1September 11, 2001 Deliberate actUnited States 2,977 killed · 2,731 on the ground
The 11 September attacks
American Airlines and United Airlines · two Boeing 767 and two Boeing 757 · AA 11 · UA 175 · AA 77 · UA 93
New York, Arlington and Shanksville
Nineteen hijackers seized four airliners on east-coast domestic flights and flew them into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and, after the passengers fought back, a field in Pennsylvania. 2,977 people died, 246 of them on the aircraft. It is not an accident, but it is the event that has changed civil aviation most: armoured cockpit doors, passenger screening and an entire industry reorganised around security.
2March 27, 1977 CollisionSpain 583 killed
Tenerife: KLM 4805 and Pan Am 1736
KLM and Pan Am · Boeing 747-206B and Boeing 747-121 · KLM 4805 · Pan Am 1736
Los Rodeos Airport, Tenerife
Two 747s diverted to Los Rodeos by a bomb at Gran Canaria met on the single runway, in thick fog and with no ground radar. The KLM began its take-off without clearance while the Pan Am was still taxiing to its exit; one transmission blocking another meant nobody heard the warning. 583 people died; 61 on the Pan Am survived. It is the deadliest accident in aviation history and it changed the language of the radio: since then the word 'take-off' is spoken only when granting clearance.
3August 12, 1985 Technical failureJapan 520 killed
Japan Airlines Flight 123 on Mount Osutaka
Japan Airlines · Boeing 747SR-46 · Flight 123
Mount Osutaka, Gunma Prefecture
The aft pressure bulkhead, badly repaired seven years earlier after a tailstrike, burst twelve minutes after take-off from Tokyo and tore away the vertical fin and all four hydraulic lines. The crew kept the 747 in the air for 32 minutes on engine thrust alone. 520 of the 524 people on board died; four women survived. It is the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history.
4November 12, 1996 CollisionIndia 349 killed
Felix Goetting · GFDL 1.2 Charkhi Dadri: Saudia 763 and Kazakhstan 1907
Saudia and Kazakhstan Airlines · Boeing 747-168B and Ilyushin Il-76TD · Saudia 763 · Kazakhstan 1907
over Charkhi Dadri, Haryana
A 747 that had just left Delhi and an Il-76 arriving from Shymkent met head-on at 14,000 feet in the airport's single corridor for arrivals and departures. The Il-76 had descended below its assigned level. All 349 people on the two aircraft died. India installed secondary radar at Delhi, separated the corridors and required the collision-avoidance system on every aircraft entering its airspace.
5March 3, 1974 Technical failureFrance 346 killed
Steve Fitzgerald · GFDL 1.2 Turkish Airlines Flight 981 at Ermenonville
Turkish Airlines · McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 · Flight 981
Ermenonville Forest, near Paris
The DC-10's rear cargo door opened in flight at 11,500 feet, the cabin floor collapsed and severed the controls. The aircraft fell into a forest north of Paris with 346 people. The same failure had happened two years earlier without loss of life, and the manufacturer had addressed it with a recommendation rather than an order. Cargo doors have been designed so they cannot be improperly latched ever since.
6June 23, 1985 Deliberate actIreland 329 killed
Air India Flight 182, destroyed by a bomb
Air India · Boeing 747-237B · Flight 182
Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Ireland
A bomb hidden in a suitcase checked in at Vancouver, travelling without its owner, destroyed the 747 'Emperor Kanishka' over the Atlantic on its way from Montreal to London. All 329 people on board died, most of them Canadians of Indian origin. It is the deadliest attack on an aircraft before 11 September, and the reason no bag flies without its passenger.
7August 19, 1980 Human factorsSaudi Arabia 301 killed
Steve Fitzgerald · GFDL 1.2 Saudia Flight 163 at Riyadh
Saudia · Lockheed L-1011-200 TriStar · Flight 163
Riyadh Airport
A fire in the aft cargo hold forced the TriStar back to Riyadh seven minutes after take-off. The aircraft landed intact, rolled to the end of the runway and stopped, but the crew neither ordered an evacuation nor opened the doors; when firefighters got inside, 23 minutes later, all 301 people had died of smoke. It is the deadliest accident in which the aircraft never crashed.
8July 17, 2014 Deliberate actUkraine 298 killed
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, shot down over Ukraine
Malaysia Airlines · Boeing 777-2H6ER · Flight 17
near Hrabove, Donetsk
The 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was hit at 33,000 feet by a Buk missile fired from territory held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. All 298 people on board died, 196 of them Dutch. A Dutch court convicted three men in their absence in 2022. Conflict zones have been closed to civil traffic with a different kind of caution ever since.
9July 3, 1988 Deliberate actIran 290 killed
Iran Air Flight 655, shot down by USS Vincennes
Iran Air · Airbus A300B2-203 · Flight 655
Strait of Hormuz
The A300 on the Bandar Abbas to Dubai route, climbing and inside its airway, was shot down by two missiles from the American cruiser USS Vincennes, whose crew took it for a diving fighter. All 290 people on board died, 66 of them children. The United States compensated the families without admitting liability.
10May 25, 1979 Technical failureUnited States 273 killed · 2 on the ground
American Airlines Flight 191 at O'Hare
American Airlines · McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 · Flight 191
O'Hare Airport, Chicago
The left engine tore away from the wing during the take-off roll, ripping out hydraulic lines; the leading-edge slats on that side retracted and the DC-10 rolled over and fell thirty seconds later. All 271 people on board died, and two on the ground. An unapproved maintenance method, which removed engine and pylon together with a forklift, had cracked the mounting. The entire world DC-10 fleet was grounded for weeks.
11December 21, 1988 Deliberate actUnited Kingdom 270 killed · 11 on the ground
Air Accident Investigation Branch · OGL 2 Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie
Pan Am · Boeing 747-121 · Flight 103
Lockerbie, Scotland
A bomb hidden in a radio-cassette player inside a checked suitcase destroyed the 747 'Clipper Maid of the Seas' at 31,000 feet, thirty-eight minutes after leaving London for New York. All 259 people on board died, and eleven residents of Lockerbie, onto whose houses a fuel-laden wing fell. A Libyan agent was convicted in 2001. Checked-baggage screening in Europe and the United States was overhauled from top to bottom.
12September 1, 1983 Deliberate actSoviet Union 269 killed
Michel Gilliand · GFDL 1.2 Korean Air Lines Flight 007, shot down
Korean Air Lines · Boeing 747-230B · Flight 007
Sea of Japan, off Moneron Island
The 747 flying from Anchorage to Seoul drifted hundreds of kilometres north, its autopilot holding a fixed heading instead of following the route, and crossed Soviet airspace over Kamchatka and Sakhalin. An Su-15 fighter shot it down with two missiles. All 269 people on board died. In response, the United States opened the GPS system to civil aviation.
13November 12, 2001 Human factorsUnited States 265 killed · 5 on the ground
American Airlines Flight 587 at Belle Harbor
American Airlines · Airbus A300-605R · Flight 587
Belle Harbor, Queens, New York
Two months after 9/11, the A300 departing for Santo Domingo flew into the wake of a 747 and the first officer swung the rudder fully from side to side to counter it, so hard that the vertical stabiliser separated. The aircraft fell on a Queens neighbourhood. All 260 people on board died, and five on the ground. Pilots learned that the rudder is not for turbulence.
14April 26, 1994 Human factorsJapan 264 killed
China Airlines Flight 140 at Nagoya
China Airlines · Airbus A300B4-622R · Flight 140
Nagoya Airport
On final approach to Nagoya the first officer inadvertently engaged go-around mode. For almost a minute the crew pushed the nose down while the autopilot raised it, until the A300 pitched up, stalled and fell tail-first beside the runway. 264 of the 271 people on board died. Airbus modified the system so that a firm input by the pilot disengages the automation.
15July 11, 1991 Technical failureSaudi Arabia 261 killed
Pedro Aragão · CC BY-SA 3.0 Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 at Jeddah
Nationair, for Nigeria Airways · McDonnell Douglas DC-8-61 · Flight 2120
Jeddah
The Canadian DC-8 chartered to fly pilgrims home to Nigeria took off from Jeddah with two under-inflated tyres that heated until they caught fire during the roll. The fire climbed through the wheel well into the cabin as the crew tried to return; the aircraft broke up short of the runway. All 261 people on board died. It is the worst accident involving a DC-8 and the worst suffered by a Canadian airline.
16June 12, 2025 UnresolvedIndia Investigation ongoing 260 killed · 19 on the ground
Prime Minister's Office · GODL-India Air India Flight 171 at Ahmedabad
Air India · Boeing 787-8 · Flight 171
Ahmedabad, Gujarat
The 787 departing for London Gatwick lost thrust on both engines seconds after take-off and fell onto the hostel of a teaching hospital beside the airport. 241 of the 242 people on board died, and 19 on the ground. The Indian preliminary report noted that the fuel control switches of both engines moved to the cut-off position shortly after lift-off. It is the first fatal accident of a Boeing 787 and the investigation remains open.
17November 28, 1979 Human factorsAntarctica 257 killed
Mike subritzky at English Wikipedia · public domain Air New Zealand Flight 901 on Mount Erebus
Air New Zealand · McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 · Flight 901
Mount Erebus, Ross Island
The sightseeing flight over Antarctica struck the slopes of Erebus at 1,500 feet in apparently good visibility. The night before, the airline had corrected the route coordinates without telling the crew, who believed they were over the sea, and the uniform white light of snow and cloud erased the mountain. All 257 people on board died. A royal commission concluded that the cause lay with the company, not the cockpit.
18December 12, 1985 UnresolvedCanada 256 killed
Arrow Air Flight 1285 at Gander
Arrow Air · McDonnell Douglas DC-8-63 · Flight 1285
Gander, Newfoundland
The DC-8 chartered to bring 248 American soldiers home from the Sinai failed to gain height after taking off from Gander and came down in woods beside a lake. Nobody survived. The majority of the Canadian board attributed the crash to wing ice and an aircraft heavier than calculated; a minority held that there had been an explosion on board. It is the worst air accident on Canadian soil.
19March 8, 2014 UnresolvedIndian Ocean 239 killed
Kentaro Iemoto from Tokyo, Japan · CC BY-SA 2.0 Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, lost
Malaysia Airlines · Boeing 777-2H6ER · Flight 370
southern Indian Ocean, location unknown
Forty minutes after leaving Kuala Lumpur for Beijing, the 777 stopped transmitting, turned west and flew for another seven hours until it ran out of fuel somewhere in the Indian Ocean, according to the signals it exchanged with a satellite. It has never been found, apart from a few pieces of debris washed up on African shores. The 239 people on board are presumed dead. It is the greatest mystery of modern aviation.
20September 26, 1997 Human factorsIndonesia 234 killed
National Transportation Safety Committee · public domain Garuda Flight 152 near Medan
Garuda Indonesia · Airbus A300B4-220 · Flight 152
near Medan, Sumatra
The approach to Medan was being flown through the smoke of the forest fires blanketing Sumatra. A mix-up at air traffic control, which turned the A300 the wrong way, sent it into a mountain 30 kilometres from the airport. All 234 people on board died. It is the worst accident in Indonesian aviation.
21July 17, 1996 Technical failureUnited States 230 killed
TWA Flight 800 off Long Island
TWA · Boeing 747-131 · Flight 800
Atlantic Ocean, off Long Island
Twelve minutes after taking off for Paris, the 747's centre fuel tank, nearly empty and heated by the air-conditioning packs during the wait on the ground, exploded and broke the aircraft in two. All 230 people on board died. After four years and the reconstruction of the fuselage, the spark was attributed to a short circuit in the fuel-gauge wiring. Since 2008 centre tanks have been filled with nitrogen.
22August 6, 1997 Human factorsUnited States 229 killed
Korean Air Flight 801 on Guam
Korean Air · Boeing 747-3B5 · Flight 801
Nimitz Hill, Guam
With the airport's glideslope out of service and rain at night, the exhausted captain descended too early and the 747 struck a hill five kilometres from the runway. 229 of the 254 people on board died. The investigation also faulted the first officer and flight engineer, who saw the error and did not assert themselves: Korean Air's cockpit culture was changed because of this accident.
23September 2, 1998 Technical failureCanada 229 killed
Trevor MacInnis at English Wikipedia · public domain Swissair Flight 111 off Nova Scotia
Swissair · McDonnell Douglas MD-11 · Flight 111
Atlantic Ocean, off Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia
An electrical arc in the wiring of the in-flight entertainment system ignited the insulation above the cockpit on the flight from New York to Geneva. The fire spread unseen by the crew and, as they diverted to Halifax, the instruments failed one by one until the MD-11 fell into the sea. All 229 people on board died. Metallised insulation blankets were removed from thousands of aircraft.
24June 1, 2009 Human factorsAtlantic Ocean 228 killed
Foto: Roberto Maltchik Repórter da TV Brasil · CC BY 3.0 br Air France Flight 447 over the Atlantic
Air France · Airbus A330-203 · Flight 447
Atlantic Ocean, between Brazil and Senegal
At night, in the middle of an equatorial storm, the pitot tubes iced up, the autopilot dropped out and the first officer held the nose up until the A330 stalled at 38,000 feet; it fell into the sea in under four minutes without the crew recognising the situation. All 228 people on board died. The flight recorders were found two years later at a depth of 3,900 metres. It changed stall training across the industry.
25May 25, 2002 Technical failureTaiwan 225 killed
China Airlines Flight 611 over the Taiwan Strait
China Airlines · Boeing 747-209B · Flight 611
Taiwan Strait, near Penghu
Twenty-two years earlier the 747 had struck the runway with its tail, and the repair was made with a doubler plate that did not follow the manufacturer's instructions. The crack grew cycle by cycle until the fuselage opened up in cruise on the way to Hong Kong. All 225 people on board died. Like JAL 123, it is a reminder that a bad repair can wait decades.
26October 31, 2015 Deliberate actEgypt 224 killed
Sergey Korovkin 84 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Metrojet Flight 9268 over the Sinai
Metrojet (Kogalymavia) · Airbus A321-231 · Flight 9268
Sinai Peninsula
Twenty-three minutes after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh for Saint Petersburg, a bomb placed in the hold destroyed the A321 over the Sinai desert. All 224 people on board died, almost all Russian tourists. The Egyptian branch of Islamic State claimed the attack and Russia confirmed it. It is the deadliest air disaster in Russian history and the worst involving an Airbus A321.
27May 26, 1991 Technical failureThailand 223 killed
Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland · CC BY-SA 2.0 Lauda Air Flight 004 in Thailand
Lauda Air · Boeing 767-3Z9ER · Flight 004
Phu Toei, Suphan Buri Province
The left engine's thrust reverser deployed during the climb out of Bangkok towards Vienna and the 767 broke up in the air. All 223 people on board died. Niki Lauda, the airline's owner, pressed until Boeing admitted that a reverser opening in flight was not controllable, something the manuals denied. Reversers have carried an additional lock ever since.
28October 31, 1999 UnresolvedUnited States 217 killed
EgyptAir Flight 990 off Nantucket
EgyptAir · Boeing 767-366ER · Flight 990
Atlantic Ocean, off Nantucket
The 767 flying from New York to Cairo plunged from cruise into the sea on a clear night with 217 people. The American investigation attributed the dive to the inputs of the relief first officer, who was alone in the cockpit; the Egyptian one maintained there was a failure in the elevator. The two accounts remain at odds.
29January 1, 1978 Human factorsIndia 213 killed
Air India Flight 855 off Bombay
Air India · Boeing 747-237B · Flight 855
Arabian Sea, off Bombay
Shortly after a night take-off for Dubai, the captain's attitude indicator froze while the aircraft was banking. Trusting the failed instrument, he kept rolling the 747 until it went into the sea two kilometres off the coast. All 213 people on board died. The accident showed how fragile a pilot's orientation is over a dark sea, when the only horizon available is the one an instrument paints.
30February 16, 1998 Human factorsTaiwan 203 killed · 7 on the ground
China Airlines Flight 676 at Taoyuan
China Airlines · Airbus A300B4-622R · Flight 676
Taoyuan, beside Chiang Kai-shek Airport
The A300 arriving from Bali, too high on approach, began a go-around but the autopilot was still disengaged; the aircraft pitched up, stalled and fell onto houses beside the airport. All 196 people on board died, and seven on the ground. It was the airline's second A300 lost in a similar way in four years, after Nagoya.
31July 10, 1985 Human factorsSoviet Union 200 killed
Alexander Jakovlev · CC BY-SA 3.0 Aeroflot Flight 7425 near Uchkuduk
Aeroflot · Tupolev Tu-154B-2 · Flight 7425
near Uchkuduk, Uzbekistan
In cruise at 38,000 feet, with an exhausted crew, the Tu-154 gradually lost speed until the engines flamed out and the aircraft went into a spin over the Uzbek desert. All 200 people on board died. It is the worst accident in Aeroflot's history and one of the first in which a Soviet commission pointed to crew fatigue.
32July 17, 2007 Human factorsBrazil 199 killed · 12 on the ground
TAM Flight 3054 at Congonhas
TAM · Airbus A320-233 · Flight 3054
Congonhas Airport, São Paulo
The A320 landed in rain on Congonhas's short runway with one reverser inoperative; one thrust lever was left in the climb position while the other went to reverse, the autobrakes did not engage and the aircraft crossed the avenue and crashed into a warehouse belonging to the airline itself. All 187 people on board died, and twelve on the ground. It is the worst accident in Brazilian aviation.
33December 4, 1974 Human factorsSri Lanka 191 killed
Martinair Flight 138 in Sri Lanka
Martinair, for Garuda · Douglas DC-8-55F · Flight 138
near Maskeliya
The DC-8 was carrying 182 Indonesian pilgrims towards Mecca with a stop in Colombo. On approach, at night and in rain, it descended below safe altitude and struck a mountain 74 kilometres from the airport. All 191 people on board died. It was then the worst single-aircraft accident ever, and the first of a long list of flights into terrain that would end in the ground-proximity warning.
34February 6, 1996 Technical failureDominican Republic 189 killed
Lutz Schönfeld · CC BY-SA 2.0 de Birgenair Flight 301 off Puerto Plata
Birgenair, for Alas Nacionales · Boeing 757-225 · Flight 301
Atlantic Ocean, off Puerto Plata
The 757, parked for weeks, took off for Frankfurt with the captain's pitot tube blocked, probably by a wasp nest. The airspeed indicator read ever higher and the autopilot raised the nose until the aircraft stalled and fell into the sea at night. All 189 people on board died, almost all German tourists. The accident made it mandatory to cover the probes of any aircraft that spends days on the ground.
35October 29, 2018 Technical failureIndonesia 189 killed
Lion Air Flight 610 in the Java Sea
Lion Air · Boeing 737 MAX 8 · Flight 610
Java Sea, off Karawang
A miscalibrated angle-of-attack sensor made the 737 MAX's MCAS system, which the pilots knew nothing about, push the nose down again and again after take-off from Jakarta. The crew fought it for eleven minutes before losing. All 189 people on board died. It was the first of the two accidents that grounded the MAX worldwide for twenty months.
36May 9, 1987 Technical failurePoland 183 killed
LOT Flight 5055 at Warsaw
LOT Polish Airlines · Ilyushin Il-62M · Flight 5055
Kabaty Forest, Warsaw
A faulty bearing in one engine disintegrated during the climb towards New York; fragments destroyed the neighbouring engine and the elevator controls and started a fire in the hold. The crew fought for half an hour to get back to Warsaw and came down in a forest five kilometres from the runway. All 183 people on board died. It is the worst accident in Polish aviation.
37November 27, 1983 Human factorsSpain 181 killed
Michel Gilliand · GFDL 1.2 Avianca Flight 011 at Mejorada del Campo
Avianca · Boeing 747-283B · Flight 011
Mejorada del Campo, near Madrid
The 747 'Olafo', arriving from Paris bound for Bogotá, descended below the approach altitude for Barajas in the early hours and clipped three hills before breaking up in a field. 181 of the 192 people on board died, among them the writer Manuel Scorza and the pianist Rosa Sabater. The ground-proximity warning sounded, but the crew did not correct in time. It is the worst accident in Avianca's history.
38December 29, 2024 UnresolvedSouth Korea Investigation ongoing 179 killed
Anton Homma · CC BY-SA 2.0 Jeju Air Flight 2216 at Muan
Jeju Air · Boeing 737-8AS · Flight 2216
Muan Airport
The 737 arriving from Bangkok declared an emergency after striking birds on approach, turned back and landed gear-up on its belly, in the opposite direction and well along the runway; it slid to the end and crashed into the concrete embankment holding the approach antennas. 179 of the 181 people on board died; two cabin crew survived. It is the worst air accident on South Korean soil. The investigation remains open.
39August 11, 1979 CollisionSoviet Union 178 killed
Eduard Marmet · CC BY-SA 3.0 Dniprodzerzhynsk: two Aeroflot Tu-134s
Aeroflot · two Tupolev Tu-134A · 7628 · 7880
over Dniprodzerzhynsk, Ukraine
Two Tu-134s collided at 27,500 feet over Ukraine after a trainee controller confused one of them with a third aircraft and confirmed a separation that did not exist. All 178 people on the two aircraft died, among them the entire Pakhtakor Tashkent football team. It remains the deadliest mid-air collision in history.
40October 11, 1984 CollisionSoviet Union 178 killed · 4 on the ground
Aeroflot Flight 3352 at Omsk
Aeroflot · Tupolev Tu-154B-1 · Flight 3352
Omsk Airport
The Tu-154 landed at Omsk before dawn on a runway where three maintenance vehicles were working, cleared there by a controller who had fallen asleep and unseen because the runway lights did not show them. 174 people on board died, and four in the vehicles. For years it was the worst accident in Soviet aviation, and little was known of it outside the country.
41September 10, 1976 CollisionYugoslavia 176 killed
Zagreb: British Airways 476 and Inex-Adria 550
British Airways and Inex-Adria Aviopromet · Hawker Siddeley Trident 3B and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 · BA 476 · JP 550
over Vrbovec, near Zagreb
A Trident from London to Istanbul and a chartered DC-9 full of German tourists crossed at 33,000 feet over one of Europe's busiest reporting points. An overloaded controller cleared the DC-9 up to the other's level and, realising the error, gave the instruction in Serbo-Croatian, which the British crew did not understand. All 176 people on the two aircraft died. It became the main argument for the airborne collision-avoidance system.
42January 8, 2020 Deliberate actIran 176 killed
Hossein Mersadi · CC BY 4.0 Ukraine International Flight 752, shot down near Tehran
Ukraine International Airlines · Boeing 737-8KV · Flight 752
near Tehran
A few hours after Iran fired missiles at American bases in Iraq, a Revolutionary Guard battery launched two missiles at the 737 that had just left Tehran for Kyiv, taking it for a hostile target. All 176 people on board died, many of them Canadians of Iranian origin. Iran denied it for three days and then admitted it.
43October 13, 1972 UnresolvedSoviet Union 174 killed
Michel Gilliand · GFDL 1.2 Aeroflot Flight 217 at Sheremetyevo
Aeroflot · Ilyushin Il-62 · Flight 217
near Moscow-Sheremetyevo
The Il-62 arriving from Paris via Leningrad came down at night eleven kilometres short of the Sheremetyevo runway, in rain and low cloud. It was the worst crash in history at the time and the Soviet Union barely reported it. The commission could not determine the cause; theories ranged from crew disorientation to a lightning strike. Much of what is known came out decades later.
44September 19, 1989 Deliberate actNiger 170 killed
UTA Flight 772 over the Ténéré
UTA · McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 · Flight 772
Ténéré Desert
A bomb placed in the hold during the stop at N'Djamena destroyed the DC-10 flying from Brazzaville to Paris over the Niger desert. All 170 people on board died. A French court convicted six Libyans in their absence. In 2007 the families built a memorial on the site out of desert stones: a 70-metre aircraft visible from the air.
45August 22, 2006 WeatherUkraine 170 killed
Konstantin von Wedelstaedt · GFDL 1.2 Pulkovo Flight 612 near Donetsk
Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise · Tupolev Tu-154M · Flight 612
near Donetsk
To get over a line of thunderstorms on the way to Saint Petersburg, the crew took the Tu-154 above 39,000 feet, higher than the aircraft could sustain at that weight and temperature. It stalled and fell in a flat spin for three minutes. All 170 people on board died, 45 of them children. It is the worst accident in Russian aviation since the Soviet Union.
46January 30, 2000 Human factorsIvory Coast 169 killed
Kenya Airways Flight 431 off Abidjan
Kenya Airways · Airbus A310-304 · Flight 431
Atlantic Ocean, off Abidjan
Seconds after a night take-off towards Lagos and Nairobi, a stall warning sounded that was false. The captain lowered the nose to regain speed over a featureless sea and the A310 flew into the water little more than a kilometre from the shore. 169 of the 179 people on board died. It was Kenya Airways' first fatal accident.
47July 15, 2009 Technical failureIran 168 killed
Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 near Qazvin
Caspian Airlines · Tupolev Tu-154M · Flight 7908
near Qazvin
Sixteen minutes after taking off from Tehran for Yerevan, a disc in one of the Tu-154's engines failed, fire reached the tail and the aircraft dived into a field. All 168 people on board died. Iran was flying old aircraft because sanctions prevented it from buying or maintaining others, and this accident laid that bare.
48March 31, 1986 Technical failureMexico 167 killed
Mexicana Flight 940 at Maravatío
Mexicana de Aviación · Boeing 727-264 · Flight 940
Maravatío mountains, Michoacán
An overheated brake burst a main-gear tyre fifteen minutes after take-off from Mexico City; the tyre had been filled with air instead of nitrogen. The explosion ruptured fuel and hydraulic lines and the 727 caught fire in the air before falling into the mountains. All 167 people on board died. It remains the worst accident in Mexican aviation.
49September 28, 1992 Human factorsNepal 167 killed
PIA Flight 268 at Kathmandu
Pakistan International Airlines · Airbus A300B4-203 · Flight 268
near Kathmandu
The approach to Kathmandu steps down between mountains. The A300 descended one step too early, in cloud, and struck a hillside at 8,200 feet, two months after a Thai Airways Airbus was lost in the same valley. All 167 people on board died. The Kathmandu approach charts were redrawn so that the error could not be repeated.
50July 8, 1980 WeatherSoviet Union 166 killed
Aeroflot Flight 4225 at Almaty
Aeroflot · Tupolev Tu-154B-2 · Flight 4225
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Shortly after taking off from Almaty on a hot afternoon, the Tu-154 flew into a downdraught, lost speed and stalled less than 500 feet above the ground. All 166 people on board died. It is the worst accident in Kazakhstan's aviation history and one of the first to document the effect of wind shear on a heavily loaded jet at a high-altitude airport.
51December 28, 2014 Human factorsIndonesia 162 killed
Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland · CC BY-SA 2.0 Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 in the Java Sea
Indonesia AirAsia · Airbus A320-216 · Flight 8501
Java Sea, off Borneo
A cracked solder joint kept triggering a flight-control system warning. In flight the captain silenced it the way he had seen it done on the ground, by pulling the circuit breaker, which disconnected the autopilot; the A320 rolled, pitched up sharply and stalled over the Java Sea. All 162 people on board died. It is the same high-altitude stall as AF447, five years on.
52June 6, 1994 Technical failureChina 160 killed
China Northwest Flight 2303 near Xi'an
China Northwest Airlines · Tupolev Tu-154M · Flight 2303
near Xi'an, Shaanxi
During maintenance two autopilot cables had been connected the wrong way round, so that the roll channel answered yaw commands and vice versa. As soon as it was engaged after take-off from Xi'an, the Tu-154 began to oscillate ever more violently until it broke up in the air. All 160 people on board died. It is the worst accident in mainland Chinese aviation.
53August 16, 2005 Human factorsVenezuela 160 killed
West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 at Machiques
West Caribbean Airways · McDonnell Douglas MD-82 · Flight 708
Machiques, Zulia
The chartered MD-82 from Panama to Martinique was flying too high for its weight with the anti-ice on; it lost speed until it stalled, and the crew, convinced the engines had failed, never recognised the stall in the three minutes of the fall. All 160 people on board died, almost all of them from Martinique. It is the worst accident in Colombian aviation and for France's overseas territories.
54November 28, 1987 Technical failureMauritius 159 killed
South African Airways Flight 295, the Helderberg
South African Airways · Boeing 747-244B Combi · Flight 295
Indian Ocean, off Mauritius
A fire in the main-deck cargo hold, which on a 747 Combi sits behind the passengers, filled the aircraft flying from Taipei to Johannesburg with smoke. The 'Helderberg' fell into the ocean 250 kilometres from Mauritius with 159 people; the flight recorder was recovered from a depth of 4,900 metres. What was burning was never established with certainty, and carrying cargo alongside passengers has been far more tightly regulated since.
55December 20, 1995 Human factorsColombia 159 killed
Makaristos · public domain American Airlines Flight 965 near Buga
American Airlines · Boeing 757-223 · Flight 965
El Diluvio hill, near Buga, Valle del Cauca
During the night descent into Cali the crew typed the letter 'R' into the flight computer to head for the Rozo beacon, but the system picked Romeo, near Bogotá, and the 757 turned towards the mountains. The terrain warning came late and the speed brakes were still out. 159 of the 163 people on board died. It is the accident that put the navigation database at the centre of safety.
56June 3, 2012 Technical failureNigeria 159 killed · 6 on the ground
Dana Air Flight 992 in Lagos
Dana Air · McDonnell Douglas MD-83 · Flight 992
Iju-Ishaga, Lagos
Both engines of the MD-83 arriving from Abuja lost power one after the other through a fuel-system fault, and the aircraft glided down onto a crowded Lagos neighbourhood a few kilometres from the runway. All 153 people on board died, and six on the ground. It is Nigeria's worst accident since the Nigeria Airways crash at Jeddah.
57May 22, 2010 Human factorsIndia 158 killed
Air India Express Flight 812 at Mangalore
Air India Express · Boeing 737-8HG · Flight 812
Mangalore, Karnataka
The 737 arriving from Dubai touched down too far along and too fast on Mangalore's tabletop runway, tried to go around when no runway was left and fell into the ravine at the end. 158 of the 166 people on board died. The captain had slept for much of the flight and dismissed the first officer's calls to abandon the approach.
58March 10, 2019 Technical failureEthiopia 157 killed
LLBG Spotter · CC BY-SA 2.0 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 near Bishoftu
Ethiopian Airlines · Boeing 737 MAX 8 · Flight 302
near Bishoftu
Six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa for Nairobi, the same MCAS system that had brought down the Lion Air five months earlier again pushed the 737 MAX's nose down after a sensor failed. All 157 people on board died, from 35 countries. Three days later the MAX was grounded worldwide, and the investigation that followed questioned how the FAA had certified it.
59August 16, 1987 Human factorsUnited States 156 killed · 2 on the ground
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) · public domain Northwest Airlines Flight 255 at Detroit
Northwest Airlines · McDonnell Douglas MD-82 · Flight 255
Romulus, by Detroit Airport
The MD-82 took off from Detroit with no flaps or slats because the crew skipped the checklist and the system meant to warn them had no power. It clipped a light pole, fell onto a road and broke up under an overpass. 154 people on board and two in cars died; a four-year-old girl survived. A year later, in Dallas, another aircraft would crash for the same reason.
60December 3, 1972 Human factorsSpain 155 killed
Spantax Flight 275 at Tenerife
Spantax · Convair CV-990 Coronado · Flight 275
Los Rodeos Airport, Tenerife
A charter full of German tourists took off from Los Rodeos, in the north of Tenerife, for Munich with low cloud over the runway and visibility of about 150 metres. At a height of about 90 metres the aircraft banked, struck the ground with its left wing just beyond the end of the runway and crashed. All 155 people on board died. The inquiry attributed it to the captain's spatial disorientation on a take-off without visual references.
61September 19, 1976 Human factorsTurkey 154 killed
Fergus Abraham · CC BY-SA 2.0 Turkish Airlines Flight 452 near Isparta
Turkish Airlines · Boeing 727-2F2 · Flight 452
near Isparta
The 727 flying from Istanbul to Antalya began descending at night far earlier than it should have, the crew convinced that the lights they saw were the airport's, and struck a mountain more than a hundred kilometres from its destination. All 154 people on board died. It remains the worst air accident on Turkish soil.
62September 29, 2006 CollisionBrazil 154 killed
Brazilian Air Force · CC BY 3.0 br Gol Flight 1907 over Mato Grosso
Gol · Boeing 737-8EH and Embraer Legacy 600 · Flight 1907
Mato Grosso rainforest
A newly delivered business jet was flying the opposite way along the same airway and at the same altitude as the Gol 737, its transponder off without its crew knowing and without the controllers noticing. The Legacy's wing sliced through the 737's, which fell into the rainforest with 154 people; the Legacy landed. It was Brazil's worst accident until Congonhas a year later, and it exposed the cracks in the country's air traffic control.
63August 20, 2008 Human factorsSpain 154 killed
Spanair Flight 5022 at Barajas
Spanair · McDonnell Douglas MD-82 · Flight 5022
Madrid-Barajas Airport
After returning to the terminal for a minor fault, the MD-82 took off for Las Palmas with no flaps or slats: the crew had not extended them and the alarm that should have warned them did not sound. The aircraft barely lifted off, banked and fell beside the runway. 154 of the 172 people on board died. It is Spain's worst accident since Tenerife, and the one that led to a review of how configuration is checked before take-off.
64July 9, 1982 WeatherUnited States 153 killed · 8 on the ground
Pedro Aragão · CC BY-SA 3.0 Pan Am Flight 759 at Kenner
Pan Am · Boeing 727-235 · Flight 759
Kenner, Louisiana
The 727 took off from New Orleans under a thunderstorm and within seconds flew into a microburst: the headwind turned into a tailwind and the aircraft, unable to climb any longer, fell onto a residential neighbourhood. All 145 people on board died, and eight on the ground. Together with Delta Flight 191 three years later, it was the accident that led to wind-shear radars at airports across the United States.
65June 30, 2009 Human factorsComoros 152 killed
Yemenia Flight 626 off Moroni
Yemenia · Airbus A310-324 · Flight 626
off Moroni, Grande Comore
On the night approach to Moroni, in strong wind and with no precision aids, the crew lost control of the A310 during a go-around and the aircraft fell into the sea. Of the 153 people on board, one survived: a twelve-year-old girl, Bahia Bakari, who clung to wreckage for hours. France prosecuted the airline, since most of the passengers had boarded in Paris.
66July 28, 2010 Human factorsPakistan 152 killed
Richard Vandervord · CC BY-SA 4.0 Airblue Flight 202 in the Margalla Hills
Airblue · Airbus A321-231 · Flight 202
Margalla Hills, Islamabad
In monsoon rain and low cloud, the A321 arriving from Karachi was flying the circling visual approach to Islamabad. The captain, who had belittled the first officer throughout the flight, strayed outside the published circuit, ignored the terrain warnings and struck the hills north of the city. All 152 people on board died. It is the worst air accident in Pakistan.
67September 3, 1989 WeatherCuba 150 killed · 24 on the ground
Cubana Flight 9646 at Havana
Cubana de Aviación · Ilyushin Il-62M · Flight 9646
Havana
The chartered Il-62M leaving for Milan took off under a tropical thunderstorm and, meeting a tailwind, could not climb and fell onto a neighbourhood beside José Martí Airport. All 126 people on board died, almost all of them Italian tourists, and 24 residents. It is the worst accident in Cuban history and in Latin American aviation.
68March 24, 2015 Deliberate actFrance 150 killed
SEBASTIEN MORTIER · CC BY-SA 2.0 Germanwings Flight 9525 in the Alps
Germanwings · Airbus A320-211 · Flight 9525
Prads-Haute-Bléone, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
The first officer, who was hiding a serious depression, waited for the captain to leave the cockpit, locked the armoured door from inside and programmed the A320 flying from Barcelona to Düsseldorf to descend into a mountainside in the Alps. All 150 people on board died. European airlines adopted the two-person cockpit rule, and the debate over pilots' medical confidentiality was reopened.
69September 5, 2005 Human factorsIndonesia 149 killed · 49 on the ground
Mandala Airlines Flight 091 at Medan
Mandala Airlines · Boeing 737-230 · Flight 091
Medan, Sumatra
The 737 tried to take off from Medan with neither flaps nor slats extended and, unable to stay airborne, fell onto a street full of houses and cars a few hundred metres from the runway. 100 people on board died and 49 on the ground, among them the governor of North Sumatra, who was a passenger. It is the same configuration error as Detroit in 1987 and Madrid in 2008.
70February 19, 1985 Human factorsSpain 148 killed
Felix Goetting · GFDL 1.2 Iberia Flight 610 on Mount Oiz
Iberia · Boeing 727-256 · Flight 610
Mount Oiz, Biscay
The 727 'Alhambra de Granada', arriving from Madrid, struck a television mast on the summit of Oiz while descending towards Bilbao below safe altitude. All 148 people on board died. The inquiry pointed to a misread altimeter and a ground-proximity warning the crew took for a false alarm. It is the worst accident in Iberia's history and in the Basque Country.
71January 3, 2004 Human factorsEgypt 148 killed
LEVAIN DANIEL · public domain Flash Airlines Flight 604 off Sharm el-Sheikh
Flash Airlines · Boeing 737-3Q8 · Flight 604
Red Sea, off Sharm el-Sheikh
The charter taking French tourists home to Paris took off at night over the Red Sea and, in the first turn, the captain lost awareness of the aircraft's attitude and rolled it to 111 degrees without correcting. The 737 hit the water three minutes after take-off. All 148 people on board died. Egypt and France disagreed over whether there had also been a failure in the aircraft.
72April 25, 1980 Human factorsSpain 146 killed
Dan-Air Flight 1008 in Tenerife
Dan-Air · Boeing 727-46 · Flight 1008
La Esperanza, Tenerife
The charter from Manchester was given an unpublished holding instruction at Los Rodeos and the crew read it the wrong way round, turning towards the mountains instead of away from them. The ground-proximity warning sounded seven seconds before impact. All 146 people on board died. Three years after the 1977 collision, Tenerife was again showing the price of a misunderstanding on the radio.
73July 4, 2001 Human factorsRussia 145 killed
Vladivostok Air Flight 352 near Irkutsk
Vladivostok Air · Tupolev Tu-154M · Flight 352
near Irkutsk
In the approach pattern for Irkutsk, at night, the Tu-154 lost speed in a turn until it stalled and fell in a flat spin onto a nearby village. All 145 people on board died. The Russian commission attributed the loss of control to the crew, who did not notice the airspeed decaying while hand-flying the aircraft.
74September 25, 1978 CollisionUnited States 144 killed · 7 on the ground
PSA Flight 182 over San Diego
Pacific Southwest Airlines · Boeing 727-214 and Cessna 172 · Flight 182
North Park, San Diego, California
A 727 on a visual approach to San Diego lost sight of a training light aircraft below it and collided with it over a city neighbourhood. 135 people died on the airliner, two on the Cessna and seven on the ground. It was the worst accident in the United States at the time, and it led to mandatory control zones around major airports.
75August 23, 2000 Human factorsBahrain 143 killed
Gulf Air Flight 072 at Bahrain
Gulf Air · Airbus A320-212 · Flight 072
Persian Gulf, off Manama
The A320 arriving from Cairo came into the Bahrain approach too fast, began a go-around at night over the sea and, with no visible horizon, the captain pushed the nose down until the aircraft struck the water. All 143 people on board died. The investigation described a classic case of spatial disorientation and an airline that had not trained the manoeuvre.
76November 24, 1992 Human factorsChina 141 killed
Aero Icarus · CC BY-SA 2.0 China Southern Flight 3943 near Guilin
China Southern Airlines · Boeing 737-3Y0 · Flight 3943
near Guilin, Guangxi
Descending towards Guilin with the autopilot engaged, one engine stayed at idle while the other pushed, and the crew did not correct the asymmetry until the 737 banked beyond recovery and struck a mountain. All 141 people on board died. It was one of the accidents that precipitated the sweeping reform of Chinese air safety in the 1990s.
77August 2, 1985 WeatherUnited States 137 killed · 1 on the ground
Delta Air Lines Flight 191 at Dallas-Fort Worth
Delta Air Lines · Lockheed L-1011 TriStar · Flight 191
Dallas-Fort Worth Airport
On final approach to Dallas the TriStar flew through an isolated thunderstorm and a microburst threw it to the ground short of the runway; it bounced across a highway, killing a motorist, and struck water tanks. 137 people died. It was the accident that made wind-shear radar and escape training mandatory in the United States.
78December 16, 1960 CollisionUnited States 134 killed · 6 on the ground
New York: United 826 and TWA 266
United Air Lines and TWA · Douglas DC-8 and Lockheed Super Constellation · United 826 · TWA 266
Staten Island and Brooklyn, New York
A DC-8 that had overshot its holding point, with one of its navigation receivers out, collided in fog with a Constellation descending towards LaGuardia. The jet fell on a Brooklyn neighbourhood and killed six people in the street. An eleven-year-old boy survived for a day. The 250-knot limit below 10,000 feet and the transponder reporting of position were brought in because of it.
79February 4, 1966 UnresolvedJapan 133 killed
All Nippon Airways Flight 60
All Nippon Airways · Boeing 727-81 · Flight 60
Tokyo Bay
A nearly new 727 arriving from Sapporo went into the sea on a clear night, ten kilometres from Haneda, while setting up to land. Nobody survived, and the Japanese commission was never able to establish why the aircraft descended into the water. It was the first of five serious accidents in Japan in a single year, which forced the country to rebuild its air safety system.
80September 8, 1994 Technical failureUnited States 132 killed
USAir Flight 427 near Pittsburgh
USAir · Boeing 737-3B7 · Flight 427
Hopewell, near Pittsburgh
At 6,000 feet on approach to Pittsburgh, the 737's rudder swung hard over in the direction opposite to the pedals and the aircraft fell in 28 seconds. All 132 people on board died. The investigation took more than four years to prove that a valve in the rudder actuator could jam and reverse, and the entire world 737 fleet had the system replaced.
81March 21, 2022 UnresolvedChina 132 killed
China Eastern Flight 5735 in Guangxi
China Eastern Airlines · Boeing 737-89P · Flight 5735
Teng County, Guangxi
The 737 flying from Kunming to Guangzhou plunged from cruise almost vertically and crashed in the mountains of Guangxi. All 132 people on board died. The Chinese authority has not published a cause; American press reports said the flight data pointed to inputs made from the cockpit. It is China's worst air accident in almost three decades.
82June 3, 1962 Technical failureFrance 130 killed
Air France Flight 007 at Orly
Air France · Boeing 707-328 · Flight 007
Paris-Orly Airport
The 707 carrying more than a hundred of Atlanta's art patrons home could not raise its nose on take-off and crashed at the end of the runway. Two flight attendants survived. The inquiry pointed to a failure of the servo motor driving the elevator trim. Atlanta used the compensation to found the arts centre that today bears the Woodruff name.
83June 30, 1956 CollisionUnited States 128 killed
Grand Canyon: TWA 2 and United 718
TWA and United Air Lines · Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation and Douglas DC-7 · TWA 2 · United 718
Grand Canyon, Arizona
Two airliners that had left Los Angeles three minutes apart collided over the Grand Canyon, outside controlled airspace and flying by sight. There were no survivors. It was the first air crash to kill more than a hundred people, and it made plain that the sky could no longer be organised by eye: in 1958 Congress created the Federal Aviation Administration and radar control of airways.
84November 23, 1996 Deliberate actComoros 125 killed
Ethiopian Flight 961, hijacked, ditching off the Comoros
Ethiopian Airlines · Boeing 767-260ER · Flight 961
off Grande Comore
Three hijackers demanded to be flown to Australia in an aircraft that only had fuel for Nairobi. When the engines stopped, the captain ditched off a beach in the Comoros while grappling with one of them; a wing caught the water and the 767 broke apart. 125 of the 175 people on board died. A tourist filmed the ditching from the shore, and it is one of the few images that exist of one.
85March 5, 1966 WeatherJapan 124 killed
BOAC Flight 911 by Mount Fuji
BOAC · Boeing 707-436 · Flight 911
Mount Fuji
The captain asked to fly visually so that passengers could see Fuji on a clear day. In the lee of the mountain the 707 ran into mountain-wave turbulence so violent that the tail came off in flight. All 124 people on board died, a month after the loss of ANA Flight 60. Clear-air turbulence near mountains came to be studied as a hazard in its own right.
86July 11, 1973 Technical failureFrance 123 killed
Sapeurs Pompiers de Paris · CC BY-SA 4.0 Varig Flight 820 near Orly
Varig · Boeing 707-345C · Flight 820
Saulx-les-Chartreux, near Orly
A fire in a rear lavatory filled the 707 arriving from Rio de Janeiro with smoke five minutes from Orly. The crew made an emergency landing in a field, and the fuselage stayed almost intact, but 123 people had died of smoke before it touched down. Smoke detectors in lavatories, and the ban on smoking in them, date from this flight.
87August 14, 2005 Human factorsGreece 121 killed
Helios Airways Flight 522 near Athens
Helios Airways · Boeing 737-31S · Flight 522
Grammatiko, near Athens
The pressurisation selector had been left in manual after overnight maintenance and nobody caught it on the checklists. The 737 climbed towards Athens unpressurised; the crew mistook the warning for another and lost consciousness, as did the passengers. The aircraft flew for two hours on autopilot, shadowed by fighters, until the fuel ran out. All 121 people on board died. The cabin-altitude warning was made unmistakable after this.
88June 18, 1972 Human factorsUnited Kingdom 118 killed
BEA Flight 548 at Staines
British European Airways · Hawker Siddeley Trident 1C · Flight 548
Staines, by Heathrow
Two minutes after taking off for Brussels, the Trident entered a deep stall and fell into a field at Staines. The leading-edge droops had been retracted far too early, at a speed the aircraft could not sustain. The captain had serious heart disease and there was tension in the cockpit over a strike. There was no cockpit voice recorder: the United Kingdom made it compulsory because of this crash.
89October 8, 2001 CollisionItaly 118 killed · 4 on the ground
Linate: SAS 686 and a Cessna Citation
SAS · McDonnell Douglas MD-87 and Cessna Citation II · Flight 686
Milan-Linate Airport
A private jet taxiing in dense fog took the wrong taxiway and entered the runway just as the SAS MD-87 was taking off for Copenhagen. The airliner, gear already up and one engine torn off, crashed into a baggage hangar. All 110 people on the MD-87 died, the four on the Cessna and four ground workers. Linate had no working ground radar. It is Italy's worst air accident.
90November 29, 1987 Deliberate actMyanmar 115 killed
Korean Air Flight 858, destroyed by a bomb
Korean Air · Boeing 707-3B5C · Flight 858
Andaman Sea, off Burma
Two North Korean agents left a bomb in the overhead locker of the 707 flying from Baghdad to Seoul and got off at Abu Dhabi. The aircraft blew up over the Andaman Sea with 115 people, nine months before the Seoul Olympic Games. One of the agents, arrested in Bahrain, confessed; North Korea still denies it.
91June 24, 1975 WeatherUnited States 113 killed
Eastern Air Lines Flight 66 at JFK
Eastern Air Lines · Boeing 727-225 · Flight 66
JFK Airport, New York
The 727 arriving from New Orleans flew into a thunderstorm on final approach to JFK, lost lift in a downdraught and struck the approach lights. Of the 124 people on board, 113 died. The meteorologist Ted Fujita studied this crash and described the microburst, a wind nobody had named and which would bring down several more aircraft before radars were installed to see it.
92July 25, 2000 Technical failureFrance 113 killed · 4 on the ground
Crash2000 (talk) · public domain Air France Flight 4590: Concorde at Gonesse
Air France · Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde · Flight 4590
Gonesse, near Paris
During the take-off roll Concorde ran over a strip of metal shed by another aircraft; a tyre burst and a piece struck the wing so hard that the fuel tank ruptured from the inside and the fuel ignited. The aircraft stayed in the air for two minutes and fell on a hotel at Gonesse. All 109 people on board died, and four on the ground. It was Concorde's only fatal accident, and it stopped flying three years later.
93July 19, 1989 Technical failureUnited States 112 killed
United Airlines Flight 232 at Sioux City
United Airlines · McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 · Flight 232
Sioux City, Iowa
The fan disk of the tail engine split along a manufacturing flaw that seventeen years of inspections had missed, and severed all three of the DC-10's hydraulic systems. With no controls, the crew, helped by an instructor travelling as a passenger, steered the aircraft for 45 minutes on the thrust of the two remaining engines and brought it to the Sioux City runway. 112 of the 296 people on board died and 184 survived, which is regarded as a feat.
94November 27, 1989 Deliberate actColombia 110 killed · 3 on the ground
Richard Vandervord · CC BY-SA 4.0 Avianca Flight 203, destroyed by a bomb
Avianca · Boeing 727-21 · Flight 203
Soacha, near Bogotá
Five minutes after taking off from Bogotá for Cali, a bomb planted by the Medellín cartel exploded in the 727's cabin and the aircraft broke up in the air over Soacha. All 107 people on board died, and three on the ground. It was the deadliest attack of Pablo Escobar's war on the Colombian state, and the one that led the United States to make him a priority target.
95May 11, 1996 Technical failureUnited States 110 killed
Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland · CC BY-SA 2.0 ValuJet Flight 592 in the Everglades
ValuJet · McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 · Flight 592
Everglades, Florida
A contractor loaded more than a hundred expired chemical oxygen generators into the DC-9's hold, without their safety caps and labelled as empty. One went off, the fire reached a thousand degrees and the aircraft fell into the swamp ten minutes after leaving Miami. All 110 people on board died. The generators became regulated hazardous cargo and cargo holds were required to carry fire detection and suppression.
96December 29, 1972 Human factorsUnited States 101 killed
Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 in the Everglades
Eastern Air Lines · Lockheed L-1011 TriStar · Flight 401
Everglades, Florida
A burnt-out bulb in the landing-gear indicator absorbed the whole crew for four minutes while the autopilot, disconnected without anyone noticing, let the aircraft sink into the swamp. Of the 176 people on board, 101 died. It is the accident that gave crew resource management its name: somebody has to keep flying the aeroplane.
97October 31, 1996 Technical failureBrazil 99 killed · 4 on the ground
TAM Flight 402 in São Paulo
TAM · Fokker 100 · Flight 402
São Paulo, beside Congonhas Airport
The right engine's thrust reverser opened seconds after take-off from Congonhas. The Fokker 100, less than 300 feet up, banked and fell onto the houses of a neighbouring district. All 95 people on board died, and four on the ground. It was Brazil's worst accident at the time and opened the debate about an airport hemmed in by the city.
98December 7, 1983 CollisionSpain 93 killed
Barajas: Iberia 350 and Aviaco 134
Iberia and Aviaco · Boeing 727-256 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 · Iberia 350 · Aviaco 134
Madrid-Barajas Airport
Ten days after the Avianca crash, an Aviaco DC-9 taxiing in fog at Barajas took the wrong taxiway and entered the runway from which an Iberia 727 was taking off for Rome. All 42 people on the DC-9 died, and 51 on the 727. There was no ground radar and no signage adequate for fog like that. Madrid installed surface radar and redesigned its taxiways.
99January 31, 2000 Technical failureUnited States 88 killed
Alaska Airlines Flight 261 off California
Alaska Airlines · McDonnell Douglas MD-83 · Flight 261
Pacific Ocean, off Anacapa, California
The jackscrew that moves the MD-83's horizontal stabiliser had worn for lack of grease until its nut gave way in flight and the aircraft pitched down beyond recovery. The crew ended up flying inverted trying to regain control before falling into the Pacific. All 88 people on board died. The investigation revealed that the airline had stretched the inspection intervals for that component with the regulator's permission.
100January 20, 1992 Human factorsFrance 87 killed
Michel Gilliand · GFDL 1.2 Air Inter Flight 148 on Mont Sainte-Odile
Air Inter · Airbus A320-111 · Flight 148
Mont Sainte-Odile, Alsace
On approach to Strasbourg, the crew meant to set a 3.3-degree descent angle and unknowingly selected a rate of 3,300 feet per minute: the A320's panel showed both modes with almost identical figures. The aircraft struck the mountain in snow. 87 of the 96 people on board died. The panel was redesigned and France made the ground-proximity warning compulsory, which Air Inter had not fitted.
101August 31, 1986 CollisionUnited States 82 killed · 15 on the ground
Cerritos: Aeroméxico Flight 498
Aeroméxico · McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 and Piper PA-28 · Flight 498
Cerritos, California
A private light aircraft entered Los Angeles airspace without clearance and struck the DC-9 descending towards the airport. The wreckage fell on a Cerritos neighbourhood: 64 people died on the airliner, three in the Piper and fifteen in their homes. The United States made altitude-reporting transponders compulsory around major airports from then on and hurried the TCAS collision-avoidance system into service.
102June 27, 1980 UnresolvedItaly 81 killed
Lewis Grant · CC BY-SA 3.0 Itavia Flight 870 off Ustica
Itavia · McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 · Flight 870
Tyrrhenian Sea, near Ustica
The DC-9 flying from Bologna to Palermo vanished from radar in cruise and fell into the sea with 81 people. Forty years of expert reports, trials and a parliamentary commission have sustained two theories, a bomb on board or a missile fired in an air battle nobody has admitted, without either being proven. It is the Italian accident that still has no official explanation.
103January 13, 1982 Human factorsUnited States 78 killed · 4 on the ground
Air Florida Flight 90 in the Potomac
Air Florida · Boeing 737-222 · Flight 90
14th Street Bridge, Washington, D.C.
In a snowstorm, the 737 took off from National Airport with ice on its wings and the engine probes frozen, so that the gauges showed more thrust than the engines were giving. It could not climb, struck a bridge full of cars and fell into the frozen Potomac. 74 people on board and four on the bridge died; five were pulled from the water. De-icing before take-off stopped being a judgement call and became a rule.
104October 4, 2001 Deliberate actRussia 78 killed
Dmitry Zherdin · CC BY-SA 3.0 Siberia Airlines Flight 1812, shot down over the Black Sea
Siberia Airlines · Tupolev Tu-154M · Flight 1812
Black Sea, off Sochi
The Tu-154 flying from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk was hit at 36,000 feet by an S-200 missile fired during a Ukrainian military exercise in Crimea, which had lost its target and locked on to the airliner. All 78 people on board died. Ukraine took a week to acknowledge it and paid compensation without formally admitting liability.
105March 23, 1994 Human factorsRussia 75 killed
Aeroflot Flight 593 in Siberia
Aeroflot · Airbus A310-304 · Flight 593
Mezhdurechensk, Siberia
The captain sat his two children at the controls during the cruise from Moscow to Hong Kong. The fifteen-year-old boy pushed the yoke hard enough to partly disconnect the autopilot without anyone noticing, and the A310 went into a spin. All 75 people on board died. The cockpit recording made the accident a case study in flight-deck discipline.
106January 25, 1990 Human factorsUnited States 73 killed
Avianca Flight 052 at Cove Neck
Avianca · Boeing 707-321B · Flight 052
Cove Neck, Long Island, New York
After more than an hour of weather holds over New York and a missed approach, the 707 from Bogotá ran out of fuel and came down on a hillside on Long Island. 73 of the 158 people on board died. The crew had asked for 'priority' but never declared an emergency in the words the controllers understood. The radio vocabulary for low fuel was fixed because of it.
107July 1, 2002 CollisionGermany 71 killed
Überlingen: Bashkirian 2937 and DHL 611
Bashkirian Airlines and DHL · Tupolev Tu-154M and Boeing 757-23APF · BTC 2937 · DHL 611
over Überlingen, Lake Constance
A Tu-154 carrying 45 Russian schoolchildren and a 757 freighter converged at night at the same altitude over southern Germany with a single controller on duty. The collision-avoidance system told the Tu-154 to climb and the controller, late, told it to descend; the crew obeyed the human. All 71 people on the two aircraft died. Since then the rule is unambiguous: follow TCAS. Two years later a father who had lost his family killed the controller.
108November 28, 2016 Human factorsColombia 71 killed
Policía Nacional de los colombianos · CC BY-SA 2.0 LaMia Flight 2933: Chapecoense
LaMia · Avro RJ85 · Flight 2933
Cerro Gordo, La Unión, Antioquia
The aircraft chartered to take Chapecoense to the Copa Sudamericana final left Santa Cruz with just enough fuel to reach Medellín and no reserve. A hold in the air drained the tanks and the RJ85 came down on a hillside a few kilometres from the runway with its engines stopped. 71 of the 77 people on board died. The club lost almost its entire squad and the Bolivian airline ceased to exist.
109October 2, 1996 Technical failurePeru 70 killed
Aeroperú Flight 603 off Lima
Aeroperú · Boeing 757-23A · Flight 603
Pacific Ocean, off Lima
A ground worker had taped over the 757's static ports to wash the aircraft and nobody removed the tape. After a night take-off from Lima, the altimeter, airspeed and warnings began to contradict each other; the crew, with no references over the sea, flew into the water believing they were at 10,000 feet. All 70 people on board died. Brightly coloured tape on sensor ports is the answer to this accident.
110January 29, 2025 CollisionUnited States 67 killed
Potomac: American Eagle 5342 and a Black Hawk
PSA Airlines, for American Eagle · Bombardier CRJ700 and Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk · Flight 5342
Potomac River, Washington, D.C.
An Army helicopter on a night training flight collided with the regional jet arriving from Wichita on final approach to National Airport, over the Potomac. All 64 people on the aircraft died, and the three soldiers. It was the first fatal airline accident in the United States since 2009 and it called into question the helicopter corridor running directly beneath the landing path, which has been closed since.
111August 31, 1999 Human factorsArgentina 65 killed · 2 on the ground
LAPA Flight 3142 at Aeroparque
LAPA · Boeing 737-204C · Flight 3142
Aeroparque, Buenos Aires
The 737 began its take-off for Córdoba with the flaps retracted; the warning horn sounded throughout the roll and the crew, absorbed in conversation, ignored it. The aircraft never lifted off, crossed the Costanera avenue and caught fire. 63 people on board died, and two in the street. The trial that followed put the airline's executives in the dock.
112August 22, 1985 Technical failureUnited Kingdom 55 killed
British Airtours Flight 28M at Manchester
British Airtours · Boeing 737-236 · Flight 28M
Manchester Airport
A combustor can in the left engine broke up during the take-off roll, punctured the wing tank and fire engulfed the fuselage in the minute it took the aircraft to stop. 55 of the 137 people on board died, almost all from smoke. No other accident has changed the cabin as much: floor lighting, fire-blocking seats, more room beside the emergency exits and a new approach to evacuation training.
113February 12, 2009 Human factorsUnited States 50 killed · 1 on the ground
Colgan Air Flight 3407 near Buffalo
Colgan Air, for Continental Connection · Bombardier Q400 · Flight 3407
Clarence Center, near Buffalo
On the night approach to Buffalo the aircraft lost speed until the stick shaker fired, and the captain pulled back on the controls instead of pushing. The turboprop fell onto a house. All 49 people on board died, and one resident. The investigation showed a crew that was underpaid, tired and under-trained, and Congress raised the minimum experience for an airline first officer to 1,500 hours.
114January 8, 1989 Human factorsUnited Kingdom 47 killed
Air Accidents Investigation Branch · OGL v1.0 British Midland Flight 92 at Kegworth
British Midland · Boeing 737-4Y0 · Flight 92
Kegworth, Leicestershire
A fan blade broke in the 737's left engine and the crew, confused by the vibration and smoke, shut down the right one, which was healthy. When the damaged engine failed completely on approach, the aircraft fell onto the embankment of the M1 motorway a few hundred metres short of the East Midlands runway. 47 of the 126 people on board died. The study of the survivors' injuries changed seat design and the brace position.
115October 4, 1992 Technical failureNetherlands 43 killed · 39 on the ground
El Al Flight 1862 in the Bijlmermeer
El Al · Boeing 747-258F · Flight 1862
Bijlmermeer, Amsterdam
The fuse pins holding engine number 3 to the wing failed through fatigue shortly after take-off from Schiphol; the engine tore away, took engine 4 with it and damaged the wing. The freighter tried to return and fell onto two apartment blocks in the Bijlmermeer. The four people on board died, and 39 residents. Boeing redesigned the fuse pins on every 747.
116May 6, 1937 UnresolvedUnited States 36 killed · 1 on the ground
Sam Shere · public domain The Hindenburg at Lakehurst
Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei · LZ 129 Hindenburg
Lakehurst, New Jersey
The largest airship ever built burned in under a minute while mooring after an Atlantic crossing. Of the 97 people on board, 35 died, along with one ground crewman. What ignited the hydrogen was never established with certainty, but the root cause was using a flammable gas because the United States would not sell helium to Germany. Passenger airship travel ended that day.
117January 10, 1954 Technical failureItaly 35 killed
Ralf Manteufel · GFDL 1.2 BOAC Flight 781: the Comet off Elba
BOAC · de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1 · Flight 781
Mediterranean Sea, off the island of Elba
The world's first commercial jet broke up in flight at 26,000 feet, twenty minutes after leaving Rome. Three months later another Comet came down near Naples. British investigators rebuilt the fuselage recovered from the sea and pressure-tested it in a water tank: metal fatigue had opened a crack at the corner of a window. Oval windows and fatigue testing for every pressurised aircraft date from here.
118February 6, 1958 WeatherGermany 23 killed
Adrian Pingstone · public domain Munich: BEA Flight 609
British European Airways · Airspeed Ambassador · Flight 609
Munich-Riem Airport
The aircraft bringing Manchester United home from Belgrade failed to get airborne on its third attempt down a slush-covered runway and ran off the end. Twenty-three of the 44 people on board died, eight of them players. The German authorities blamed wing ice for years; the British inquiry showed that melted snow on the runway had held the aircraft below take-off speed. Runway condition has been measured and reported ever since.
119June 2, 1983 Technical failureUnited States 23 killed
Air Canada Flight 797 at Cincinnati
Air Canada · McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 · Flight 797
Cincinnati Airport
An electrical fire in the rear lavatory filled the DC-9 with smoke in cruise. The crew managed an emergency landing at Cincinnati, but when the doors opened the air rushed in and the cabin was engulfed: 23 of the 46 people on board died, among them the musician Stan Rogers. Floor-level emergency lighting, fire-blocking seat materials and the rule to land at the nearest airport at any sign of smoke all come from this flight.
120December 28, 1978 Human factorsUnited States 10 killed
United Airlines Flight 173 at Portland
United Airlines · McDonnell Douglas DC-8-61 · Flight 173
Portland, Oregon
A landing-gear problem led the captain to circle Portland for an hour while the fuel ran down and the first officer and flight engineer did not dare to contradict him. The DC-8 glided into a suburb with all four engines stopped; ten of the 189 people on board died. Crew resource management training was born from this accident, and United was the first to teach it.
No event in that category.
