Plane Crashes: The 10 Deadliest Air Disasters And the Lessons We Learned to Improve Aviation Safety

By Oliver Elliott

The 10 deadliest plane crashes that changed the way we fly
 

Air travel is one of the safest modes of transportation, but when an aircraft crashes, the consequence is devastating. Why did they happen? Were they caused by bad weather, mechanical failure, or human errors?
 

In this book, the author introduces the 10 deadliest plane crashes in aviation history. He goes through the key events that brought down the doomed commercial jets, and he discusses how we used the painful lessons to improve aviation safety. With clear writing and rare historical images, the author recreates those fateful moments in front of the audience. As a reader, you will be able to better understand the safety features of modern commercial aircraft and become an informed passenger. This book is dedicated to all the lives lost in airplane crashes and their families.
 

If you are looking for a book that comprehensively introduces the worst air disasters with in-depth analysis, this book is for you. See you inside!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shuo Luo
• Release date: Dec 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781962483032

Book preview

Plane Crashes Copy

The 10 Deadliest Air Disasters And the Lessons We Learned to Improve Aviation Safety

Oliver Elliott

All images in this book were from public domains or under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike Licenses.

Copyright © 2023 by Oliver Elliott

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect.

–Captain A. G. Lamplugh

Contents

1.Introduction

2.Mechanical Failures and Design Flaws

3.Miscommunications

4.Misoperation and Negligence

5.Conclusion

6.Resources

Chapter one

Introduction

The invention of the plane by the Wright brothers in 1908 was determined to profoundly change the way we live. For the first time, we had the technology to take us up in the air like birds, and traveling across continents was made possible for everyone because of the arrival of commercial airplanes. From propellers to turbo jet engines, scientists and engineers never stop perfecting the technology, and modern commercial aircraft are able to travel at a speed faster than that of sound (~340 m/s or 765 mph). The places that seemed to be far beyond our reach can now be reached within hours, and the world is more closely connected than ever before.

Meanwhile, like any other technology, the development of aviation was shadowed by air disasters. Because of the extreme speed, plane crashes are much more disastrous than the crashes of other transportation vehicles. As we will see later in the book, each plane crash was accompanied by the loss of hundreds of lives. In rare cases, those who did survive a plane crash carry traumatic memories with them throughout their lifetime. Some crashes can be attributed to design defects and mechanical failures; however, many other crashes were caused by avoidable human errors. Harmless as they might appear in the beginning, these small errors quickly added up and transformed into severe problems that eventually brought down an aircraft.

In this book, I will go through the 10 deadliest air disasters in aviation history. Each disaster killed hundreds of people, and they happened both on the ground and in the air. To faithfully recreate the scenes, I had to put in certain details even if they might bring some discomfort. However, this book is not meant to scare readers from taking a plane; rather, it is meant to help us reflect on the disasters and find out how we can improve aviation safety based on these painful lessons. We are strong not because we have the technology to change the world, but because we have the ability to reflect and change ourselves. I hope the lessons will apply to other areas of our life, too. This is also my most sincere tribute to all the lives lost in those plane crashes.

Finally, this book is by no means comprehensive. There are many other air disasters worth mentioning, like Korea Air Flight 801, Air France Flight 447, Air France Flight 4590, and China Airlines Flight 611, to name a few. I also did not include aviation disasters caused by terrorist attacks, like Air India Flight 182, Pan Am Flight 103, 9/11 flights, and so on. Due to space limitations, I cannot include those cases, but I do hope I will have a chance to write another book about them. If you find any part of my book inspiring, I will feel sincerely thankful. Enjoy reading!

Chapter two

Mechanical Failures and Design Flaws

I. Turkish Airlines Flight 981 (1974)

Turkish Airlines Flight 981 was a DC-10 Series 10 aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas in Long Beach, California. The plane was powered by three General Electric CF6-6D turbofan engines, and it had 12 first-class seats and 333 economy seats for a total of 345 passenger seats on board. The accident aircraft was originally owned by Mitsui and was intended to be sold to All Nippon Airways; however, the Japanese airline bought the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar instead due to Lockheed’s bribery. The DC-10 then went to Turkish Airlines.

On March 3, 1974, Turkish Airlines Flight 981 arrived at Orly International Airport in Paris, France at 11:02 am local time after a four-hour flight from Istanbul, Turkey. Of the 167 passengers on board, 117 remained on the flight for their final destination to London Heathrow Airport. The second leg of the flight was usually underbooked; however, due to a strike by British European Airways workers, over 200 travelers who were heading to London and had been stranded at the airport were rebooked on Flight 981. Two people were seated in the first class, while the 333 economy class seats were fully occupied, making a total of 335 passengers on board.

TC-JAV, the aircraft involved in the accident on March 3, 1974 (Steve Fitzgerald)

TC-JAV, the aircraft involved in the accident on March 3, 1974 (Steve Fitzgerald)

In the cockpit, Turkish Captain Nejat Berköz and First Officer Oral Ulusman were responsible for today’s flight. Nejat Berköz was 44 and had 7,000 flying hours, and Oral Ulusman was 38 and had 5,600 flying hours. The 37-year-old Flight Engineer Erhan Özer had 2,120 hours of flying experience.

At 12:32 pm, 30 minutes after its scheduled takeoff, Flight 981 finished passenger boarding and preflight inspection and took off from the runway. Without any signs of trouble, Flight 981 was cleared to flight level 230 (23,000 feet or 7,000 meters) and started turning west towards London, which was less than an hour away.

Suddenly, right after the flight passed over the town of Meaux, something blew off from the rear left of the aircraft, leading to a big opening in the cargo area. The loss of structural integrity and the difference in air pressure between the cargo area and the cabin quickly caused a section of the cabin floor, with six occupied passenger seats, to detach and be ejected out of the aircraft through the opening. The bodies of the six ejected Japanese passengers were later found in a turnip field near Saint-Pathus approximately 9.5 miles (15 kilometers) south of the plane crash site. They turned out to be the only bodies remaining fully recognizable in the crash.

Back in the cockpit, the explosive ejection of the cabin floor severed the primary as well as both sets of backup control cables running underneath. This completely disabled the pilots from controlling the flight’s elevators, rudder, and number two engine. Based on the flight data recorder, the throttle of engine two immediately shut down after the explosive ejection, and the aircraft pitched down at a 20-degree angle and started picking up speed. Because of the loss of control over the critical