The airplane crash history is full of tragic incidents which are hard to believe. It is said that the airplane is one of the safest transport in the world, but aircraft accidents are the most horrific. So, we present you the TOP 5 most fatal airplane crashes in the aviation history.1. 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 an explosive decompression in flight which ripped the top of the fuselage off leaving passengers in scarce air. One cabin crew member was ejected, but unfortunately, his body was never found. The pilot maneuvered the plane to a safe altitude for breathing and was able to land safely at Kahulu Airport on Maui. There was only one fatality in this airplane crash and another 65 passengers and crew were just injured.
Safe landing of the aircraft despite the substantial damage inflicted by the decompression established Aloha Airlines Flight 243 as a significant event in the history of aviation. This airplane crash influenced the aviation safety policies and procedures later on.2. Helios Airways Flight 522 (August 14, 2005)
Helios Airways flight 522 was a scheduled passenger flight from Larnaca (Cyprus) to Athens (Greece). This flight is also known as the ‘ghost flight’. Because of the auto-pressurization button was turned off, the whole cabin air was slowly depressurizing. Oxygen masks dropped for passengers, but the captain and pilot were unaware of it, leaving them fainted due to hypoxia (lack of oxygen). No one could contact to the pilot or the captain of the plane. 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 controllers 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 attendant which had no experience in controlling a Boeing B747 and crashed into a hillside due to a lack of fuel leading to an engine flaming out.As a result of slow depressurization, the passengers and crew were unconscious. They died on impact. The flight attendant managed to stay conscious by using a portable oxygen tank, but he was unable to save the flight from crashing. There were no survivors. 3. Tenerife Airport Disaster (March 27, 1977)
The Tenerife Airport disaster was a fatal runway collision between two Boeings B747. The crash killed 538 people and only 61 survived, which makes this accident one of the deadliest airplane crashes in aviation history. 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. Also Air Traffic control miscommunicated with the KLM flight, because of different terms used for a take off. A radio call from Pan Am caused an interference with the air traffic control so KLM did not hear the full response. The KLM started to take off when the Air Traffic controler told Pan Am to report when they cleared the runway causing two planes to morbidly collide.4. Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 (November 23, 1996)
This plane was hijacked flying from Adis Ababa (Ethipia) to Nairobi (Kenya) by three Ethiopians who sought an asylum in Australia. Even though 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 exhaustion. 125 of the 175 passengers and crew on board died, along with the hijackers. 50 people were saved by the vacationers and local medics.5. Singapore Air Flight 006 (October 31, 2000)
It was a scheduled flight from Changi Airport (Singapore) to Los Angeles International Airport via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (Taiwan). The pilots of Boeing B747-412 attempted to take off from the wrong runway during a typhoon. Because of low visibility the aircraft crashed into construction equipment which was on the runway. The airframe 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 seated in the middle section of the aircraft, others left injured. As of 2014, all of the airplane crashes, this is the third-deadliest in Taiwan. Source: aviationcv.com