Turkish Airlines Flight 981 was a scheduled flight from Istanbul Yeşilköy Airport to London Heathrow Airport, with an intermediate stop at Orly Airport in Paris. On 3 March 1974, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 operating the flight crashed into the Ermenonville Forest, outside Paris, killing all 346 people on board. The crash was also known as the Ermenonville air disaster. Flight 981 was the deadliest plane crash in aviation history until 27 March 1977, when 583 people perished in the collision of two Boeing 747s in Tenerife. It remained the deadliest single-aircraft accident until the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 on 12 August 1985, and the deadliest aviation accident without survivors until the Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision on 12 November 1996. It remains the deadliest single-aircraft accident without survivors, the first fatal and deadliest crash involving the McDonnell Douglas DC-10, the fifth deadliest aviation disaster altogether and the deadliest aviation accident to occur in France. It is also the deadliest aviation accident that did not involve a Boeing 747.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1949:
On December 16, 1960, a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 bound for Idlewild Airport in New York City collided in midair with a TWA Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation descending toward LaGuardia Airport. The Constellation crashed on Miller Field in Staten Island and the DC-8 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, killing all 128 aboard the two aircraft and six people on the ground. The accident was the world's deadliest aviation disaster at the time. It also remains the deadliest accident in the history of United Airlines.
Santa Maria Airport is an international airport located 5 km (3.1 mi) west northwest of the urbanized area of Vila do Porto on the island of Santa Maria, in the Portuguese autonomous region of the Azores. A principal hub in transatlantic travel until the end of the 20th century, it was constructed at the start of the Second World War to protect convoys by American troops who were ceded authority until its end. From this period on, the airfield took on a commercial role, reinforced by inter-island travel and connections to Europe, resulting in its obtaining the communication duties for the North Atlantic sector of the airspace corridor.
On 8 February 1989, Independent Air Flight 1851, a Boeing 707 on an American charter flight from Bergamo, Italy to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, struck Pico Alto while on approach to Santa Maria Airport in the Azores for a scheduled stopover. The aircraft was destroyed, with the loss of all 144 people on board, resulting in the deadliest plane crash in Portugal's history. All of the passengers on board were Italian and all of the crew were Americans. The crash is also known as "The disaster of the Azores".
Air France has been in operation since 1933. Its aircraft have been involved in a number of major accidents and incidents. The deadliest accident of the airline occurred on June 1, 2009, when Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330-203, flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed into the Atlantic Ocean with 228 fatalities. A selected list of the most noteworthy of these events is given below.
Two Air France Douglas DC-4 aircraft crashed two days apart in June 1950 within a few miles of each other and under similar circumstances. These two accidents, on 12 and 14 June, occurred while the aircraft were operating the same route from Saigon to Paris. Both aircraft had stopped at Karachi Airport and crashed into the sea on approach to Bahrain. A total of 86 passengers and crew were killed: 46 on June 12th and 40 on June 14th. There were a total of 19 survivors: 6 on June 12th and 13 on June 14th.
Lufthansa Flight 502 was a scheduled flight from Hamburg, Germany to Buenos Aires, Argentina on 11 January 1959. The flight was being operated by a Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation. On the leg between Senegal and Brazil the Super Constellation was on approach to Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport when it crashed near Flecheiras Beach just short of the runway. All 29 passengers and seven of the ten crew were killed. It was the first fatal accident involving the current Lufthansa since it was formed in 1955.
Aeroflot Flight 217 was a non-scheduled international passenger flight from Orly Airport in Paris to Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, with a stopover at Shosseynaya Airport in Leningrad. On 13 October 1972, the Ilyushin Il-62 airliner operating the flight crashed on approach to Sheremetyevo, with the loss of all 164 passengers and crew of 10. The fatalities include 118 Russians, 38 Chileans, 6 Algerians, one East German and one Australian. At the time, it was the world's deadliest aviation disaster, until it was surpassed by the Kano air disaster in 1973. As of 2021, this remains the second-deadliest accident involving an Il-62, after LOT Flight 5055, and the second-deadliest on Russian soil, after Aeroflot Flight 3352.
A British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Lockheed L-749A Constellation crashed and caught fire as it attempted to land at Kallang Airport on 13 March 1954, killing 33 of the 40 passengers and crew. The accident occurred when the aircraft struck a seawall on approach to the runway. The inquiry attributed this to crew tiredness, noting that the captain had been on duty for over 21 hours. It also criticised the response of the airport fire unit. This is the highest death toll of any aviation accident in Singapore.
On 1 September 1953, an Air France Lockheed L-749 Constellation, registered in France as F-BAZZ, flying Flight 178, a scheduled flight from Paris to Nice, crashed into the Pelat Massif in the French Alps near Barcelonnette on the first stage of the flight, between Orly Airport and Nice Airport. All 42 on board were killed, nine crew and 33 passengers including the French violinist Jacques Thibaud and the French pianist René Herbin.
The 1952 Air France SNCASE Languedoc crash occurred on 3 March 1952 when a SNCASE SE.161/P7 Languedoc aircraft of Air France crashed on take-off from Nice Airport for Le Bourget Airport, Paris, killing all 38 people on board. The cause of the accident was that the aileron controls had jammed, which in itself was contributed to by a design fault. The accident was the third-deadliest in France at the time and is the deadliest involving the SNCASE Languedoc.
TWA Flight 6963, a scheduled Transcontinental & Western Air flight from Paris Orly Airport to New York City with scheduled stops at Shannon Airport and Gander, crashed on 28 December 1946 about 1.5 kilometres (0.81 nmi) west-northwest of Shannon Airport on the island of Inismacnaughton.
SATA Air Açores Flight 530M was a Portuguese regional commuter flight operated by SATA Air Açores, that connected Ponta Delgada-João Paulo II Airport and Flores Airport, with an intermediary stop at Horta, on 11 December 1999. At 10:20 a.m., the British Aerospace BAe ATP, named Graciosa, while enroute to Horta, collided with Pico da Esperança, on the central mountains of the island of São Jorge, resulting in the deaths of all 35 people on board. It is also the deadliest aviation accident involving the British Aerospace ATP.
Air France Flight 152 (AF152) was a scheduled international passenger flight which made an emergency water landing in the Mediterranean Sea, off Fethiye, South-Western Turkey on 3 August 1953. The aircraft sank over an hour after ditching. Four passengers died, out of 8 crew and 34 passengers.
Air France Flight 343 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Paris, France, to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, with scheduled stopovers at Dakar, Senegal and Monrovia, Liberia. The aircraft crashed into the Atlantic Ocean around 06:50 on 29 August 1960 while attempting to land at Yoff Airport, Dakar. All 55 passengers and 8 crew were killed.
