2002 Tampa Cessna 172 crash
| Incident | |
|---|---|
| Date | January 5, 2002 |
| Summary | Airplane theft and suicide by pilot |
| Site |
|
| Total fatalities | 1 |
| Total injuries | 0 |
| Total survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft | |
| A Cessna 172 similar to the aircraft involved | |
| Aircraft type | Cessna 172 |
| Operator | Privately owned |
| Registration | N2371N |
| Flight origin | St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport, Florida, United States |
| Destination | Tampa, Florida |
| Occupants | 1, Charles J. Bishop |
| Fatalities | 1 (Only himself) |
| Injuries | 0 |
| Missing | 0 |
| Survivors | 0 |
On January 5, 2002, Charles J. Bishop, a high-school student of East Lake High School in Tarpon Springs, Florida, United States, stole a Cessna 172 light aircraft and crashed it into the side of the Bank of America Tower in downtown Tampa, Florida. 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; he had left a suicide note crediting Osama bin Laden for the attacks and praising it as a justified response to actions against the Palestinians and Iraqis and said he (Bishop) was acting on behalf of Al Qaeda, 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 caused the incident. Bishop used isotretinoin, an acne medicine which is believed to be related to depression and rarely suicidal actions, despite a lack of evidence.