Go Back  PPRuNe Forums > Non-Airline Forums > Private Flying
Reload this Page >

suicidal man kills pilot and himself

Private Flying LAA/BMAA/BGA/BPA The sheer pleasure of flight.

suicidal man kills pilot and himself

Old 30th Apr 2010, 18:28
  #1 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: London
Age: 68
Posts: 1,269
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
suicidal man kills pilot and himself

NOS Nieuws - Suïcidale journalist doodt piloot

A Dutch suicidal journalist (what a combination!) tried to rent a Cherokee in Argentina for self fly and failed.

He then rented the plane with pilot, killed the pilot in the air, closed the throttles and killed himself
vanHorck is offline  
Old 30th Apr 2010, 20:14
  #2 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: London
Posts: 320
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Google language tools explains all
The Argentine police investigate a crash involving a private plane with a Dutchman died. The man would have slain the pilot and then the engine off.

The plane, a Piper Cherokee, crashed in a field near the airport of Bariloche in Patagonia. Police were in the wreck and a bloody knife found in the hotel room of the man a farewell letter to his wife.

According to local media refers to the Argentine 33-year-old Levent Bergkotte. He was a freelance journalist specializing in aircraft and lived in Geneva.

Bergkotte, who had a license, first wanted to rent an airplane for himself. When that failed, he chartered an aircraft to pilot.
jollyrog is offline  
Old 30th Apr 2010, 20:47
  #3 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Who was the journalist? The Dutchman or the Argentine? I'm not sure I understand which one was the assailant.
RiggerParish is offline  
Old 1st May 2010, 07:09
  #4 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: London
Age: 68
Posts: 1,269
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
The journalist, according to the Argentinian newspaper, was Mr Bergkotte of Dutch nationality. He was a journalist who lived in Geneva and specialized in aviation news.
vanHorck is offline  
Old 1st May 2010, 09:01
  #5 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Europe
Posts: 537
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Mandatory check flights can be frustrating but I never get that annoyed !
belowradar is offline  
Old 1st May 2010, 09:09
  #6 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: EuroGA.org
Posts: 13,787
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
This is a truly nightmare scenario. If it ever generated any level of copycats, you could forget flight training...

Private pilots have the option of not going up with a total stranger (and I suspect many won't anyway) but an instructor doesn't have that option.

However, there is probably a far bigger chance of the passenger jumping out of the window (of a Cessna) followed by a trail of Prozac bottles...
IO540 is offline  
Old 1st May 2010, 12:55
  #7 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: GA, USA
Posts: 3,197
Likes: 0
Received 23 Likes on 10 Posts
His picture is here:
Levent Bergkotte - LinkedIn
Unfortunately using a light airplane for suicide is not new anymore:
SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro -- Man, 88, leaps to death from biplane near Gillespie Field
Police Rule Plane Jumper's Death a Suicide - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com
B2N2 is offline  
Old 1st May 2010, 13:55
  #8 (permalink)  

 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Brussels - Twin Comanche PA39 - KA C90B
Age: 51
Posts: 647
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I hope he burns in hell.

I understand you want to kill yourself with a plane, but just make sure that you don't harm other people while doing so.

Buy a plane and do it in the sea or something, on your own.
sternone is offline  
Old 1st May 2010, 14:38
  #9 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: EuroGA.org
Posts: 13,787
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Buy a plane and do it in the sea or something
There are a few of those, and probably many more than ever becomes known.

There are also cases where a passenger just jumps out. In a Cessna, I would not have a problem with that, if it was nobody I knew... though I would fear the resulting "interviews".

This one has a new dimension though.
IO540 is offline  
Old 2nd May 2010, 08:14
  #10 (permalink)  

 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Brussels - Twin Comanche PA39 - KA C90B
Age: 51
Posts: 647
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
You could also do a parachute jump training and when you do your solo jump, just forget to pull the cord.

I don't understand why this guy killed his pilot with a knife and then killed himself.

I can't believe you can't come up with a better idea when you are really thinking about doing this.

Maybe there could be some better ways, I have no clue. I'm not into that business.
sternone is offline  
Old 2nd May 2010, 10:52
  #11 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 1,546
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
It happens. I can think of several. The Dutchess of Bedford. And a depressed individual who ruined an excellent glider, instead of leaving it to his friends (maybe he didn't have any).

Of course there was that copycat in Tampa, Florida, who stuffed a Cessna into the side of a bank building, which proved more durable than he expected, nobody else hurt. And Austin Texas, the disgruntled chap who drove his own aeroplane from Georgetown into the Federal Income Tax Office. Fortunately he got there before opening hours.
mary meagher is offline  
Old 2nd May 2010, 17:22
  #12 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 2,118
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
It happens. I can think of several. The Dutchess of Bedford. And a depressed individual who ruined an excellent glider, instead of leaving it to his friends (maybe he didn't have any).
If he dressed up as a Duchess I am not surprised....
flybymike is offline  
Old 3rd May 2010, 13:43
  #13 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Canadian Shield
Posts: 538
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
It's horrible, but you can actually see how this may have played out....

On a Cessna, open the door and jump.

On a PA-28 try and climb across the PIC to the door. PIC resists. Fight erupts. Throttle / mixture knocked to idle. Plane/ground interface before suicidal person can jump.

What a selfish !
er340790 is offline  
Old 3rd May 2010, 23:11
  #14 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 2,118
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
On a PA-28 try and climb across the PIC to the door. PIC resists. Fight erupts. Throttle / mixture knocked to idle. Plane/ground interface before suicidal person can jump.
You would have to be very small to exit via the storm window. A PA28 door is on the right.
flybymike is offline  
Old 3rd May 2010, 23:15
  #15 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Lamb and Flag
Age: 69
Posts: 189
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by er340790
On a PA-28 try and climb across the PIC to the door. PIC resists. Fight erupts. Throttle / mixture knocked to idle. Plane/ground interface before suicidal person can jump.

What a selfish !
Before you go further off in kookoo land I best let you know that the door on a PA-28 isn't next to the PIC's seat!
Sir Herbert Gussett is offline  
Old 4th May 2010, 02:21
  #16 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: England
Posts: 118
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I assume he's referring to the fact that as a student he would have been sat in the left hand seat, as per most/all training flights. The instructor is still the PIC of course.
Skittles is offline  
Old 5th May 2010, 15:18
  #17 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Maders UK
Age: 57
Posts: 806
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
"I don't understand why this guy killed his pilot with a knife and then killed himself"

mental illness...
very selfish way to end it all
scooter boy is offline  
Old 5th May 2010, 15:47
  #18 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Aberdeen
Posts: 1,234
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
There has also been at least one UK occurence - a few years ago, possibly at Bournemouth?
gasax is offline  
Old 5th May 2010, 17:28
  #19 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: EuroGA.org
Posts: 13,787
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
This one ?
IO540 is offline  
Old 5th May 2010, 23:00
  #20 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: UK, US, now more ɐıןɐɹʇsn∀
Age: 41
Posts: 889
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Absolutely gobsmacking. What a twisted selfish sick .

Very sad to hear such news.

Aviation journalist? Private or comm licence holder? Why on Earth would anyone who learned to fly (and thus to enjoy the beauty of it) be such murderous prick and do all this to anyone, especially fellow pilot? Feeling like ending it? OK, that's what the tall bridges/steep cliffs are for.

Going to such lovely country, causing death and grief, possibly insurance/money problems for the aeroclub, endangering people and property on the ground. Why not do it alone in home country at least? It's unreal reality.

No, people don't have to be mentally ill per se, to commit suicide. Sure, extreme depression could be tagged as illness, but sometimes it could be fast and without warning, the last hours or days of someone.
MartinCh is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.