Aviation Tragedies: The 7 Deadliest Plane Crashes

13th April, 2024

TANISHA ROY

These accidents stand as stark reminders of the risks of air travel and the drive for constant safety improvement.

Fatalities: 583 Cause: Runway collision in fog between two Boeing 747s. Largest loss of life in a single crash.

1: Tenerife Airport Disaster (1977)

Fatalities: 520 Cause: Faulty repair of tail section failure led to uncontrollable flight. Single plane crash with most deaths.

2: Japan Airlines Flight 123 (1985)

Fatalities: 349 Cause: Two planes on colliding paths due to communication errors and lack of radar.

3: Charkhi Dadri Mid-Air Collision (1996)

Fatalities: 312 Cause: Another example of mid-air collision, pilot and communication errors blamed.

4: Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 763 & Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907 Collision (1996)

Fatalities: 346 Cause: A design flaw in the cargo door caused explosive decompression, leading to loss of control.

5: Turkish Airlines Flight 981 (1974)

Fatalities: 329 Cause: Terrorist bombing. Largest aviation mass murder, linked to Sikh separatist extremists.

6: Air India Flight 182 (1985)

Fatalities: 157 Cause: Aircraft software malfunction, causing an irrecoverable nosedive shortly after takeoff.

7: Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 (2019)

Each accident led to safety changes, but the fragility of flight and human error are ever-present.