Attempts to take off have been made by people since time immemorial. Recall at least the legendary Daedalus and his son. True, their experiments were crowned with dubious success. Times have changed: now a wingless man flies in any direction and as much as he wants. But people could not take to the air on their own, so aircraft crashes often have very tragic consequences.
Air crashes: world statistics
Loosely quoting Ilf and Petrov, it is worth noting that statistics know everything: how many mattresses, toys, chairs there are in the world and, of course, it takes into account the number of air accidents that have occurred.
Well-known statistical companies have calculated the number of victims of air crashes since 1945. It turned out that during this period, America became the leader in terms of human casu alties. Why such a disappointing statistics of air crashes in the United States is not difficult to guess. Indeed, in this highly developed country, the passenger flow and the number of air travel are several times greater than in another region.
US Air Force fighter crashes
Mainly public attention is drawn to plane crashes involving huge civilianliners, accompanied by a significant number of victims. But accidents often happen with helicopters, fighter jets, belonging, in particular, to the US military.
For example, in 2003, a Black Hawk military helicopter crashed while on a training flight. The incident happened in the Ford Dam area, a base located near the Canadian border. There were 13 military personnel on board, of whom only two survived.
In February of the same year, the Provler with three pilots on board fell from the deck of an aircraft carrier due to a failure of the braking system. Two people managed to eject at the last moment, and the third was rescued from the surface of nearby waters.
In January 2003, a Tomket fighter crashed before reaching the deck of an aircraft carrier in the Caribbean. The plane crashed just 1 thousand meters from the target. The pilots successfully ejected. Causes of the accident are being established.
Near the border with Mexico, in southern Texas, under the cover of night darkness, two combat helicopters crashed. Four Marines-reservists were killed. It is noteworthy that the operation to capture drug couriers ended so ingloriously and tragically. Helicopter registration address: Camp Pendleton Base.
December 2002 was marked by the collision of Twitty Bird training aircraft in the skies over southern Oklahoma. Fortunately, the pilots survived, and one aircraft even returned to the training base on its own.
On a winter night in 2002, a helicopter carrying out training firing crashed near the FortRucker. The pilots did not survive.
Two American attack aircraft collided over Nevada. One pilot was killed. Fortunately, the second ejected in time.
In October 2002, two of the newest fighter jets from the Limor base crashed over the California coast. The bodies of the pilots have not yet been found.
F-16 bombers collided over Utah. One pilot survived, the remains of the other were found some distance from the crash site.
Disasters involving small craft
Air crashes in the US are not limited to crashes of military planes. Often, small private liners suffer crashes, which fail due to breakdowns, or a human flaw comes into play. One of the most notorious cases was the death of Senator Paul Wellstone along with his wife, daughter and three employees. The politician's plane crashed in October 2002, around 10 pm, not far from the Eveleth-Virginia airport.
In other cases, crashes that have undergone light single-engine, twin-engine aircraft over forests or residential areas, do without casu alties, except for a few accidents. In particular, in 2002, a plane crashed on a highway in New Mexico. Having cut off the wires, he collapsed, while the pilots died. No one was hurt on the ground.
In January 2003, a single and twin-engine aircraft collided. They crashed into a residential area of Denver. Four people were killed (aircraft crews), and on the ground 6 people were injured of various degrees of severity.
Also a unique casetook place in Los Angeles. The plane destroyed part of the house and crashed into the garage, while the pilot was killed, and the child watching TV in the room was not injured.
Another noteworthy accident occurred at the airport in Charlotte, South Carolina. The pilot tried to save the situation by diving towards the hangar, but nevertheless, 19 people died.
Incomprehensible attack on the Federal Bank of America turned into a disaster. In fact, the pilot and the manager of a well-known company were on their way to a Christmas party, and the fact that the plane crashed into a reserve bank in Miami was an accident. The building was not seriously damaged, but 2 people on board died.
A plane crashed over Oklahoma with six people who died just a few meters short of McAllister Airport.
America's Top 10 Air Crashes
Major air crashes in the US are, of course, more visible, no matter what year they occur, because the disaster does not take into account the chronology. The first three places of this sad rating deserve special attention, which we will do a little later.
In the meantime, it will suffice to name the largest US air crashes, which have reaped the largest harvest of human casu alties.
- The first place is occupied by the terrible terrorist attack that took place in September 2001. A total of 2,846 people died in this monstrous disaster.
- On the second - the Chicago accident, which happened in May of the distant 1979. 273 passengers died, including crew members.
- Crash on the thirdAirbus in November 2001. Dead: 265 people.
- In 1996, a Boeing 747 en route to Rome exploded over the Atlantic just minutes after takeoff. After investigating and deciphering data from the flight recorders, the cause was determined: a fatal electrical fault. The fatal flight 800 claimed the lives of 230 people.
- In 1987, the McDonnell Douglas liner crashed into an overpass immediately after an unsuccessful takeoff due to incorrect actions by the crew. He was supposed to make a flight from Detroit (Michigan) to Phoenix. As a result, 156 people died, including 2 victims on the ground. It was a miraculous escape that the only passenger, a four-year-old girl named Cecilia, survived.
- A Boeing 727 bound for Las Vegas crashed in 1982 on the Kenner compound. The US plane crashes were replenished with another serious event that claimed 153 human lives. After the plane crashed, the black box, of course, was deciphered. According to the results of the information analysis, the reason for the fall of the side, which rose above the ground by no more than 40 meters, was made public. It was imperceptible, but significant air microbursts, which fatally affected the takeoff.
- September 1978. There was the largest plane crash in California. Boeing-727 and Chesna-127 collided in the air. It happened in the sky over San Diego. The planes crashed into a residential area. The number of victims was 144 people. Again, the cause of the accident was human carelessness.
- In August 1985, in Dallas, from the impact ofThe water tower was torn apart by the Lockheed liner. This was preceded by strong turbulence. As a result, 135 people died and 30, mostly on the ground, were injured.
- On a December morning in 1960, two airliners crashed into New York: Douglas and Lockheed. They collided on approach, which caused a fire when they crashed in the Brooklyn area. 134 people are considered dead. The official version of the disaster was a failure of navigation equipment.
- In 1994, a plane crashed near Pittsburgh. The black box, which was discovered by experts and deciphered its data, did not help to find out the cause of the disaster. But further troubles with the other side revealed the truth: the Boeing 737 had the steering wheel jammed in the left position. 132 people did not fly to Florida.
Accident? No - a terrorist attack
And now it is worth dwelling in more detail on the most terrible catastrophe provoked by the monstrous terrorist attack of 2001. Despite the fact that air accidents, in particular, plane crashes in the United States, occur frequently, the world has not seen a more brazen and terrible attack.
A Boeing 767 hijacked by al-Qaeda Islamist Muhammad Atta and his associates crashed into the north building of the New York City Marketing Center around 9:00 am on September 11th. Soon the south tower is attacked by a Boeing hijacked by fanatic Marwan Al-Shehhi. 17 minutes elapsed between the fatal clashes. In parallel with these sides, two more aircraft were captured, one of which was aimed at the Pentagon, and the second atCapitol. But only the first reached the goal, while the second crashed in Pennsylvania. The Boeing 757 was piloted by Kheni Henjor, a terrorist from Saudi Arabia. He sent the board to the western part of the military center. The estimated number of victims is 189. Humanity will never forget this terrible event.
Chicago nightmare
When studying civil aviation disasters, it is impossible not to take into account the terrible tragedy that occurred in May 1979. This accident, prior to the terrorist attack on the WCT towers, was the largest in North American history. The Douglas airliner crashed 30 seconds after taking off. Due to engine separation and damage to the left wing, the plane banked and crashed into a trailer park, followed by a terrible explosion. The disaster took the lives of 273 people. This was caused by a mistake by the airport's technical staff.
Airbus: fateful seconds over Queens
Another disaster occurred in 2001, a month after the New York attacks. An Airbus 300 taking off from Kennedy Airport crashed shortly after taking off. The bustling area of New York, Queens, was badly damaged by the crash of the liner. In total, 265 people died. The cause of the crash is not fully known, but experts suggest that it could be pilot error or excessive turbulence.
Along with the official version, there are mystical assumptions. The fact is that on board the Airbus there were two people who miraculously escaped death duringtime of the September 11 attacks. Here, supposedly, God's hand belatedly, but still overtook them. Whether this is so remains a mystery.
The Last Decade of US Civil Aviation
Over the past 10 years, there have been many terrible accidents in the world, but the plane crashes in the United States, by a lucky chance, did not have too terrible consequences, although there were victims. During this period, there were 14 crashes. The most tragic were:
- August 2006: Airliner crashed in Kentucky, falling almost instantly after leaving the runway; 49 people died;
- February 2009: 50 victims after a plane crashed on an apartment building in the Buffalo area.
Fortunately, the air crashes in the US over the past 10 years have not been impressive, but any human life is of great value, so the grief of loved ones who died in air accidents is immeasurable.
Fatal landing in San Francisco
The last plane crash in the US was in July 2013. A Boeing 777 crashed while trying to land in San Francisco. The aircraft's fuselage began to break off and the engine caught fire. As a result, out of 307 passengers, including the crew, three were killed and 181 people were injured.
In December of the same year, it became known about the disaster that occurred in the state of Georgia. For unknown reasons, the light-engine aircraft did not reach its final destination and crashed to the ground. Two people died.
Thus, air crashes in the United States over the past 10 years have beenrecession, and this can not but rejoice. All over the world, work is underway to improve the quality of flights and their safety, so we hope that soon all the terrible crashes will hide the veil of history.
Note to aerophobes
Armed with information about numerous plane crashes, people suffering from aerophobia begin to panic even more when landing on the next plane. This should not be done, but it is better to take into account the fact that the chance of having an accident in the air is 1 in 16 million cases. Therefore, it is wiser to stock up on an exciting book, your favorite player, and work on a flight simulator before the flight. And good luck!
