The worst air disasters in history

Air transport is safer than ever, but there are some astounding stories behind its worst tragedies.

The worst air disasters in history

As the world tries to uncover details surrounding the fate of Malaysian Airline Flight 17, shot down near the Ukraine - Russian border, air travel is in the spotlight – but the truth is it’s safer than it ever was.

There have been more 9,000 deaths on commercial flights since the beginning of the century - more if we include people on the ground - but air travel has been getting progressively safer.

In 2000, there were 857 deaths; 908 in 2001 (of which 265 were passengers on board the September 11 planes); and in 2002, 778. By comparison, there were just 457 in 2011, 415 in 2012, and only 195 in 2013 - making it one of the safest years in modern times. The worst aviation disasters in history are, by and large, from decades past.

But tragedies do happen, with almost three billion passengers a year (according to the International Civil Aviation Organisation).

Flight 17 is the sixth-worst disaster in aviation history. The tragic flights that saw even more lives lost, however, don’t involve missiles or military conflict – but a combination of tragic circumstances and incredible errors.

5. SAUDIA FLIGHT 163, 1980

At 6.08pm on August 19, 1980, Saudia’s flight 163 took off from Riyadh International Airport to Jeddah.

All went fine for the first seven minutes or so before smoke was noticed in the cargo hold. It took another four minutes for cabin crew and the flight engineer to investigate and confirm the presence of smoke, prompting the pilot to turn around and make for the airport he came from.

The fire, which had been running rampant in the cargo hold, actually damaged the thrust control for one engine as it burned through the operating cable, but the captain nevertheless managed to land safely at Riyadh, where he proceeded to the end of the runway, moving off it and on to the taxiway – despite the fact that the fire rescue crew had been waiting at the landing portion of the runway.

When the rescue team finally reached the plane, the engines were still running, while flames could be seen through the windows at the rear. Three minutes after the plane stopped, the engines were finally shut down, and 23 minutes later, the doors were opened by rescue teams – but within minutes, the whole aircraft was ablaze, with all 301 people on board.

Later autopsies revealed that the victims had died from smoke inhalation, and were likely incapacitated before landing. That might explain why they didn’t open the doors themselves – although if the cabin was still pressurised, opening the doors would have been difficult.

The cause of the fire is still unknown, though two butane stoves were discovered, with a used fire extinguisher, leading to speculation that a passenger attempted to use the cooking equipment in-flight.

4. THE ERMENONVILLE AIR DISASTER, 1974.

On March 3, 1974, Turkish Airline flight 981, took off from Orly Airport in Paris en route to London Heathrow, on the final leg of a journey that began in Istanbul.

The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 was a distinctive aircraft with two under-wing engines and another on top at the rear. Another unusual design was that the cargo doors opened outward instead of inward, which meant it saved space that could be used for cargo. A problem with the latching was discovered in 1972, when an airport employee had shut the door on American Airlines Flight 96. The door appeared to be closed on visual inspection, but had not been locked. It blew off in flight, forcing the plane to return to Detriot airport, where they landed safely.

Two years later, the same thing happened on board Turkish Airlines Flight 981.

A British-European Airways strike meant that the normally quiet Orly-Heathrow journey was far busier than usual. Things proceeded just fine until the flight passed the town of Meaux – when the cargo door blew off. This resulted in a massive, sudden change in air pressure – an explosive decompression – which, due to a massive difference in pressure between the cargo area and the cabin, pulled part of the cabin floor, and six passengers, through the open hatch below.

When the cabin floor was ripped out, it also severed several cables that ran through the plane – including those which controlled the rudder and rear flight control surfaces, as well as the middle rear engine. Having lost control, the aircraft went into a nosedive, and barely a minute after the loss of the cargo door, plummeted into the Ermenonville Forest at 800kph, disintegrating most of the craft.

All 346 occupants died, only 40 of which were ever identified.

The investigation later found that the recommendations made after the American Airlines flight incident were not implemented in the Turkish craft, despite the construction log claiming so; in addition, the pins on the door had been filed down to make the door easier to close; and the baggage handler on the ground who shut the door, despite being fluent in three languages, could not read the instructions on the panel in Turkish and English.

The investigators concluded that it was not the baggage handler’s responsibility to ensure the safety of the aircraft, and he had done as he had been told. No flight or ground engineer inspected the plane for safety, as should have happened.

3. CHARKHI DADRI MID-AIR COLLISION, 1996.

Commercial flights use pre-described paths to map out their routes. Quite often, planes will fly the same path in two directions, and, to ensure there is no collision, a minimum safe distance of 300m or 1,000 feet is used to keep vertical distance between the craft.

On 12 November 1996, Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 763 and Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907 collided in mid-air over the small village of Charkhi Dadri near New Delhi, India, in the deadliest mid-air collision on record.

The Kazakhstani flight was cleared to descend to 15,000ft by the air traffic controller, while the Saudi plane, flying the opposite direction, was permitted to climb to 14,000ft – with ample clearance between them.

The Kazakhstani pilot, however, was in fact at 14,500 ft and dropping. The Air Traffic controller advised the pilot of the other plane, but at this point, the plane had reached about 14,000ft – the same altitude as the other craft.

Realising the error at the last second, and discovering they were not at 15,000 feet, the Kazakhstani plane began to climb at full throttle – and struck the wing of the Saudi jet with its tail. Both planes lost parts of the fuselage.

The Saudi Arabian Boeing 747 broke up in mid-air, with the main body plummeting to earth at over 1,000 kph; the Kazakhstani Ilyushin remained mostly intact, but lost control and crashed in a field.

All 349 occupants died – 37 on board the Kazakhstani plane and 312 aboard the Saudi craft, though two passengers from the latter plane survived for a short period before succumbing to their injuries.

After an investigation, it was found that fault lay with the pilot of the Kazakhstan Airlines flight, who failed to follow the air traffic instructions. The investigation found that the poor English language skills of the crew meant they relied on their radio operator for communications – who did not have access to the flight instruments.

2. JAPAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 123, 1985.

The 747-SR involved in the disaster. Pic: Harcmac60 /CC

The 747-SR, a short-range, high-capacity passenger craft, can carry up to 550 passengers. In 1985, such a craft led to the worst air disaster involving a single vehicle in history.

Japan Airlines Flight 123 took off from Osaka Airport at 6.12pm on Monday August 12, 1985 – around the Obon holiday period, which traditionally sees one visit home to honour the ancestral family.

12 minutes into the flight, the aft pressure bulkhead, which seals the air pressure at the back of the plane, tore loose, causing an explosive decompression. This, in turn, blew the vertical stabilizer - the recognisable "fin" - off the aircraft.

In addition, the loss of hydraulic fluid meant the pilots lost the ability to manipulate control surfaces, all of which led to a much less stable aircraft.

The experienced pilots had kept the damaged plane airborne for 32 minutes until 6.56pm, when the craft disappeared from radar, as it struck two ridges of Mount Takamagahara before crashing near Mount Isutaka.

520 people died in the crash, including every crew member. Miraculously, four passengers survived.

It was later found that the damaged panel had been incorrectly repaired after a minor tailstrike accident - when the tail of the plane hits the runway - several years earlier.

1. TENERIFE AIRPORT DISASTER, 1977.

The memorial to the worst air disaster in history. Pic: Vanzanten / CC

The Tenerife Airport disaster remains the worst aviation disaster ever.

On March 27, 1977, a series of deeply unfortunate events led to the runway collision of two planes.

The bombing of a florist in Gran Canaria Airport earlier that day (set by the Canary Islands Independence Movement) resulted in many flights being diverted to the nearby Los Rodeos airport - now called Tenerife north.

KLM 4805 and Pan Am 1736 were two of the diverted flights.

Pic: Russavia / CC

Overwhelmed air traffic controllers at Los Rodeos had to park planes on taxiways wherever they could place them. And, at the same time, a dense fog developed over the airport.

When the time came to begin moving air traffic, neither the two planes nor the Air Traffic control tower could see each other. Instead, the planes relied on voice communication to ensure safety.

The KLM flight attempted to take off while the Pan Am flight was also on the runway. A misunderstanding between the KLM flight and the tower led the pilot to believe he had clearance – the traffic controllers issued the route to be followed after takeoff, but did not explicitly give clearance. The crew said they were “now at takeoff”, to which the controller replied “OK” – likely thinking they were ready for takeoff and waiting on approval.

What happened next was truly tragic: the controller clarified by saying “stand by for takeoff, I will call you.” But a radio call at exactly the same moment from the nearby Pan Am plane caused radio interference –and ensured that the pilot did not hear the correction.

The high-speed collision between the two 747s killed 583 people - all 248 on the KLM flight and 335 of the 396 aboard the Pan Am airliner.

The disaster ultimately led to the strict enforcement of standard language in communications, to avoid any such confusion in future - the word "takeoff" is no longer used casually, but only to give explicit clearance.

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