On the 16th of December 1960, two airliners collided at 5,000 feet over New York City, raining debris over Staten Island and reducing a row of Brooklyn brownstones to burning rubble. The disaster claimed the lives of 134 people, including six on the ground and all of those aboard the…

On the 2nd of June 1990, a Boeing 737–200 on its way to pick up passengers stranded in the remote Alaskan village of Unalakleet descended into terrain on final approach, colliding with a barren hilltop 7.5 miles short of the runway. Despite the heavy impact, in a stroke of incredible…

On the 12th of February 2009, a Bombardier Q400 turboprop flying on behalf of Continental Connection lost control on approach and plunged into a neighborhood near Buffalo, New York, killing all 49 people on board and one on the ground. The crash immediately galvanized unprecedented public attention, triggering a popular…

On the 4th of September 2022, a seaplane operating a scheduled passenger flight in Washington state abruptly plunged from the sky off the coast of Whidbey Island, killing all 10 people on board and prompting an urgent search for answers. The weather was clear, the pilot was experienced, and there…

On the 18th of November 2022, a routine airport firefighting exercise at Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima, Perú went horribly wrong when a speeding fire truck slammed into a departing LATAM Perú Airbus A320, sending the airliner sliding down the runway in flames. As stunned firefighters rushed to respond…

On the 26th of April 1994, a China Airlines Airbus A300 was on final approach to Nagoya, Japan when it climbed steeply, stalled, and plunged suddenly to earth, slamming belly-first into the ground beside the runway with a great burst of flame. …

On the 15th of May 2017, a Learjet on final approach to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey abruptly rolled inverted and nosedived into the ground, sending a fireball ripping through an industrial office park and killing both pilots, the only people on board. The jet was normally used to transport…

On the 23rd of November 1996, three men stormed the cockpit of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767, beat the First Officer, and demanded that the Captain fly the plane — and everyone in it — to the far-off land of Australia. Unable to convince the hijackers that the wide body…

On the 3rd of May 1968, a Lockheed L-188 Electra on its way from Houston to Dallas encountered a line of powerful thunderstorms high above the plains of Texas. But as air traffic controllers busily rerouted aircraft around the east end of the squall line, the crew of the Electra…