The 5 Worst Airplane Crashes in History

Flying is one of the safest ways to travel, but when something goes wrong, the results can be heartbreaking. While millions of flights happen every year without any issues, there have been a few tragic events in aviation history that we can never forget. Here are five of the worst aeroplane crashes that have left a deep impact on the world.

Image: A photo of a passenger plane, with its nose lifted, ready for takeoff.

Turkish Airlines Flight 981 (1974)

On March 3, 1974, Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashed into a forest just outside of Paris, killing all 346 people on board. The cause of this crash was a mechanical issue that most people would never even think about, a problem with the cargo door.

While the plane was flying, the rear cargo door blew off, causing the cabin to lose pressure really fast and cut some of the important control cables. The pilots could no longer control the plane, and it crashed.

Tenerife Airport Disaster (1977)

This is one of the deadliest plane crashes in history. What makes it even worse is that it didn’t even happen in the sky. It happened right on the runway. On March 27, 1977, at a small airport in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, two jumbo jets crashed into each other.

What happened is that there was a thick fog, and the airport was really busy because other flights had been diverted there due to a nearby bomb threat. One plane, from KLM, thought it had clearance to take off, while another plane, from Pan Am, was taxiing down the same runway. No one could see clearly because of the fog, and before they knew it, the two planes collided.

The collision caused a massive fire, and 583 people lost their lives. It was a terrible disaster that left many people shocked and heartbroken. The 61 survivors from the Pan Am flight managed to escape through a hole in the side of the plane, but the KLM plane was completely destroyed, killing all 248 people.

Japan Airlines Flight 123 (1985)

This crash happened on August 12, 1985, and involved a single aeroplane. Japan Airlines Flight 123, a Boeing 747, was flying from Tokyo to Osaka when a huge problem occurred shortly after takeoff.

On that day, the rear part of the plane failed, and the pilots couldn’t control it anymore. The crew fought hard to keep the plane flying, but sadly, after about 30 minutes, it crashed into the mountains. Out of the 524 people on board, 520 died, and only four survived.

Charkhi Dadri Mid-Air Collision (1996)

On November 12, 1996, two planes collided mid-air near Charkhi Dadri in India. One was a Boeing 747 from Saudi Arabia with 312 people on board, and the other was a smaller plane from Kazakhstan Airlines with 37 people on board.

There was a mix-up about how high each plane was supposed to be flying, and they ended up crashing into each other. Sadly, everyone on both planes, 349 people in total, died.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 (2014)

This is one of the more recent tragedies in aviation. It happened on July 17, 2014, when a Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. It was a regular flight until it passed over a part of Ukraine where there was fighting going on between the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed rebels.

Out of nowhere, the plane was hit by a missile and crashed, killing all 298 people on board. It was later confirmed that a surface-to-air missile brought the plane down, news that sparked a lot of debate about the safety of flying over conflict zones.