Pilot who hit Beijing’s tallest building wrote about ‘ending his life,’ authorities say 

A section damaged after a small plane crashed into it is boarded up at the CITIC Tower, also known as China Zun, the tallest building in Beijing, June 27 [AP Photo]

The pilot who flew a small plane into Beijing’s tallest building last week wrote in his diary about “ending his life,” Chinese authorities said yesterday.

Their investigation concluded that the cause of last Friday’s crash was “personal reasons,” according to a statement posted on social media by Beijing’s Chaoyang district government.

The pilot, a 66-year-old man, died and 13 other people were injured. None of the injuries are life-threatening and one of the injured has been discharged, the government statement said.

The crash, which happened in a downtown skyscraper district as people were leaving work around 6 p.m., raised questions about security in the Chinese capital. It left a hole in the glass facade of the 108-story CITIC tower, nicknamed the “Zun” building because it mimics the shape of an ancient wine vessel of that name.

The pilot, identified only by the surname Liu, first flew with someone else in the two-seat training plane, then took off on a solo flight from a general aviation airport in the outskirts of Beijing, the Chaoyang statement said. He deviated from the planned flight path and contact with him was lost, it said.

Liu had no fixed job, was divorced and lived alone, according to the statement. He had insomnia and anxiety and his diary had multiple references to ending his life, it said. MDT/AP