I suppose Ed will agree that a full understanding of the Islamic use of the concept of "martyrdom" requires the grasp of the fact there is the traditional sense of the death of one who is submitting to the Will of Allah and should not be confused with the more common association of the term when combined with the current style of Jihad.
They are quite different.
As the flight was done in pursuit of a peaceful effort not related to a religion related effort....the family was quiet correct in using that connotation of the word.
But then what do I know.....eh Ed?
Pilots generally being very analytical sorts.....probably prefer to look for the causes of the event and seek answers in facts, data, and similar kinds of information.
But even then we have to remember.....the analytic approach runs out of gas for example when the question asked is "How did the the people onboard Pan Am 103 happen to find themselves on the flight that night when the bomb went off?".
That is when we bring in that notion of "Fate", "Luck", "Karma", etc.