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The 1977 Tenerife runway collision, which killed 583 people, remains the deadliest accidental aviation crash, ahead of Japan Airlines Flight 123 in 1985. Those two events, with 583 and 520 deaths, sit well clear of every other accident in the official record [1][2].
This list ranks accidental crashes and collisions by the number of people killed, using totals that include deaths on the ground where they occurred. It does not include confirmed terrorist attacks or shoot-downs. The September 11 2001 attacks, in particular American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, caused far more deaths than any accident when people in the World Trade Center are counted, but they were deliberate hijackings, not accidents. The same distinction applies to bombings such as Air India Flight 182 and Pan Am Flight 103, and to aircraft shot down, including Iran Air Flight 655, Korean Air Lines Flight 007 and Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 [1][2].
Figures below follow the standard tallies reported by encyclopedic and safety-network summaries and are historical, not changeable in the way a box-office chart is. Where a total includes many people on the ground, that is stated in the entry [1][2].
Key Facts
Fatalities are the accepted total for each event, including ground deaths if any. The date is the date of the crash.
Deadliest Aviation Accidents at a Glance
| Rank | Event | Date | Location | Fatalities | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tenerife airport disaster | 27 March 1977 | Tenerife, Spain | 583 | Two Boeing 747s collided on the runway |
| 2 | Japan Airlines Flight 123 | 12 August 1985 | Mount Takamagahara, Japan | 520 | Single 747, loss of control after a rear bulkhead failure |
| 3 | Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision | 12 November 1996 | Near New Delhi, India | 349 | Saudia and Kazakhstan Airlines collision |
| 4 | Turkish Airlines Flight 981 | 3 March 1974 | Ermenonville, France | 346 | DC-10 cargo-door failure |
| 5 | Saudia Flight 163 | 19 August 1980 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | 301 | In-flight fire; no one survived the evacuation delay |
| 6 | 1996 Kinshasa An-32 crash | 8 January 1996 | Kinshasa, Zaire (now DR Congo) | 298 | Overrun into a market; most deaths were on the ground |
| 7 | 2003 Iranian Il-76 crash | 19 February 2003 | Near Kerman, Iran | 275 | Military transport hit high ground in poor weather |
| 8 | American Airlines Flight 191 | 25 May 1979 | Chicago, United States | 273 | Left engine detached at take-off |
| 9 | American Airlines Flight 587 | 12 November 2001 | New York, United States | 265 | Tail failure shortly after take-off |
| 10 | China Airlines Flight 140 | 26 April 1994 | Nagoya, Japan | 264 | Stall on approach |
1. Tenerife airport disaster
KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736, both Boeing 747s, collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport on Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, on 27 March 1977. Five hundred and eighty-three people were killed: all 248 on the KLM aircraft and 335 of the 396 people on the Pan Am aircraft. Fifty-six people on the Pan Am jet survived [1][2].
A bomb scare at Gran Canaria had diverted many aircraft to Tenerife's smaller airport, which was crowded and, at the time of the crash, wrapped in fog. The KLM crew began a take-off run while the Pan Am aircraft was still taxiing on the same runway. Misheard radio calls, unusual phrasing and the lack of ground radar all contributed. The disaster led to lasting changes in standard phraseology and in crew resource management [2].
It remains the deadliest accident in aviation history, and the deadliest involving two aircraft. No later accidental crash has approached 583 deaths [1].
2. Japan Airlines Flight 123
Japan Airlines Flight 123, a Boeing 747SR on a domestic flight from Tokyo to Osaka, crashed on 12 August 1985 in the mountains of Gunma Prefecture after the rear pressure bulkhead failed and the aircraft lost its hydraulic systems and vertical tail. Of 524 people on board, 520 were killed and four survived. It is the deadliest single-aircraft accident [1][2].
The bulkhead had been improperly repaired after a tail strike in 1978. The crew kept the aircraft flying for more than half an hour on engine thrust alone before it hit the ridge. Rescue was delayed by the remote site and by darkness [2].
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The accident transformed Japanese aviation safety and remains a national trauma as well as a technical case study. The fatality total has not been exceeded by any later single-aircraft crash [1].
3. Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision
On 12 November 1996 Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 763, a Boeing 747 climbing out of Delhi, collided in mid-air with Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907, an Ilyushin Il-76 on approach, near Charkhi Dadri in Haryana, India. All 349 people on both aircraft were killed: 312 on the Saudi aircraft and 37 on the Kazakh aircraft [1][2].
The collision was attributed to the Il-76 being off its assigned altitude in a busy corridor. India subsequently tightened air-traffic procedures and widened the use of airborne collision-avoidance systems on aircraft using its airspace [2].
Some older tables listed only one of the two aircraft totals. The accident figure is the combined 349, which makes this the deadliest mid-air collision [1].
4. Turkish Airlines Flight 981
Turkish Airlines Flight 981, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, crashed in the Ermenonville forest near Paris on 3 March 1974 after a cargo door failed at altitude, causing an explosive decompression and the loss of control cables. All 346 people on board were killed [1][2].
A similar cargo-door failure had already occurred on an American Airlines DC-10 at Windsor, Ontario, in 1972, without a crash. The Paris accident showed that the design and the required modifications had not been fully carried through, and it is a central case in the history of airworthiness directives [2].
It was, at the time, the deadliest single-aircraft accident, a mark later passed by Japan Airlines Flight 123 [1].
5. Saudia Flight 163
Saudia Flight 163, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, had an in-flight cargo fire after leaving Riyadh on 19 August 1980. The crew turned back and landed successfully, but the aircraft was not evacuated promptly. All 301 people on board died from fire and smoke after the landing, a uniquely grim sequence in which the impact itself was survivable [1][2].
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Investigators pointed to the fire's source, to smoke in the cabin and cockpit, and to delays in shutting down engines and opening doors. The accident changed fire-training and evacuation expectations as much as any in-flight structural failure has done [2].
It is the deadliest accident on Saudi soil and one of the deadliest involving a successful landing that still ended in a total loss of life [1].
6. 1996 Kinshasa An-32 crash
On 8 January 1996 an overloaded Antonov An-32, operating for African Air, failed to take off properly from Kinshasa's N'Dolo Airport, then in Zaire, and ran into a crowded market in the city. The accepted death toll is 298, of whom only a small number were on the aircraft; most of the dead were people on the ground [1][2].
The flight was a freight departure in a dense urban setting, not a scheduled passenger jet on an airway. It is on this list because standard accident tallies include ground fatalities, and because that total places it among the deadliest aviation accidents. It should not be read as a 298-person onboard loss [2].
The crash is a reminder that airport siting and cargo-weight control can kill as many people as a high-altitude failure, and that the worst accidents are not all wide-body passenger flights [1].
7. 2003 Iranian Il-76 crash
On 19 February 2003 an Ilyushin Il-76MD operated for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps crashed in the mountains near Kerman, Iran, killing all 275 people on board [1][2]. The aircraft was a military transport carrying personnel, and the weather at the time was poor.
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It is sometimes left off popular "airline disaster" lists because it was not a civil scheduled flight. Safety-network rankings of the worst accidents include it, and a fatality ranking of aviation accidents should do the same [1].
The total places it just above the worst US civil accident. Details of the investigation have been less fully published in English than the civil cases above, which is itself a limitation that should be stated [2].
8. American Airlines Flight 191
American Airlines Flight 191, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, crashed just after take-off from Chicago O'Hare on 25 May 1979 when the left engine and pylon separated from the wing. Two hundred and seventy-one people on the aircraft and two on the ground were killed, a total of 273. It is the deadliest aviation accident to have occurred in the United States, apart from the September 11 attacks, which are not classified here as accidents [1][2].
Maintenance procedures used to remove and reinstall the engine and pylon were found to have cracked the pylon structure. The type was grounded while the problem was addressed, and maintenance methods were changed [2].
The accident remains the central US civil-airliner case in any discussion of the worst accidental crashes [1].
9. American Airlines Flight 587
American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300, crashed in Belle Harbor, Queens, shortly after take-off from John F. Kennedy International Airport on 12 November 2001. Two hundred and sixty people on the aircraft and five on the ground were killed, a total of 265 [1][2].
The aircraft's vertical tail separated after the first officer's rudder inputs, in the wake of a preceding jet, exceeded the fin's design limits. The crash came two months after the September 11 attacks, which shaped the public reaction, but the investigation found no connection to terrorism [2].
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It is the second-deadliest accident on US soil on this accidental list, after Flight 191 [1].
10. China Airlines Flight 140
China Airlines Flight 140, an Airbus A300, stalled and crashed on approach to Nagoya, Japan, on 26 April 1994. Two hundred and sixty-four of the 271 people on board were killed [1][2].
The investigation found that a go-around was initiated inadvertently and then mishandled, with conflicting control inputs as the aircraft's automated systems and the crew fought each other. It became an important case in the design of cockpit automation and in training for the go-around [2].
A few other accidents sit immediately below this total, including Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 in 1991 with 261 deaths. Tenth place is therefore close, but 264 is the next accepted total after Flight 587 [1].
Conclusion
The accidental record is dominated by a small number of late-twentieth-century crashes. No accidental event since 1996 has entered this top ten, which is one measure of how much safer scheduled flying has become, even as traffic has grown [1][2].
A complete picture of aviation's worst days must also include the attacks and shoot-downs set aside above, which belong to a different category of cause. The list here answers a narrower question: which accidental crashes have killed the most people. Anyone writing about these events should keep the focus on causes, numbers and the safety changes that followed, not on shock.
- ^ [1] "List of deadliest aircraft accidents and incidents". Wikipedia. Wikipedia: deadliest aircraft accidents and incidents
- ^ [2] "Aviation Safety Network" worst-accident statistics and event pages. Flight Safety Foundation. Aviation Safety Network: worst accidents
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