Here are 10 of the worst plane crashes in history.

There have been 720 plane crashes worldwide in the last 30 years, with the majority of the fatalities occurring in the nation’s hilly regions. Another recent airline tragedy in Nepal made matters worse; on board Yeti Airlines flight 691, at least 69 of the 72 passengers perished. In the previous thirty years, this aviation mishap had been Nepal’s third deadliest.

In terms of overall plane accident statistics, Nepal came in at number 33 out of 207 nations, India came in at number 13 with 99 incidents, while the US topped the list with 1,578 crashes, followed by Russia (464 crashes) and Canada (369 crashes) over a 30-year period. The deadliest aviation crashes, incidents, and attacks are covered in this article.

1. Alaska Airlines fallout

Aviation security has once again come under scrutiny following the recent disaster involving Alaska Airlines’ Boeing Co.’s 737 Max 9, in which a window and a section of the plane’s fuselage blew out shortly after takeoff. Despite being among the safest ways to travel, authorities have had to reevaluate aviation safety due to a number of fatal air tragedies in the past. Including onboard fires and airborne collisions, this list of the deadliest aircraft mishaps has altered aviation safety.

2. Nepal plane crash

In one of Nepal’s biggest aviation disasters in thirty years, the privately held Yeti Airlines ATR 72 crashed on January 15, 2023, just before it made landfall in the popular tourist destination of Pokhara. At least 72 persons were killed in the jet disaster. The twin-engine aircraft had 72 passengers, including 15 foreign nationals, 4 crew members, and 2 infants. Not a single person survived. A government-appointed investigative panel’s findings states that the pilots’ error in lowering power, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall, was the cause of the plane disaster.

3. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash

All 298 people on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17), a planned international passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, perished when it was shot down in the Ukraine on July 17, 2014. Three guys were found guilty by a Dutch court two years prior, in 2022, of killing every passenger. The Russian nationals Igor Girkin and Sergey Dubinsky, as well as the Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko, were found guilty of bringing down the airliner and killing every person on board, and the court sentenced them to life in prison.

4. Air India Flight 182 disaster

On June 23, 1985, an Air India flight traveling from Canada to India via London exploded off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people on board. The cause was a bomb in a luggage that the passenger had not yet boarded but had checked into the aircraft. There were 268 Canadian citizens, most of them of Indian heritage, and 24 Indians. Merely 131 corpses were retrieved from the ocean.

​5. Air France flight 447 crashed

On June 1, 2009, Air France Flight 447, with 228 passengers, crashed. Air France Flight 447 vanished while flying from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris over the Atlantic Ocean. Following many years, two French aviation industry titans were accused with involuntary manslaughter related to the accident. Throughout the trial, which lasted from October to December 2022, they consistently denied the allegations.

6. Turkish Airlines flight 981 crash

Turkish Airlines Flight 981, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, crashed in France on March 3, 1974. The disaster was brought on by a design flaw in the aircraft’s cargo door, which allowed the door to blow off during flight. With 346 fatalities, the incident was at the time the deadliest aviation mishap in European history.

7. Japan Airlines flight 123 crash

Not the airline, but Boeing technicians had improperly repaired the tail of JAL flight 123 from Tokyo to Osaka on August 12, 1985, killing 520 of the 524 people on board. It remains the deadliest aircraft accident in aviation history to this day.

8. Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision

349 people were killed in the world’s deadliest mid-air accident, which happened over the Indian town of Charkhi Dadri. Saudi Arabia Airlines aircraft SV763, a scheduled international aircraft with a layover at Dhahran International Airport, was involved in the accident. The flight was headed from Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) in India to King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED).

9. American Airlines flight 191 crash

American Airlines Flight 191, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, crashed in Chicago on May 25, 1979. During takeoff, the aircraft’s left engine had a mechanical malfunction that caused the engine to fall off, culminating in the accident. With 273 fatalities, the incident was at the time the greatest aviation tragedy in US history.

10. Malaysia Airlines 370 crash

On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a 777 with 239 passengers from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, vanished from view. It remains the most perplexing riddle in aviation even after eight years. In the lack of concrete proof, a number of conflicting interpretations regarding what transpired have been put forth; the few hints come from some barnacled flotsam discovered off the coast of Africa. These ideas range from intentional sabotage by a crew member or passenger to hypoxia brought on by rapid decompression, which also led to the disaster of Helios Flight 522 in Greece.

Conclusion

Is flying safe right now? Although the causes of all airline crashes are different and we are aware that these terrible events can be traumatic, the deadliest jet crashes are extremely rare. Thus, don’t be afraid to fly. The odds of dying in an aircraft accident are estimated to be 1 in 11 million on average. Thus, accidents in flying are not common. Therefore, since flying saves time and is comfortable, it is the most recommended form of transportation for long-distance travelers. However, numerous studies have demonstrated that the fear of a plane accident is entirely psychological and that the likelihood of dying in a plane disaster is lower than that of dying while driving or strolling in a park.