SilkAir 185: Pilot Suicide?

SilkAir Boeing 737-36N (9V-TRF) 3 Months before the crash.

Recently, I watched Air Crash Investigation on YouTube reagrding the crash of SilkAir. On the 19th December, 1997, a Boeing 737 (9V-TRF) crashed on the Musi River of Palembang in Indonesia while on a routine flight from Jakarta to Singapore. Until today, Air Crash Investigators could not find the real cause of the crash. Many factors contributed to the crash such as the Rudder (which makes the plane turn) had problems and therefore lead to the crash. But one of the most interesting factor was the Pilot Suicide Theory.. Listed below are why I still believe that Pilot Suicide might have caused the crash:

1) The Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recoder (found in the Black Box) stopped recording just 8 minutes prior to the crash. Investigators revealed that it was not the normal power outage failure but it was intentionally and purposely switched off. I believed that the Pilot is trying to cover his actions in the cockpit and this will make the job of the investigators much more difficult to find the real story in the cockpit. The last recorded sound was the Captain leaving his seat after a short coversation with the First Officer.

2) Both engines were set to full speed at the time of the crash! Investigators founded out that the plane nose-dived and engines were on full speed. The plane was approaching the Speed Of Sound as it nose-dived into the river. It was later revealed that both Pilots were no trying to pull away the plane from its deadly dive.

3) The Captain actually went into financial difficulties just prior to the crash. He was living on the brink. He might had problems surrounding him therefore pressurising him to go with the Suicide Theory.

Until today, we will not know what really happened in the Cockpit of SilkAir Flight MI185 and the 104 people aboard the aircraft. After the crash, SilkAir decided to ceased operations to Jakarta and since then, Singapore Airlines continue to fly there. SilkAir also replaced all Boeing 737 with new Airbus A319s and Airbus A320s. For sure, it is a reminder on how stress could bring us to the edge.