On the 12th of November 1975, a DC-10 loaded with airline employees bound for Saudi Arabia struck a flock of seagulls while taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport, causing the №3 engine to violently explode. As flames burst forth from the ruined engine, the pilots attempted to reject…

On the 16th of February 2000, a four-engine cargo plane loaded with clothing and auto parts ran into trouble moments after lifting off from Mather Airport in Sacramento, California. The pilots faced a simple but terrifying problem: their DC-8 wouldn’t stop pitching up, no matter how hard they tried to…

On the 5th of July 1970, an Air Canada DC-8 plunged burning from the sky over Brampton, Ontario, leaving behind little more than a smoking crater in a field. The crash claimed the lives of 109 people, a toll which remains the worst in Air Canada’s history, even after more…

On the 24th of March 2015, an Airbus A320 flying for low-cost carrier Germanwings stopped responding to air traffic control, entered a steep but steady descent, and impacted a mountainside in the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board. As investigators hurried to the scene of one of the…

On the 20th of December 1972, a North Central Airlines DC-9 taking off from Chicago O’Hare International Airport clipped the tail of a taxiing Delta Air Lines flight amid dense fog, sending the plane crashing back to the runway in flames. …

Note: this accident was previously featured in episode 45 of the plane crash series on July 14th, 2018, prior to the series’ arrival on Medium. This article is written without reference to and supersedes the original. On the 8th of September 1989, a Norwegian charter flight carrying employees of shipping…

On the 18th of June 1986, a chartered helicopter and a twin-engine sightseeing plane collided while flying inside Arizona’s Grand Canyon, sending both aircraft plummeting onto a remote plateau thousands of feet below the canyon rim. The fiery crash killed 25 people and called into question the safety of the…

Note: this accident was previously featured in episode 44 of the plane crash series on July 7th, 2018, prior to the series’ arrival on Medium. This article is written without reference to and supersedes the original. On the 20th of August 2008, a Spanish airliner taking off from Madrid stalled…

On the 16th of December 1997, an Air Canada regional jet approaching New Brunswick’s capital city attempted to abort a misaligned approach amid darkness and freezing fog. But as the pilots pulled up to climb away, the stall warning activated, the plane slewed hard to the right, and the nose…