It is said that the airplane is one of the safest transport in the world, but aircraft accidents are the most horrific. So, let’s just go back to the top most horrible airplane crashes in the history.
Aloha Airlines Flight 243 (April 28, 1988)
This was a scheduled flight between Hilo (USA) and Honolulu (Hawaii). Due to a weak Boeing’s B737– 297 fuselage, the body of an aircraft, there was a hotheaded decompression in flight which ripped the top of the fuselage off leaving passengers in limited air. One cabin crew member was evicted, but unfortunately, his body was never found. The pilot tricked the plane to a safe elevation for breathing and was able to land safely at Kahulu Airport on Maui. There was only one casualty in this airplane crash and another 65 passengers and crew were just injured.
Helios Airways Flight 522 (August 14, 2005)
Helios Airways flight 522 was a planned passenger flight from Larnaca (Cyprus) to Athens (Greece). The airplane flew on auto pilot to Athens where it automatically went into a holding pattern over the city for over an hour. Air traffic managers could not contact the flight. Fighter jets were sent after to see if the flight had been taken over by terrorists. But they only saw unconscious passengers and one person at the controls. It was a flight assistant which had no experience in controlling a Boeing B747 and crashed into a hillside due to a lack of fuel leading to an engine burning out.
Tenerife Airport Disaster (March 27, 1977)
The Tenerife Airport disaster was a deadly runway crash between two Boeings B747. The crash killed 538 people and only 61 survived. A KLM flight was set to take off but there was a Pan Am flight still on the runway. Air traffic control and the KLM could not see Pan Am on the runway due to the thick fog and they didn’t have radars.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 (November 23, 1996)
This particular plane was captured flying from Adis Ababa (Ethipia) to Nairobi (Kenya) by three Ethiopians who sought an asylum in Australia. The plane didn’t have enough fuel or configurations to fly to Australia. The plane crash-landed in the Indian Ocean near Grande Comores (Comoros Island), due to fuel collapse. 125 of the 175 passengers and crew on board died, along with the hijackers. 50 people were saved by the travelers and local medics.
Singapore Air Flight 006 (October 31, 2000)
Due to low visibility, the aircraft crashed into construction equipment which was on the runway. The air frame was torn in two, the engines and landing gear separated; left wing was torn by a crane following an explosion from the fuel. As a result, 83 out of 179 died who were sitting in the middle section of the aircraft, others left injured.
