The greatest air disasters and their causes still give shivers down the spine today. Even though car travel is statistically more dangerous than flying by plane, plane crashes still happen. How many people died in the greatest air crashes? Was every accident caused by mistakes made by the pilots? Or maybe the bombers were mostly responsible for the biggest plane crashes?
1. Air crash in Tenerife (March 27, 1977) - 583 victims
It was by far the greatest plane crash in the history of mankind. Neither the KLM plane nor the PanAm plane should be in Tenerife at this time. However, they were redirected there because a bomb alert was reported at their destination airport (Las Palmas in Gran Canaria). Oddly enough, the crash did not happen in the skies at all. A PanAm plane and a KLM plane collided with each other on the tarmac in Tenerife. The death toll in the crash is appalling. How did such a tragic accident come about? Human errors - both on the part of the control tower and pilots - are responsible for the cause of the catastrophe. The KLM plane tried to take off without the controllers' permission. PanAm, on the other hand, was taxiing in the exact same lane from which it should have left. Although the KLM pilot tried to take the plane over the PanAm at the last moment, the maneuver was unsuccessful. As a result of the collision of both planes, over half a thousand people lost their lives.
2. Disaster of Japan Airlines flight 123 (August 12, 1985) - 520 casualties
The second biggest catastrophe in the history of aviation is the crash of the Japan Airlines 123 plane. A Boeing 747 from a Japanese airline, which had one of its pressure bulkheads badly repaired, crashed into the Takamagahara Mountains in Japan. As a result of the collision of the plane with the mountains, the steering was lost and the cabin was decompressed. Did the pilots detect the fault in the plane before the moment of hitting the mountains? Yes, they controlled the machine for more than 30 minutes after finding the failure. The passengers could therefore quickly write… farewell letters to their families. This accident miraculously survived four passengers - two adult women and two little girls (8 and 12 years old).
3. Air crash over Charkhi Dadri (November 12, 1996) - 349 victims
This tragedy was also caused by human error. Mistakes that killed as many as 349 people. The plane crash happened in the air, as a result of a collision of two planes - Saudi Arabian Airlines and Kazakhstan Airlines. The tragedy took place over the Indian airport in Delhi. Unfortunately, no one survived the crash. Why did the flight end in a tragedy? What caused such a terrible accident? The Kazakhstan Airlines crew lowered the flight level to 14,000 feet, instead of the allowed 15,000. It was this serious mistake of the pilot that caused the collision of two planes.
4. Turkish Airlines flight 981 crash (March 3, 1974) - 346 casualties
The tragedy happened to the northeast of the French capital. The plane crash took place due to the sudden, explosive decompression of the fuselage and the destruction of the hydraulic system that was responsible for controlling the machine. Unfortunately, in this case, there was absolutely nothing the pilots could do to save the passengers. Nobody survived the crash. Where did the sudden hull decompression come from? All because of a badly designed luggage compartment door. As a result of decompression, the fuselage of the plane tore apart, and a moment later the plane fell into a forest near Paris. The impact force was so great that the plane broke into small pieces. Only 40 people out of 346 victims could be identified.
5. Crash of flight Air India 182 (June 23, 1985) - 329 casualties
The catastrophe took place off the coast of Ireland, on the Atlantic Ocean. As a result of the tragedy, 329 people died. Nobody survived. During the investigation, it turned out that the cause of the crash was the attack on Air India's Boeing 747-237B. A bomb exploded in the luggage hatch. The explosive charge was hidden in a suitcase by a man who did not board the plane after checking in. The bomb was hidden in the radio, which then landed in a suitcase cleared by a terrorist. The attack was a deliberate act by members of a separatist Sikh organization. All those responsible for the crash of Air India 182 have been tried and sentenced to life imprisonment in India.
6. Saudi Arabian Airlines flight 163 crash (August 19, 1980) - 301 casualties
In the case of this catastrophe, it did not take place either as a result of a bomb explosion, or a collision of planes or a machine hitting the mountains or the sea. So what happened? Smoke suddenly appeared in the cargo hold as a Saudi airline plane took off. Two… butane stoves were transported there. The crew decided to return the plane to the Riyadh airport, from where it was taking off. Unfortunately, due to a poorly planned rescue operation and too late shutdown of the plane's engines after an emergency landing, all passengers were fatally poisoned by smoke. To this day, it is difficult to explain why the catastrophe took place. Was the tragedy the result of numerous mistakes made by the rescue team, which did not make it on time? Or maybe it was the crew who did not reach an agreement during the evacuation, which extended the taxiway process around the runway? We will never know this again. Nobody survived the crash.
7. Malaysia Airlines flight 17 crash (July 17, 2014) - 298 victims
It was another attack that took place near the Ukrainian village of Hrabowe - only 40 km from the border with Russia. A Malaysian Boeing 777 was shot down by a Buk M1 surface-to-air guided missile system. He belonged to the armed forces of the Russian Federation. Unfortunately, no one survived the attack. Who is responsible for downing the Malaysian plane? Most likely Russian separatists who, however, did not plead guilty. To this day, they believe that the Ukrainians will fire the rocket. Therefore, it is not known who is really responsible for this tragedy.
8. Iran Air 655 flight crash (July 3, 1988) - 290 victims
The tragic flight was not the result of a mistake of the pilots or the control tower. The air accident happened during the Iran-Iraq war. The Iran Air 655 passenger plane was shot down by the American cruiser USS Vincennes. The Iranian machine headed for Dubai without complications but was suddenly shot down by an American ground-air missile. Although the airliner was basically on its own territory, the Americans reportedly mistook it for the F14 combat aircraft. Before sending the rocket towards the machine, the American crew tried to make contact with the Iranian plane 10 times. As no reply was received, they decided to liquidate the plane. The Americans paid compensation to the families of 290 victims of the tragedy, but never officially pleaded guilty.
9. American Airlines Flight 191 crash (May 25, 1979) - 273 casualties
This is America's largest plane crash. An American Airlines 191 plane crashed while taking off in Chicago. What was the reason for such a terrible disaster? Before the machine took off, one of its engines suddenly exploded. Unfortunately, it was too late to prevent a tragedy from happening. The plane crashed to the ground only a minute after it took off. Then it exploded. In addition to the passengers on the plane, two people on the ground were also killed. In the process of determining the causes of the crash, investigators came to a consensus that the plane had numerous design flaws. The official reason for the crash was the detachment of the left engine of the machine, which was the result of improper implementation of the aircraft's service procedure.
10. The Lockerbie attack (December 21, 1988) - 270 victims
The top 10 plane crashes close another terrorist attack, this time on the PanAm passenger plane. An American plane exploded by planting a bomb on it. Moments after the explosion, the machine crashed into the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 11 residents in addition to 259 passengers. Libyan agents, Abdel Basset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi and Al Amin Khalif Fhimah were responsible for the attack. Due to insufficient evidence, Fhimah was acquitted. However, Al Megrahi was sentenced to life imprisonment. The bomber was released from prison in August 2009. The Libyan government has pledged to pay the families of each of the victims 10 million in compensation.
Bibliography:
- Marta Anna Bielecka: Transport disasters, Dragon Publishing House, Bielsko-Biała 2014
- Patrick Smith: The pilot will not tell you, Muza publishing house, Warsaw 2019
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