Copycats in Pilot Aircraft-Assisted Suicides after the Germanwings Incident

Abstract

Aircraft-assisted pilot suicide is a rare but serious phenomenon. The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in pilot aircraft-assisted suicide risks, i.e., a copycat effect, in the U.S. and Germany after the Germanwings 2015 incident in the French Alps. Aircraft-assisted pilot suicides were searched in the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident investigation database and in the German Bundestelle für Flugunfalluntersuchung (BFU) Reports of Investigation database five years before and two years after the deliberate crash of the Germanwings flight into the French Alps in 2015. The relative risk (RR) of the aircraft-assisted pilot suicides was calculated. Two years after the incident, three out of 454 (0.66%) fatal incidents were aircraft-assisted suicides compared with six out of 1292 (0.46%) in the prior five years in the NTSB database. There were no aircraft-assisted pilot suicides in the German database during the two years after or five years prior to the Germanwings crash. The relative aircraft-assisted pilot suicide risk for the U.S. was 1.4 (95% CI 0.3–4.2) which was not statistically significant. Six of the pilots who died by suicide had told someone of their suicidal intentions. We consider changes in the rate to be within a normal variation. Responsible media coverage of aircraft incidents is important due to the large amount of publicity that these events attract.

O efeito Werther e sua relação com taxas de tentativas de suicídio: uma revisão narrativa

“…Segundo (Laukkala et al, 2018) em 24 de março de 2015, houve um incidente em Germanwings, nos Alpes franceses, que resultou na morte do piloto. O estudo se concentrou no período posterior a isto nos EUA e na Alemanha para verificar se houve aumento na taxa de suicídios em função do incidente.…”

“…O estudo se concentrou no período posterior a isto nos EUA e na Alemanha para verificar se houve aumento na taxa de suicídios em função do incidente. O estudo comparou o cálculo de risco relativo entre os cinco anos anteriores a 2015 e dois anos posteriores (Laukkala et al, 2018). Os dados mostram que, 2 anos após o incidente nos Alpes, em 2017, 3 de 454 (66%) foram classificados como suicídio, em comparação com 6 de 1.292 (44%) nos cinco anos anteriores, nos EUA.…”

Self-Harm in Aviation Medicine—A Complex Challenge During a Pandemic

“…Health history based on periodic medical examinations may be limited in accident investigation reports because only part of the relevant health information is self-reported in these examinations (37). Based on the limited history available in the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reports self-harm did not precede aircraft assisted suicides (42)(43)(44).…”

Towards a Greater Understanding of Suicidal Behaviour and Its Prevention

“…Another study about the copycat effect investigated rather sensational and rare events—pilot-assisted suicides in the USA and Germany after the Germanwings 2015 incident in the French Alps [ 31 ]. Although rare events, they attracted significant media attention.…”