View Full Version : suicidal man kills pilot and himself
vanHorck
30th Apr 2010, 18:28
NOS Nieuws - Suïcidale journalist doodt piloot (http://nos.nl/artikel/154281-suicidale-journalist-doodt-piloot.html)
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
jollyrog
30th Apr 2010, 20:14
Google language tools explains all :8
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.
RiggerParish
30th Apr 2010, 20:47
Who was the journalist? The Dutchman or the Argentine? I'm not sure I understand which one was the assailant.
vanHorck
1st May 2010, 07:09
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.
belowradar
1st May 2010, 09:01
Mandatory check flights can be frustrating but I never get that annoyed !
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...
His picture is here:
Levent Bergkotte - LinkedIn (http://ch.linkedin.com/in/leventbergkotte)
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 (http://legacy.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20040329-1847-biplane-new.html)
Police Rule Plane Jumper's Death a Suicide - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,364502,00.html)
sternone
1st May 2010, 13:55
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.
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.
sternone
2nd May 2010, 08:14
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.
mary meagher
2nd May 2010, 10:52
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.
flybymike
2nd May 2010, 17:22
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....
er340790
3rd May 2010, 13:43
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 :mad: !
flybymike
3rd May 2010, 23:11
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.;)
Sir Herbert Gussett
3rd May 2010, 23:15
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 :mad: !
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!
Skittles
4th May 2010, 02:21
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.
scooter boy
5th May 2010, 15:18
"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
There has also been at least one UK occurence - a few years ago, possibly at Bournemouth?
This one (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2003/may/28/schools.uk1) ?
MartinCh
5th May 2010, 23:00
Absolutely gobsmacking. What a twisted selfish sick :mad::mad::mad:.
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.
Dog Star
10th Dec 2016, 02:16
Lest we forget......................
Female helicopter pilot's passenger jumps out while over the middle of the Grand Canyon!!!
Passenger: Pilot of suicide flight saved our lives | | azdailysun.com (http://azdailysun.com/passenger-pilot-of-suicide-flight-saved-our-lives/article_c73b7746-33cc-5cf5-a315-81849b480d75.html)
Flyingmac
10th Dec 2016, 06:11
That was over twelve years ago. Is it some sort of anniversary?
Heston
10th Dec 2016, 08:57
And what is the relevance of the gender of the pilot?
Shaggy Sheep Driver
10th Dec 2016, 14:30
There was one some years ago out of Caernarfon. Light aircraft with a very experienced pilot flew straight and level and seemingly deliberately into the side of a mountain in perfect VMC.
And then of course there was the horrific and quite recent Germanwings pilot suicide taking a whole planeful of innocent victims with him....
Jonzarno
10th Dec 2016, 15:25
There was in incident a few years ago in which a Cirrus pilot apparently decided to kill himself by taking an overdose of sleeping pills with the aircraft on autopilot headed out over the desert.
When the aircraft ran out of fuel and slowed down, the autopilot envelope protection kicked in and caused it to descend and crash land on the flat desert surface.
The pilot survived and has, apparently, recovered although of course doesn't fly any more.
Mike Flynn
10th Dec 2016, 15:32
There is more risk on a tube station where a mentally unstable person could push you in front of a train?