On January 5, 2002, Charles J. Bishop, a high-school student of

East Lake High School East Lake High School is a public high school serving students from grades 9–12 located in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and is part of the Pinellas County Schools. It has a 99% graduation rate which ranks it among the most graduating schools in the ...

Tarpon Springs, Florida Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal po ...

, United States, stole a

Cessna 172 The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company.

light aircraft and crashed it into the side of the Bank of America Tower in downtown

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

. The impact killed the teenager and damaged an office room, but there were no other injuries. Bishop had been inspired by the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

; he had left a suicide note crediting

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

for the attacks and praising it as a justified response to actions against the

Palestinians Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

and

Iraqis Iraqis ( ar, العراقيون, ku, گه‌لی عیراق, gelê Iraqê) are people who originate from the country of Iraq. Iraq consists largely of most of ancient Mesopotamia, the native land of the indigenous Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, ...

and said he (Bishop) was acting on behalf of

Al Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...

, from whom he had turned down help. As officials could find no other evidence of any connections, terrorism as a motive was ruled out, and they suggested that the crash was an apparent suicide. Bishop's mother filed, then dropped, a lawsuit claiming that psychological side effects from

isotretinoin Isotretinoin, also known as 13-''cis''-retinoic acid and sold under the brand name Accutane among others, is a medication primarily used to treat severe acne. It is also used to prevent certain skin cancers (squamous-cell carcinoma), and in th ...

, an acne medicine Bishop took, which can include depression and rarely suicidal actions, caused the incident.

Flight

At 5:00 p.m. EST, 15-year-old Charlie J. Bishop's flight instructor left him at the plane to perform basic preflight inspection. Once he was left alone inside the plane, he started the engine and took off without permission. As soon as the plane took off, the air traffic controllers alerted the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

and

MacDill Air Force Base MacDill Air Force Base (MacDill AFB) is an active United States Air Force installation located 4 miles (6.4 km) south-southwest of downtown Tampa, Florida. The "host wing" for MacDill AFB is the 6th Air Refueling Wing (6 ARW), assig ...

. Despite repeated warnings from a helicopter dispatched by the Coast Guard, the small plane continued on in flight until it crashed into the Bank of America tower. The plane crashed between the 28th and 29th floors of the 42-story building.

Pilot

Bishop was a 15-year-old high-school student from

. At the time of the incident, he was a student pilot and only authorized to fly with a Certified Flight Instructor.

Investigation and aftermath

An investigation followed the incident. Officials ruled out terrorism although eyewitnesses said that the plane made no apparent attempt to avoid hitting the building. Officials finally suggested that the crash was an apparent suicide. In addition, a note found in the wreckage stated that he voiced support for

. However, there is no evidence that the teen had any connection with any terror group. A suicide note from Bishop was found stating: Later authorities confiscated a computer from Bishop's parents' house to try to determine a motive for the incident. Moments after the incident, President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

was briefly informed about the incident and two unrelated crashes that same day. In April 2002, transcripts obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration revealed new details about the incident, which included how close the small plane came to a Southwest Airlines flight. Bishop's mother filed a $70 million (2002

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

) lawsuit against

Roche Laboratories F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX S ...

, who make an acne medicine called

Accutane Isotretinoin, also known as 13-''cis''-retinoic acid and sold under the brand name Accutane among others, is a medication primarily used to treat severe acne. It is also used to prevent certain skin cancers (squamous-cell carcinoma), and in th ...

. According to the lawsuit claim, the medicine had side effects such as depression and suicidal actions, which the claim stated as the cause of the incident. The suit was dropped on June 26, 2007, by Bishop's mother, who stated she was physically and emotionally unable to continue the action. After the incident took place, numerous security measures were taken. The

FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

released a security notice on January 6, the day after the incident. The notice included security of the aircraft and regulations pertaining to underaged flight students. In addition, the EAA and other smaller aircraft organizations proposed more security of flight schools and small aircraft. While authorities stated that the crash was due to an "abuse of trust" rather than a security breach, others argue for the need of increased security due to the simplicity of such actions.

References

External links

NTSB Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tampa airplane crash, 2002 2002 in Florida 2002 airplane crash Aviation accidents and incidents in Florida Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 2002 January 2002 events in the United States

Flight

Pilot

Investigation and aftermath

See also

References

External links