow water in Tokyo Bay. There were 24 deaths, there were 166 passengers and 8 crew members on board. The commission of inquiry found that the commander, who remained unharmed, suffered from psychiatric disorders.
In August 1994, the Royal Air Maroc Atr-42, with 44 people on board, including 8 Italians, crashed near Agadir, the plane was headed to Casablanca. Analysis of the “cockpit voice recorder”, the recorder of cabin conversations, will reveal that it was the commander, Younis Khayati, who caused the accident despite the desperate attempts of the co-pilot, Sofia Figuiqui, who after launching the “mayday” three times, tried in vain to block the commander.
In October 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990, departing from New York and bound for Cairo with 217 people on board, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after takeoff. The US investigation established that the flight was sabotaged by Gameel El-Batouty, the co-pilot, who according to the Americans had expressed suicidal intentions. A thesis never accepted by Cairo, which supports the cause of the technical failure.
In November 2013, a Mozambican airliner crashed in Namibia with 33 people on board. Commander Herminio dos Santos Fernandes, shaken by serious family problems, had barricaded himself in the cabin, the black box will reveal “a clear intention” of suicide.
From Germanwings to the mystery of flight MH370
On March 24, 2015, the German co-pilot Andreas Lubitz of Germanwings flight 9525 took advantage of the moment in which the commander left to go to the bathroom to block the armored door from the inside. Then set the autopilot for a rapid descent into the mountains, while the commander attempts to break down the door until the moment of impact in the French Alps. There were 150 deaths, the investigations found that Lubitz suffered from severe depression and latent suicidal tendencies, which had been hidden from the airline.
The shadow of suicide also hovers over other accidents, including that of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board, which disappeared from radar while flying between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing. The plane executed an unauthorized sharp turn towards the southern Indian Ocean, flying for hours until it ran out of fuel. Over the years only small fragments have been found, to date no investigation has determined the certain causes.