Aviation Accident Summary Archive

West Coast Airlines Flight 720 crashed into Stukel Mountain shortly after takeoff from Klamath Falls Airport due to heavy ice and snow accumulation on the airframe. The aircraft had been parked in a hangar for maintenance but was exposed to falling snow and rain for 11 minutes after a tow tractor became stuck during pushback. The crew elected to take off without de-icing the wings or control surfaces. During the climb, the aircraft suffered a loss of control, swerving and failing to maintain a steady heading before impacting a ridge four miles southeast of the airport.

Pilot Error

A Trans World Airlines DC-9 collided in mid-air with a private Beechcraft Baron 55 while descending toward Dayton Municipal Airport. The accident occurred in uncontrolled airspace under Visual Flight Rules (VFR), where both crews were responsible for maintaining a see and avoid lookout. Despite receiving a traffic advisory from Dayton radar approach 18 seconds before impact, the DC-9 crew did not detect the smaller aircraft in time to maneuver. The high rate of descent and excessive speed of the DC-9, combined with the inherent difficulty of detecting small aircraft on radar and visually against a hazy background, led to the collision. All 25 people on the DC-9 and the sole pilot of the Beechcraft were killed.

Human Factors (Operational) · Multi-aircraft

Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 suffered a catastrophic in-flight breakup after the right propeller separated and sliced through the fuselage. The failure was traced to a manufacturing defect where a critical hardening process, nitriding, was omitted from a propeller torque piston. This omission led to rapid wear of the piston splines, causing the propeller to overspeed beyond its structural limits. The resulting centrifugal forces tore the blades from the hub, leading to a total loss of aircraft control and structural integrity.

Mechanical Failure

Varig Flight 837 crashed during an unstable approach to Roberts International Airport after the captain attempted to salvage a landing from an excessive altitude. Despite being cleared to 3,000 feet, the aircraft remained at 4,500 feet until it was vertically over the VOR station. The captain elected to perform a manual VOR/Locator procedure but found himself at 800 feet over the final locator beacon, nearly 300 feet above the prescribed profile. In an attempt to reach the runway, he initiated a steep descent of up to 1,500 feet per minute. The aircraft failed to level off in time, striking the ground 6,023 feet short of the runway threshold and erupting into flames. The accident resulted in the deaths of 51 people on board and 5 people on the ground, making it the deadliest aviation disaster in Liberian history.

Pilot Error

Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 708 crashed short of the runway at Mapanget Airport during a landing attempt in marginal weather. The Lockheed L-188C Electra was performing a steep, unstable approach to Runway 18 after the pilot realized the aircraft was too high and left of the centerline. During the corrective maneuver, the airspeed dropped below the target threshold speed, resulting in an excessive rate of sink. The aircraft struck the ground 156 feet short of the runway threshold, which caused the undercarriage to collapse. The airframe skidded and caught fire, resulting in 22 fatalities among the 92 occupants.

Pilot Error

Aeroflot Flight 5003, an Antonov An-12B cargo flight, crashed shortly after takeoff from Novosibirsk when an intense in-flight fire broke out in the cargo hold. The aircraft had been in the air for less than two minutes and reached an altitude of only 200 meters when the crew attempted an emergency landing in a snow-covered field. During the descent in poor visibility, the aircraft struck the ground in a left bank and exploded, killing all six crew members. Investigators determined the fire likely originated from flammable industrial materials in the cargo, though the exact ignition source could not be identified due to the severity of the wreckage damage.

In-flight Fire

TABSO Flight 101 crashed into the Little Carpathians hills shortly after departing Bratislava Airport, killing all 82 people on board. The flight had diverted to Bratislava due to poor weather at its scheduled stop in Prague. Upon resuming the flight in darkness, the crew was instructed to maintain a low altitude of 300 metres to ensure separation from a slower aircraft. However, the Ilyushin Il-18 deviated from the safe departure path and impacted a wooded slope at approximately 250 knots. The investigation cited a failure by the crew to properly evaluate the terrain and weather conditions, though the official cause remained technically undetermined due to diplomatic friction between Bulgarian and Czechoslovak authorities.

Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT)

A Pan Am cargo flight crashed in the Soviet occupation zone near Berlin during a night approach in poor weather. The aircraft descended below its cleared altitude for unknown reasons, striking the ground shortly after receiving ILS clearance in what modern safety taxonomy classifies as Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT). The investigation was severely hampered by the Soviet Union's refusal to return approximately 50 percent of the wreckage, including the flight recorders and critical navigation systems.

Unknown

An All Nippon Airways NAMC YS-11 crashed into the Seto Inland Sea during a night go-around at Matsuyama Airport. After a long touchdown and subsequent lift-off, the aircraft failed to maintain altitude during a left turn, plunging into the water for reasons that investigators could never definitively determine.

Unknown

West Coast Airlines Flight 956 crashed into a ridge in the Mount Hood National Forest during a night approach to Portland, marking the first hull loss of a Douglas DC-9. The aircraft, which had been in service for only five days, descended to 4,000 feet despite being cleared to a minimum altitude of 9,000 feet. The investigation determined that the crew followed all air traffic control instructions except for the altitude restriction, but investigators could not establish why the descent continued into obstructing terrain.

Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT)

Ansett-ANA Flight 149 suffered a catastrophic in-flight fire and structural failure after a cabin pressurization blower on the number 2 engine disintegrated. The failure initiated a fire that breached a wing fuel tank, weakening the main spar until the left wing separated in flight. The aircraft disintegrated at approximately 3,500 to 4,000 feet, killing all 24 people on board. The investigation, the most detailed in Australian history at the time, was the first in the country to utilize flight data recorder information.

Mechanical Failure

Britannia Airways Flight 105 crashed into a forest during a night approach to Ljubljana Brnik Airport after the crew failed to correctly set their altimeters. The pilots conducted the approach as if their instruments were set to the airport's field pressure (QFE), when they were actually set to sea level pressure (QNH), resulting in the aircraft flying approximately 1,160 feet lower than intended. The aircraft struck trees 2.8 kilometers from the runway threshold, killing 98 of the 117 people on board.

Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT)

Braniff International Airways Flight 250 suffered an in-flight structural failure and crashed near Falls City, Nebraska, after encountering extreme turbulence from a squall line of severe thunderstorms. The aircraft's tailplane and vertical stabilizer failed under the stress of an intense updraft and subsequent control inputs, followed by the failure of the right wing. All 42 people on board were killed in what remains the deadliest aviation disaster in Nebraska history.

Weather

An Air New Zealand Douglas DC-8-52 crashed during a training flight at Auckland International Airport after an instructor inadvertently deployed reverse thrust while simulating an engine failure. During the takeoff roll, as the instructor rapidly pulled the number four engine thrust lever to idle to simulate a failure, the rapid movement generated enough inertia to cause the thrust brake lever to enter the reverse idle detent. This created massive asymmetrical drag and thrust imbalance. The aircraft rotated steeply, rolled to the right, and struck the ground just seconds after liftoff. Two of the five crew members on board were killed.

Human Factors (Operational)

A newly built Hawker Siddeley Trident 1C crashed during its first production test flight after entering an unrecoverable deep stall, also known as a superstall. The crew was conducting stalling tests to qualify for a Certificate of Airworthiness and had intentionally disabled the aircraft's automatic stall warning and recovery systems to determine the actual aerodynamic stall margin. During the final test run, the pilot delayed recovery action too long, allowing the aircraft to enter a deep stall and subsequent flat spin. All four crew members on board were killed when the aircraft struck the ground near Felthorpe.

Pilot Error

LANSA Flight 501 crashed into Mount Talaula after the captain deviated from the prescribed airline route to fly a more direct path toward Cusco. The aircraft, heavily loaded and operating at a high takeoff weight, lacked the climb performance necessary to clear the Andean peaks on the direct trajectory chosen by the pilot. All 49 people on board were killed when the Constellation struck the mountainside at approximately 12,600 feet.

Pilot Error

A Lockheed L-188C Electra carrying 92 U.S. soldiers and 6 crew members crashed into a hill during a circling approach to Ardmore Municipal Airport. The investigation revealed that the Captain suffered a fatal heart attack at a critical point in the approach. Post-accident analysis discovered the Captain had a long-standing history of heart disease and diabetes, which he had deliberately concealed from the FAA to maintain his flight medical certification.

Pilot Error

BOAC Flight 911 disintegrated in mid-air near Mount Fuji after encountering exceptionally severe clear-air turbulence. The aircraft, a Boeing 707, was performing a scenic flyby of the mountain under visual meteorological conditions when it was struck by powerful mountain waves. The resulting gust loads exceeded the structural design limits of the airframe, causing the vertical stabilizer to fail and leading to a total break-up of the aircraft.

Weather

Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402 crashed while attempting to land in dense fog at Tokyo's Haneda Airport. After initially diverting due to poor visibility, the crew returned for a second attempt when conditions reportedly improved. During a Ground Controlled Approach (GCA), the aircraft descended below the glide path, striking approach lights and a seawall before disintegrating on the airfield.

Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT)

On February 28, 1966, a NASA Northrop T-38A Talon carrying the primary crew for the Gemini 9 mission crashed into a McDonnell Aircraft assembly building while attempting to land at Lambert Field in St. Louis. The pilot, Elliot See, and his crewmate, Charles Bassett, were killed instantly when the aircraft struck the roof of Building 101, where their Gemini spacecraft was being prepared. The accident occurred during a visual circling approach in deteriorating weather conditions characterized by rain, snow, and low visibility. An investigation led by Alan Shepard concluded the cause was pilot error, specifically See's failure to maintain visual reference during the landing attempt.

Pilot Error

Aeroflot Flight 65 was a Tupolev Tu-114 that crashed during takeoff from Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow on February 17, 1966. The aircraft, registration CCCP-74691, was relatively new with only 93 flight hours at the time of the accident.

Pilot Error

All Nippon Airways Flight 60 crashed into Tokyo Bay during a night visual approach to Haneda Airport, killing all 133 people on board. At the time, it was the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history. Despite the recovery of the tail section and engines, the lack of flight recorders and the aircraft's disintegration upon impact left investigators unable to determine a definitive cause.

Unknown

Lufthansa Flight 005 stalled and crashed during a go-around at Bremen Airport, killing all 46 people on board. The aircraft was performing an ILS approach in poor weather when a suspected instrument malfunction caused it to fly above the glide path. Upon transitioning to visual flight, the captain realized the aircraft was too high and poorly positioned for landing, initiating a late go-around. During the maneuver, the aircraft entered an extreme nose-up attitude and stalled at a very low altitude, striking the ground left-wing first.

Pilot Error

Air India Flight 101, a Boeing 707 named Kanchenjunga, crashed into the Mont Blanc massif during its descent toward Geneva. The pilot initiated a premature descent after miscalculating the aircraft's position relative to the mountain peak. All 117 people on board were killed, including Homi J. Bhabha, the father of India's nuclear program. The crash occurred remarkably close to the site of another Air India disaster that took place 16 years earlier.

Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT)