Tag: controlled flight into terrain
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On This Day In 1996: The 3.7-Km Navigation Error That Sent a Tu-154 Into a Mountain, Killing All 141 Aboard
On 29 August 1996, Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801 was approaching Svalbard Airport in the remote Arctic archipelago of Svalbard when a series of seemingly small navigation errors placed the aircraft directly on a collision course with a mountain. The Tupolev Tu-154M, carrying 130 passengers and 11 crew members, crashed into Operafjellet during its final approach.…
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On This Day In 2006: Comair Flight 5191 Took Off From the Wrong Runway in Darkness -CRJ-100 Ran Out of Pavement, Crashed Through a Fence and Into Trees, Killing 49 of 50 People Aboard
On August 27, 2006, Comair Flight 5191 was preparing for what should have been a routine early-morning flight from Lexington, Kentucky, to Atlanta, Georgia. Instead, a seemingly simple navigation mistake on the airport surface sent the aircraft onto a runway less than half the length it needed for a safe takeoff. Within seconds, the Bombardier…
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On This Day In 1981: The Mountain Was Hidden By Clouds – Aeropesca Flight 221 Hit It At About 8,500 Feet, Killing All 50
On 26 August 1981, Aeropesca Flight 221 departed Florencia, Colombia, bound for Neiva. The scheduled domestic service was operated by a four-engine Vickers Viscount 745D, registration HK-1320, carrying 44 passengers and six crew members. None of them would survive. The aircraft, named Ciudad de Popayan, had first flown in Britain on 22 February 1956. It…
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Plane That Crashed In Southwest Alaska, Killing 8, Was On Second Attempt To Land In Foggy Conditions
A charter aircraft carrying eight people crashed Thursday near a remote U.S. military radar site in Southwest Alaska, killing everyone on board. The Security Aviation twin-engine Cessna Conquest had departed Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport at about 9:15 a.m. and was attempting to land at the Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site Airport when it…
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On This Day In 2011: First Air Flight 6560 Crashed 1 Mile From The Runway, Killing 12 After An Unstable Approach And Missed Warnings Led To Disaster
On August 20, 2011, First Air Flight 6560, a Boeing 737-210C operating a charter flight from Yellowknife to Resolute Bay in Canada’s Nunavut territory, was approaching its destination when a series of small errors and missed warnings turned an otherwise routine landing into a fatal controlled flight into terrain. The aircraft, registration C-GNWN, carried 15…
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Today In 1988: The Brand-New Airbus A320 Crashed On Its Very First Passenger Flight After Descending So Low It Struck Trees In Front Of Thousands
On June 26, 1988, one of the most controversial accidents in aviation history unfolded during what was meant to be a celebration of the revolutionary Airbus A320. Air France Flight 296Q, operated by Air Charter International on behalf of Air France, was conducting a demonstration flight at the Habsheim Air Show in eastern France. The…
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Today In 1962: The Four-Month-Old Boeing 707 That Vanished Into A Thunderstorm-Driven Mountain Just Minutes Before Landing
On June 22, 1962, Air France Flight 117, a Boeing 707-328 named Château de Chantilly, was nearing the end of a long intercontinental journey when disaster struck over the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. What makes the tragedy particularly haunting is that the aircraft was only about four months old and had successfully completed most of…
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Today In 1982: Air India’s “Gauri Shankar” – The Boeing 707 With 111 On Board That Hit The Ground 1,300 Feet Short Of Mumbai’s Runway During A Monsoon Storm
On the night of June 21, 1982, Air India Flight 403, a Boeing 707-437 named “Gauri Shankar,” was completing an international passenger service to Bombay (now Mumbai) after arriving from Kuala Lumpur. What should have been a routine landing at Sahar International Airport turned into one of the most dramatic accidents in Air India’s history,…
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Today In 2011: A Navigator’s GPS Mistake And A Midnight Fog Approach Led To A Tragic Crash That Killed 47 People
On the night of June 20, 2011, RusAir Flight 9605 was operating a domestic passenger service from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport to Petrozavodsk in Russia’s Republic of Karelia. The aircraft involved was a Tupolev Tu-134A, a Soviet-era twin-engine airliner carrying 52 people, including passengers and crew. What should have been a routine late-night flight ended in…
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How Military GPS Jamming, Mountain Terrain, And A Medevac Mission Ended In Tragedy As Crew Flew Into Mountain Killing Four People Aboard: NTSB Report
In the early hours of May 14, 2026, a routine air ambulance repositioning flight in New Mexico turned into one of the most unusual and closely watched aviation accidents of the year. A Beechcraft King Air C90, registration N249CP, operated by Generations Jets and carrying two pilots and two flight nurses, crashed into the rugged…
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