A violent incident aboard a Flydubai flight traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv has drawn renewed attention to the rare but deadly category of crew-related hijackings. On Wednesday, a pilot stabbed his fellow aviator and attempted to steer the aircraft into a crash before passengers and crew subdued him. The Boeing 737 subsequently made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, where the unnamed pilot was taken into custody.
The plane’s sudden drop triggered Israel to scramble warplanes due to fears of a hijacking. This event has prompted analysts to review past occurrences where pilots or co-pilots deliberately endangered flights, often driven by personal crises or mental health struggles.
Among the most notable recent cases is the China Eastern Airlines flight that crashed into a mountain in southwest China, killing all 132 people on board. While Chinese authorities have not yet released a final report, data released earlier this year by American investigators indicated that the engines were deliberately shut off and a struggle occurred in the cockpit prior to the nose-dive.
Historical precedents underscore the complexity of these events. In 2015, Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot of a Germanwings jet flying from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, locked the captain out of the cockpit and crashed the plane into the French Alps, killing all 150 on board. Investigations revealed Lubitz had sought help from dozens of doctors for depression and feared losing his vision.
Other incidents include the 2009 crash of SilkAir Flight 185 near Palembang, Indonesia, where investigators concluded the pilot, Tsu Way Ming, intended to crash the plane amid financial troubles and disciplinary actions. Similarly, in 2008, a Royal Air Maroc pilot crashed his aircraft into the Atlas Mountains shortly after takeoff, an act investigators described as a deliberate suicide attempt.
Not all crew-related disruptions result in crashes. In 2019, Ethiopian Airlines co-pilot Hailemedhin Abera Tegegn diverted a flight from Addis Ababa to Milan toward Geneva, where he surrendered and sought political asylum; all 193 passengers survived. In contrast, the 2009 EgyptAir Flight 990 disaster saw American investigators conclude that co-pilot Gameel Al-Batouti deliberately crashed the plane into the Atlantic, a finding disputed by Egyptian authorities who blamed mechanical failure.
Violent confrontations have also occurred outside the cockpit. In 2008, off-duty FedEx engineer Auburn Calloway attacked a cargo crew in Memphis with a hammer and spear gun, intending to crash the plane into San Jose, California. The crew subdued him and landed safely, though several suffered serious injuries.
Mental health factors were also present in the 1972 Japan Airlines crash in Tokyo Bay, where pilot Seiji Katagiri engaged in a cockpit struggle during landing. Investigators later determined Katagiri had a history of paranoid schizophrenia despite being deemed fit to fly. More recently, an off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot attempted to shut down engines on a Horizon Air flight, diverting it to Portland; he cited depression and psychedelic drug use following a friend’s death.
As authorities investigate the Flydubai incident, the aviation community continues to grapple with the challenges of monitoring pilot mental health and preventing cockpit breaches.
Remember the SilkAir crash? Still debated whether it was suicide or malfunction. These cockpit incidents are always so murky and tragic.
We need stricter mandatory mental health screenings for pilots. The current system clearly has holes given how many of these cases slip through.
Wait, did the plane actually drop altitude or is that just speculative reporting? The warplane scramble seems like a standard precaution though.
The Germanwings tragedy was horrific. It’s terrifying how often these events stem from untreated mental health crises rather than terrorism.