China Blames Beijing Tower Crash on 66-Year-Old Pilot's Suicide, Injuring 13
Updated
Updated · One Mile at a Time · Jul 2
China Blames Beijing Tower Crash on 66-Year-Old Pilot's Suicide, Injuring 13
3 articles · Updated · One Mile at a Time · Jul 2
Summary
Chinese authorities said their investigation found last week's crash into Beijing's 528-meter CITIC Tower was a deliberate act driven by the pilot's suicidal "personal reasons."
A diary from the 66-year-old Beijing resident contained repeated expressions of wanting to end his life, and officials classified the case as endangering public safety rather than an accident.
The two-seat Sunward SA 60L hit the 109-floor skyscraper near the top after taking off from Beijing Shifosi Airport, killing the sole occupant and injuring 13 people in the building and on the ground.
Damage was largely limited to shattered glass and a brief street-level fire from falling wreckage, but the crash prompted evacuations, heightened surveillance in Beijing and a nationwide suspension of general aviation flights.
The unusually fast official conclusion contrasts with China's still-unreleased findings on the 2022 China Eastern 737 crash, which foreign investigators have linked to possible pilot suicide.