Murder-Suicides by Pilots Are Vexing Airlines as Deaths Mount Pilot actions a focus in China Eastern
plunge killing 132 Intentional crashes a leading cause of airline travel deaths
For
decades, commercial airline travel has gotten progressively safer. But one cause of deaths has stubbornly
persisted: pilots who intentionally crash in murder-suicides.
Preliminary evidence suggests
the crash of a China Eastern Airlines Corp. jet in March may be the latest such tragedy, a person
familiar with the investigation said. If confirmed, that would make it the fourth since 2013, bringing
deaths in those crashes to 554.