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…

On the 31st of August 1986, a quiet holiday weekend in the Los Angeles suburb of Cerritos was shattered by a distant bang, the roar of engines, and a mighty explosion. In the skies overhead, two planes had come together in the busy airspace near Los Angeles International Airport: a…

On the 10th of August 2014, an Iranian airliner lost height and crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran, killing 40 people and bringing the safety of an aircraft type into question. The plane involved was a little known HESA IrAn-140, an Iranian license-built version of the Ukrainian Antonov An-140 regional…

On the 15th of November 1987, a Continental Airlines DC-9 lost control seconds after takeoff from Denver, Colorado, sending the plane sliding upside down off the runway amid blinding snow. After a delicate operation to free dozens of people trapped under the upturned wreckage, the toll became clear: of the…

On the 11th of September 1974, an Eastern Airlines DC-9 crashed short of the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, claiming the lives of 72 people. Only ten survived the heavy impact and ensuing inferno, which consumed the plane so fast that passengers burned where they sat. But why had the…

On the 27th of December 1991, a Scandinavian Airlines MD-81 lost power in both engines just one minute after takeoff from Stockholm, forcing the pilots to make a desperate and unenviable choice: where to land their stricken airliner? With only moments to decide, and the snowbound forests outside Sweden’s capital…

On the 15th of August 2019, Russia awoke to its own “Miracle on the Hudson:” after ingesting birds into both engines, an Ural Airlines Airbus A321 made a dramatic forced landing in a cornfield outside Moscow, sliding to a stop intact amid the tall corn stalks, saving the lives of…

On the 31st of October 2000, a Singapore Airlines Boeing 747 lined up for takeoff at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taipei, Taiwan. Outside the plane, the outer bands of the approaching Typhoon Xangsane strafed the runway, battering the windows with wind-driven rain, but on the flight deck, all seemed…

On the 2nd of July 2021, a Boeing 737–200 hauling cargo between the Hawaiian Islands lost power in one engine shortly after takeoff from Honolulu. As the pilots attempted to turn back toward the airport, they reported the unthinkable: their second engine was going too, and they weren’t going to…