Man has always dreamed of flying to the sky. Ancient Greek myths tell that Daedalus and his son Icarus took off into the sky with the help of wings, which were made of feathers, wax and thread.
And the greatest scientist, inventor and artist Leonardo before Vinci once created sketches of an unusual aircraft. He was supposed to fly into the vast sky with the help of the muscles of man.
People have long tried to create such flying vehicles. And created ...
The history of world air crashes
The very first flights in the sky began at the end of the 19th century. At that time, the beginning of statistics on world air crashes was laid. In the process of developing flights on airplanes (cargo, passenger), air crashes of the world began to occur more and more often. The statistics of their downfalls grew incredibly until 1970. And precisely the 70s are the peak of terrible tragedies in the sky.
In the future, due to the growth of modern technologies, the improvement of aviation technology and the tightening of requirements and rules for flight safety, by the 80s, a decrease in the number of accidents with aircraft began to occur. There has been a trend in reducing the number of air crashes from 616, with 15 689 fatalities, in the 70s to more than 300 crashes with 8000 fatalities in the 2000s.
Air crashes of the world, their geography
In terms of geography, this terribly sad statistics of disasters takes the United States. According to the Aviation Safety Network, in this country from 1945 to the present day a huge number of passenger planes crashed - more than 630. More than 9,000 people died in these accidents.
Unfortunately, Russia takes the second place in these statistics. Since 1945, more than 200 catastrophes in the sky occurred on the territory of the USSR of those times and modern Russia. Moreover, more than 5,000 dead.
3rd place - for Colombia.
The smallest number of air crashes - in Ecuador.
Statistics of the distribution of air crashes of recent years by country
March 27, 1977 marked the world record for the number of victims in a plane crash. In the area of ​​Tenerife, two Boeing 747 airliners of the well-known Pan-America and KLM airlines unexpectedly collided. Then the victims were 583 people.
The total number of air crashes in the world is growing steadily.
The most dangerous airline in the world, according to "Current Security" (Swedish magazine), is the Soviet "Aeroflot". According to them, the statistics of air crashes in the world show that for 1 million flights of Aeroflot there are more than 18 crashes. The second place in this sad list is occupied by Taiwanese airlines - more than 11 accidents per million departures. The third place belongs to Egypt (more than 11), then - India (more than 10), Turkey, China, the Philippines, South Korea and Poland - for 41 million flights over 6 disasters. The safest is the company -South-West (America). For 1 million 800 thousand flights of the liners of this company, not a single catastrophe happened.
The largest air crashes in the world in the number of victims
Aircraft name | Year of disaster | Disaster site | Number of victims | Country, owner of the airliner | Causes of the disaster |
Boeing-747 | 1977 | Canary Islands | 578 | Netherlands, USA | Incorrect reception of the dispatch command by the crew |
Boeing-747 | 1985 | Japan | 520 | Japan | Inadequate repair of an airliner (technical problems) |
IL-76, Boeing | 1996 | India | 349 | Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia | The collision of two aircraft in the air |
DC-10 | 1974 | France | 346 | Turkey | Opening the hatch in the cargo compartment |
Boeing-737 | 1985 | Atlantic | 329 | India | Act of terrorism |
IL-76 | 2003 | Iran | 275 | Iran | Due to poor visibility conditions, a collision with the ground |
A-300 | 1994 | Japan | 264 | China | Undefined |
DC-8 250 | 1985 | Newfowland | 250 | Canada | There was a speed loss on take-off |
DC-10 | 1979 | Antarctica | 257 | New Zealand | Fall to the ground |
A-300 | 2001 | USA | 246 | USA | Unexpected fire in the air |
This table represents the worst air crashes in the world.
Description of some air crashes
In March 1974, after the opening of the cargo compartment, the French DC-10 of THY Turkish Airlines crashed in the forest. In total - 346 dead.
In March 1977, in a collision, a Boeing 747-206B (KLM) and a Boeing 747-121 (Pan Am) crashed in the Canary Islands in Tenerife. 583 dead (the largest air crash in the world in the air).
In May 1979, due to damage to the hydraulic system, a DC-10 (American Airlines) plane crashed in the Chicago area. Killed 273 people.
In August 1980, after an emergency landing, the L-1011-200 Tristar (Saudi) plane burned out in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh). 301 people died.
In June 1985, a Boeing 747-237B of Air India was destroyed in the Irish Sea after an explosion of terrorists. Killed 329 people.
In July 1988, by a ridiculous mistake, it was shot down by a military missile from the Vincennes ship (America) Airbus A300B2-202 (Iran Air). This happened in the Persian Gulf. 290 people dead.
In August 1985, Tokyo crashed into Mount Boeing 747SR (Japan Airlines). Surprisingly, four survived then. 520 people were killed.
In November 1996, another collision between a Boeing 747-168B (Saudi Arabian Airlines) and a Kazakh Il-76TD aircraft occurred in Charkhi-Dadri (India). A total of 349 people died then.
In January 1996, an overloaded Ant-32 fell onto the Kinshasa city market in Zaire. More than 297 dead. Survived 4 people from the crew (total crew 5).
More recently, on July 17, 2014, another terrible tragedy occurred on Ukrainian territory (60 kilometers from the border with Russia) - the Boeing 777 airliner (Malaysian Airlines) crashed (was shot down by the military). Killed 295 passengers (including 80 children) and the entire crew (15 people). Until now, the true cause of the tragedy has not been officially clarified.
The death of state leaders in aviation disasters
Air crashes of the world occur in the most unexpected places, for various reasons, and people of various statuses in society die in them.
The leaders of all countries, as a rule, use airliners as travel in connection with time savings. The most modern and, it would seem, very reliable ships in terms of safety are used for this. However, an unforeseen failure of equipment or just a human factor in these cases can also cause aircraft crashes. Here are some of the world's air crashes in which the first government officials died:
• In 2010 - Lech Kaczynski (President of Poland) with his wife, a large number of military people from the Polish high command and other politicians died in the Tu-154 crash near Smolensk.
• In 2004, Boris Traykovsky (President of Macedonia) died in a disaster in Bosnia.
• In 2001, the Sudanese military leadership perished in the south of the country.
• In 1988, Muhammad Ziya-ul-Haq, who was the president of Pakistan, died. The tragedy occurred over the city of Lahore, Pakistan (possibly as a result of the attack).
• In 1986, Zamora Machel (President of Mozambique) died in a plane crash in South Africa.
• In 1981 - Jaime Roldos Aguilera, the president of Ecuador, died. An airplane crashed in the Wairapung Mountains of Ecuador.
• In 1969 - Rene Barentos Ortuno (President of Bolivia) died in Arch (Bolivia).
• In 1966, Abdul Salam Aref (President of Iraq) in southern Iraq.
• In 1961, Dag Hammarskjöld (UN Secretary General) died in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).
• In 1957, Ramon Magsaysay (President of the Philippines), as a result of another disaster, died in the municipality of Balamban (Philippines).
Many more well-known names can be replenished with the lists of dead from among government officials of small and large countries of the world. Among them are mysterious air crashes of the world, mainly those whose reasons have still not been clarified. These include the plane crash that occurred in Panama. In 1981, Omar Torrijos - the general, leader of Panama, died under mysterious circumstances.
Statistical data for Russian Airlines
Reputable expert organizations derived statistics on the wreck of aircraft of many Russian airlines and compiled a safety rating for existing airliners.
Recently, almost all Russian airlines, when buying, prefer foreign (already used) aircraft, rather than new Russian ones. And as you know, the control of imported modern equipment equipped with electronics is very different from the control of domestic aircraft. Accordingly, the risk of occurrence, again, simply of the “human factor” also increases.
So, Russia’s account has 184 lives, Vladivostok-Avia Airlines has 145, KrasAir has 29, and Tyumen Airlines has 5. It’s very pleased that there are airlines that have operated without victims: Transero, Ural Airlines and Domodedovo Airlines.
Liner rating statistics
The table shows the rating of aircraft by their danger.
Liner model | Number of flights, million | Fatalities in catastrophes on average,% | Number of wrecks | Airliner Hazard Rating |
Boeing 747 | 16.26 | 49.04% | 28 | 0.84 |
Boeing 737-300 / 400/500 0 | fifty | 74.40% | fifteen | 0.22 |
Airbus A300 | 9.72 | 66.56% | 9 | 0.62 |
Boeing 757 | 14.71 | 77.14% | 7 | 0.37 |
Airbus A320 / 319/321 | 21.43 | 65.86% | 7 | 0.22 |
Airbus A310 | 3.75 | 87.17% | 6 | 1.39 |
Boeing 767 | 11.76 | 91.67% | 6 | 0.47 |
Fokker F70 / F100 | 6.67 | 46.75% | 4 | 0.28 |
Boeing 737-600 / 700/800/900 | 13.9 | 100% | 2 | 0.14 |
Boeing 777 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | | | | | |
From the above information, we can conclude that the Boeing 777 is by far the most reliable type of airliner.
The main causes of air crashes
Every year, the black terrifyingly tragic list of world air crashes is replenished. Quite often, the causes of these tragedies remain unclear to the end. World air crashes are very frequent and unpredictable. Investigation sometimes comes to a standstill. Even magical
black boxes often cannot clarify the cause of some disasters that occurred in mid-air.
The main causes of modern aviation accidents: technical failures (failure of technical devices, minor malfunctions), errors of air traffic controllers, pilots and other personnel (human factor), international terrorism, military operations, ridiculous fatal accidents (errors of military air defense, lightning storms, even collisions with birds, etc.).
The most important reason for the crash occurred is the very unfortunate human factor. In practice, the whole world accounts for almost 70% of all aircraft crashes.
And yet, despite the fact that air crashes are terrible and each time cause a very painful reaction of the entire world community, aviation remains one of the most reliable and safe of all types of existing transport.