Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) Flight 182, was a Boeing 727-200 commercial airliner that collided over San Diego,California with a private Cessna 172 on September 25, 1978. The death toll of 144 makes it the deadliest aircraft disaster in California history to date, and it was the first Pacific Southwest Airlines accident involving fatalities. It was also the deadliest plane crash in the history of the United States until American Airlines Flight 191 went down eight months later.
1979 American Airlines Flight 191:
AA Flight 191:After the accident Investigators have found that as the jet was beginning its takeoff rotation, engine number one on the left (port) wing separated and flipped over the top of the wing. As the engine separated from the aircraft, it severed hydraulic fluid lines and damaged the left wing, resulting in a retraction of the slats. As the jet attempted to climb, the left wing aerodynamically stalled while the right wing, with its slats still deployed, continued to produce lift. The jetliner subsequently rolled to the left and reached a bank angle of 112 degrees (partially inverted), before impacting in an open field near a trailer park located near the end of the runway.The engine separation was attributed to damage to the pylon rigging structure holding the engine to the wing caused by inadequate maintenance procedures at American Airlines. Other contributing factors were the vulnerability of the design of the pylon attach points to damage during maintenance and the fact the FAA failed to identify these faults in maintenance procedures.
1996 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961:
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961,a Boeing 767-260ER,was hijacked on 23 November 1996, en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi on a Bombay–Addis Ababa–Nairobi–Brazzaville-Lagos-Abidjan service, by three Ethiopians seeking political asylum in Australia.The plane crash-landed in the Indian Ocean near Comoros due to fuel starvation, killing 122 of the 172 passengers and crew on board, along with the hijackers. The other 50 survived with injuries. By the time this accident took place, it was the second deadliest one involving a hijacked aircraft.However, it shifted to the third place after the occurrence of the September 11,2001 attacks.
2000 Air France Flight 4590:
Air France Flight 4590, was a Concorde flight operated by Air France which was scheduled to run from Charles de Gaulle International Airport near Paris, to JFK airport in New York City. On 25 July 2000, it crashed in Gonesse, France. All one hundred passengers and nine crew members on board the flight died. On the ground, four people were killed with one left injured.This was the only fatal crash of a Concorde. It was the beginning of the end for the Concorde as an airliner; the type was retired three years later.
2003 Baghdad DHL attempted shootdown incident:
DHL Cargo:On 22 November 2003 shortly after takeoff from Baghdad,Iraq an Airbus A300 cargo plane owned by DHL was struck on the left wing tip by surface-to-air missile.Severe wing damage resulted in a fire and complete loss of hydraulic flight control systems. Because outboard left wing fuel tank 1A was full at takeoff, there was no fuel-air vapour explosion. Liquid jet fuel dropped away as 1A disintegrated. Inboard fuel tank 1 was pierced and leaking.Returning to Baghdad, the 3-man crew made an unprecedented injury-free landing of the crippled aircraft, using differential engine thrust as the only pilot input.
