The Seven Bloodiest and Deadliest Aircraft Accidents in the History of Aviation

Although tragedies among the air are extremely slim, some accidents are much more disastrous than others. Note: The worst aircraft related disaster was 9/11 resulting over 2500 deaths, however, try to understand that there is a major difference between terrorist activities and plane crashes.

Iran Air Flight 655, 7/03/1988

Total Fatalities: 290

Whoever thought that airplanes would ever be shot down by the military? Well, in this case, it resulted in the loss of 290 lives. In fact, it was shot down by the US military! It was flying a routine flight from Bandar Abbas, Iran to Dubai, UAE, where it was tragically shot down by a U.S Navy guided missile. Why had the U.S Military shot down a civilian aircraft in which innocent people were traveling? Throughout a case of investigation and interrogation of the aircraft and the military ship, they revealed that they assumed that this flight was an enemy military fighter. They tried to contact the airplane by radio, but the plane never answered. Since an enemy military fighter would cause a lot of trouble and wasn’t responding, the military unfortunately shot it down causing the loss of nearly 300 lives.

Saudi Arabian Flight 163, 8/19/1980

Total Fatalities: 301

This flight was flying from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia. After 6 minutes since it took off, the crew received warnings of smoke in the cargo compartment of the aircraft. The captain decided to return back to the aircraft since it was much closer than the destination. Fortunately, the aircraft landed successfully at the airport at Pakistan. The second engine’s thrust handle had jammed. When it landed, it started to roll, due to the speed because of the uncontrollable engine. Since one engine was still on, it disembarked the arrival of the rescue crew (the fire inside the aircraft was still raging). After 3 minutes, the engine finally stopped and the passengers were allowed to flee the burning plane. This was over 25 years ago, proper evacuation techniques were not established so it delayed the precious time to get out. Tragically, the hold airplane bursts into flames as the fire engulfs the engines resulting in the death of all passengers. The cause of this disaster was fire in the cargo hold and pilot error.

Air India Flight 182, 6/23/1985

Fatalities: 329

Everything was going smooth for this plane, but how did this plane crash? No witnesses, no survivors, and the blackbox were nearly irretrievable. It started from Canada to India with a stop at England. This is what happened: A man with a black suitcase shows up and tells that his luggage needs to go on flight 182 instead of 181. The security officers disagree but are forced to. Flight 181 departs without him. Flight 181 became 182 after it started its flight from Canada to India. After nearly 2 hours into the flight, the plane disappears from the Air Traffic Control Radar. A sudden blast is heard from the village near Cork. Later, throughout the investigation of the crash, it is discovered that it was a bomb planted into the luggage. A terrorist group is held trial and is found guilty; all members are sentenced to life.