The 20 Worst Plane Crashes in History, Ranked by Death Toll

The worst plane crash in history is the Tenerife airport disaster of March 27, 1977, when two Boeing 747s collided on a fog-covered runway in the Canary Islands and 583 people died. Almost 50 years later, no accident has matched that toll.

This list ranks the 20 deadliest accidents on passenger flights by total deaths, counting everyone on board and anyone killed on the ground. Deliberate acts, including 9/11, bombings and shootdowns, are ranked separately further down, because they were crimes and acts of war rather than accidents. Helicopter accidents have their own record, covered in our list of the worst helicopter crashes.

Figures are current as of September 2026. Almost every crash here was followed by an investigation that changed how airliners are built, flown or controlled, and some of those changes are the subject of our series on the flights that changed aviation.

1. Tenerife Airport Disaster (1977): 583 Deaths

Neither jet was meant to be at Los Rodeos. A separatist bomb had exploded at Gran Canaria airport, and both KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736 were diverted to Los Rodeos on Tenerife.

In dense fog, the KLM 747 began its takeoff run while the Pan Am 747 was still taxiing down the same runway. All 248 people on the KLM jet died, along with 335 of the 396 aboard the Pan Am jet.

Investigators concluded that the fundamental cause was the KLM captain attempting to take off without clearance. Simultaneous radio transmissions blocked key messages, and both the KLM crew and the tower used ambiguous, non-standard phrases.

The fixes are still in use today. Radio calls now follow standard phrases, the word “takeoff” is reserved for the clearance itself, and crew resource management training gives junior pilots the standing to challenge a captain.

Both aircraft were early jumbo jets, and the Pan Am jet was a Boeing 747-100 variant. Our full account of the Tenerife disaster walks through the final minutes and the investigation.

2. Japan Air Lines Flight 123 (1985): 520 Deaths

Japan Air Lines 123 is the deadliest accident involving a single aircraft. The Boeing 747SR left Tokyo Haneda for Osaka on August 12, 1985, with 524 people on board, and only four survived.

In flight, the rear pressure bulkhead failed. The rush of air tore away most of the vertical stabilizer and severed all four hydraulic systems, leaving the crew with almost no way to steer.

The crew kept the 747 in the air for 32 minutes with almost no working controls before it struck a ridge near Mount Takamagahara. The root cause was a repair Boeing technicians had made seven years earlier after a tailstrike: the bulkhead was spliced with two plates instead of one, cutting its fatigue resistance to about 70 percent of the correct design.

3. Charkhi Dadri Mid-Air Collision (1996): 349 Deaths

The deadliest mid-air collision in history happened over Charkhi Dadri, India, on November 12, 1996. Saudia Flight 763, a Boeing 747 climbing out of Delhi bound for Dhahran and Jeddah, collided with Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907, an Ilyushin Il-76 descending toward Delhi.

All 312 people on the Saudia jet and all 37 on the Kazakh jet died. The inquiry found the Kazakh crew had descended below their assigned 15,000 feet, and that limited English in the cockpit, where one radio operator handled all communication, contributed to the confusion.

India responded by requiring every aircraft in its airspace to carry an airborne collision avoidance system. Investigators also recommended separate corridors for arriving and departing traffic at Delhi and radar that shows controllers each aircraft’s altitude.

4. Turkish Airlines Flight 981 (1974): 346 Deaths

On March 3, 1974, a Turkish Airlines DC-10 left Paris Orly for London with 346 people on board. In flight, the rear cargo door blew open.

The sudden loss of pressure collapsed the cabin floor above the cargo hold, severing the cables to the elevators, the rudder and the number two engine. The jet came down in the Ermenonville Forest outside Paris, and no one survived.

The cause was a cargo door latch design that could close improperly, a flaw that had already caused a cargo door failure on American Airlines Flight 96 in 1972. Flight 981 remained the deadliest single-aircraft accident until Japan Air Lines 123 in 1985.

5. Saudia Flight 163 (1980): 301 Deaths

Saudia 163 is the only crash in the top 10 in which the aircraft landed intact. The Lockheed L-1011-200 TriStar took off from Riyadh on August 19, 1980, bound for Jeddah, and about seven minutes later the crew received smoke warnings from the rear cargo hold.

The captain turned back and landed at Riyadh at 9:36 p.m. The jet stopped at 9:39 p.m., but the wing engines kept running until 9:42 p.m., and no evacuation took place.

Investigators traced the fire to the aft C3 cargo compartment but could not determine what started it.

6. American Airlines Flight 191 (1979): 273 Deaths

American Airlines 191 is the deadliest aviation accident ever to occur in the United States. On May 25, 1979, as the DC-10 lifted off from Chicago O’Hare for Los Angeles, its left engine separated from the wing.

The departing engine damaged hydraulic lines, and the jet rolled past vertical before crashing about 4,600 feet from the end of the runway. All 271 people on board and two people on the ground died.

The NTSB traced the separation to a maintenance shortcut at American’s Tulsa base, where engine and pylon had been removed together using a forklift, damaging the pylon. The FAA suspended the DC-10’s type certificate on June 6, 1979, grounding the fleet until July 13.

7. American Airlines Flight 587 (2001): 265 Deaths

Two months after 9/11, on November 12, 2001, an American Airlines Airbus A300 bound for Santo Domingo crashed into Belle Harbor, Queens, after departing JFK. All 260 people on board and five on the ground died, making it the second-deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history.

The cause was structural, not criminal. The jet flew through wake turbulence from a Japan Airlines 747, and the NTSB found that the first officer’s “unnecessary and excessive rudder pedal inputs” created loads beyond the tail’s design limit, and the vertical stabilizer separated.

8. China Airlines Flight 140 (1994): 264 Deaths

On April 26, 1994, a China Airlines A300 from Taipei was on final approach to Nagoya when the first officer accidentally triggered the takeoff/go-around mode. The crew pushed the nose down, while the autopilot, still following the go-around command, trimmed the tail to full nose-up.

The aircraft pitched up steeply, stalled and crashed, killing 264 of the 271 people on board. It is China Airlines’ deadliest accident and the second-deadliest air crash in Japan, after JAL 123.

Airbus had already developed a software change that let manual control inputs disengage the autopilot in go-around mode, but the airline had judged it not urgent. Taiwan’s regulator ordered it installed a week after the crash.

9. Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 (1991): 261 Deaths

Flight 2120 was a Canadian-registered DC-8 wet-leased to Nigeria Airways to fly Hajj pilgrims home from Jeddah to Sokoto. On July 11, 1991, it took off with underinflated tires, which a mechanic had flagged before departure.

The tires overheated on the takeoff roll and started a fire in the wheel well, which spread until it burned through the cabin floor. All 261 people on board died, making it the deadliest accident involving a DC-8.

10. Air India Flight 171 (2025): 260 Deaths

The newest entry in the top 20 is also the deadliest aviation disaster of the 2020s. On June 12, 2025, an Air India Boeing 787-8 bound for London Gatwick crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad.

Of the 242 people on board, 241 died. The one survivor was a passenger in seat 11A, and 19 people were killed on the ground. It was the first fatal accident involving a 787 since the type entered service in 2011.

India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau reported in July 2025 that both engine fuel control switches moved from RUN to CUTOFF three seconds after liftoff, one second apart. The preliminary report did not say how or why, and the final report was still pending as of September 2026, with a draft expected by October.

11. Air New Zealand Flight 901 (1979): 257 Deaths

Flight 901 was a sightseeing trip from Auckland over Antarctica. On November 28, 1979, the DC-10 flew into Mount Erebus, killing all 257 people on board.

The flight plan coordinates had been changed overnight without telling the crew, and a sector whiteout hid the mountain in front of them. A Royal Commission led by Justice Peter Mahon later accused airline executives of “an orchestrated litany of lies.” It remains New Zealand’s deadliest peacetime disaster.

12. Arrow Air Flight 1285R (1985): 256 Deaths

On December 12, 1985, a chartered Douglas DC-8-63 carrying U.S. Army soldiers, most from the 101st Airborne Division, home from a peacekeeping deployment in the Sinai crashed just after takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland. All 256 people on board died.

Canada’s Aviation Safety Board majority blamed ice on the wings combined with an overweight aircraft, which led to a stall. Four of the nine board members dissented, arguing for an in-flight fire. It is the deadliest aviation accident on Canadian soil and the U.S. Army’s deadliest peacetime air crash.

The 13th to 20th Deadliest Plane Crashes

13. Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 (1997): 234 Deaths

Approaching Medan in thick haze from forest fires, the A300 was told to turn and descend while a controller confused it with another flight also numbered 152. The crew turned the wrong way, descended below their assigned 2,000 feet and crashed near Sibolangit. It is the deadliest air disaster in Indonesia’s history.

14. TWA Flight 800 (1996): 230 Deaths

The Boeing 747 exploded off East Moriches, Long Island, on a flight from JFK to Paris. The NTSB found that the center wing fuel tank had exploded, most likely ignited by a short circuit in wiring. That finding led to a 2008 rule requiring inert gas in those tanks, covered in our TWA 800 investigation story.

15. Swissair Flight 111 (1998): 229 Deaths

An MD-11 from New York to Geneva crashed into the Atlantic about 5 miles (8 km) off Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia, after a fire broke out above the cockpit. Arcing in entertainment-system wiring ignited flammable insulation, and new flammability standards for aircraft materials followed.

16. Korean Air Flight 801 (1997): 229 Deaths

On an approach to Guam in heavy rain, the Boeing 747 hit high ground about 3 nautical miles short of the runway, and 25 of the 254 aboard survived. The NTSB cited the captain’s handling of the approach and weak crew cross-checking. Contributing factors included fatigue, an out-of-service glideslope and a ground-based altitude warning system the FAA had inhibited.

17. Air France Flight 447 (2009): 228 Deaths

Ice crystals blocked the A330’s airspeed sensors over the mid-Atlantic, the autopilot disconnected, and the crew held the nose up into a stall they did not recover from. Searchers needed nearly two years to find the flight recorders, in May 2011. Our Air France 447 article covers the automation lessons.

18. China Airlines Flight 611 (2002): 225 Deaths

The Boeing 747 broke apart in flight over the Taiwan Strait, 22 years after a 1980 tailstrike at Hong Kong. The airline’s repair had covered the damaged skin with a doubler plate too small to do the job, and fatigue cracks grew from the uncovered scratches until the hull failed.

19. Lauda Air Flight 004 (1991): 223 Deaths

Climbing out of Bangkok for Vienna, the Boeing 767’s left engine thrust reverser deployed in flight without any command from the crew. The aircraft stalled and broke up over Phu Toei National Park, about 60 miles (100 km) northwest of Bangkok. It is the deadliest 767 accident and the deadliest in Thailand.

20. Air India Flight 855 (1978): 213 Deaths

Air India’s first Boeing 747 crashed into the Arabian Sea about 2 miles (3 km) off Bandra on New Year’s Day 1978, 101 seconds after taking off from Bombay for Dubai. At night over dark water, the captain’s attitude indicator failed and he lost track of the aircraft’s orientation, and all 213 people on board died.

The Deadliest Deliberate Acts: 9/11, Bombings and Shootdowns

Some of the worst losses of life in aviation had nothing to do with mechanical failure or human error in the cockpit. These are the deadliest attacks on passenger aircraft, ranked by total deaths.

Military flights are excluded from both tables. The deadliest of those, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Il-76 that crashed near Kerman in 2003, killed 275 people.

What About MH370?

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. Military radar showed it turning back west across the Malay Peninsula, and satellite data places its end in the southern Indian Ocean.

With 239 presumed dead it would rank 13th, but it cannot be ranked honestly. Pieces of debris have washed up, the first on Réunion in July 2015, yet the main wreckage has never been found and the cause remains unknown.

The latest search by Ocean Infinity surveyed about 2,900 square miles (7,571 sq km) of seabed between March 2025 and January 2026. Malaysia’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau announced that it had found nothing. MH370 is the best-known of the passenger planes that disappeared without a trace.

The Worst Plane Crash in U.S. History

The deadliest accident on U.S. soil is still American Airlines 191 in 1979, with 273 deaths, followed by American Airlines 587 in 2001, with 265. Counting deliberate acts, the 9/11 attacks were far deadlier than either.

The deadliest U.S. accident since 2001 is the mid-air collision over the Potomac River on January 29, 2025. An American Airlines regional jet operated by PSA Airlines and a U.S. Army Black Hawk collided near Reagan National Airport, killing all 64 people on the jet and the three soldiers on the helicopter.

The NTSB blamed “systemic failures in airspace design, safety oversight, and risk management” by the FAA and the Army. Airline accidents like these are rare in the U.S., and most plane crash deaths in America don’t happen on airlines at all.

The Deadliest Crashes That Had Survivors

Most crashes in the top 20 left no survivors, which makes the exceptions stand out. At Tenerife, 61 people survived, all of them aboard the Pan Am jet.

Four people survived JAL 123, the deadliest single-aircraft crash. Seven survived China Airlines 140, 25 survived Korean Air 801 on Guam, and one passenger survived Air India 171.

Famous Plane Crashes That Are Not on This List

Some of the best-known crashes in aviation history fall well short of the top 20 by death toll. They are famous for what they changed, not for how many people they killed.

The Grand Canyon Mid-Air Collision (1956): 128 Deaths

On June 30, 1956, a TWA Super Constellation and a United DC-7 collided over the Grand Canyon, killing all 128 people on both aircraft. Public outrage led Congress to pass the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, which created the Federal Aviation Agency, today’s FAA, with authority over all U.S. airspace.

United Airlines Flight 232 (1989): 112 Deaths, 184 Survivors

An uncontained failure in the DC-10’s tail engine severed all three hydraulic systems, yet the crew reached Sioux City, Iowa, and 184 of the 296 aboard survived. The crash brought hydraulic fuses to the DC-10 and made crew resource management an industry standard, as our United 232 article explains.

Air France Flight 4590, the Concorde Crash (2000): 113 Deaths

On takeoff from Paris, the Concorde ran over a titanium strip that had fallen from a Continental DC-10. A burst tire threw debris that ruptured a fuel tank, and the fire brought the jet down, killing all 109 aboard and four on the ground.

The crash is often said to have ended Concorde, but that is only part of the story. Air France and British Airways retired their fleets in 2003, citing limited commercial success, which worsened after the September 11 attacks.

How Often Do Fatal Plane Crashes Happen Now?

Very rarely. IATA counted 38.7 million commercial flights in 2025, with 51 accidents, of which eight were fatal, and 394 people died on board.

Two crashes account for 305 of those 394 deaths: Air India 171, with 241 on board, and the Potomac collision, with 64 on the jet. Over the last five years the industry has averaged one fatal accident for every 5.6 million flights, down from one in 3.5 million a decade ago.

That is why 16 of the 20 crashes on this list happened between 1974 and 1998. Most of the lessons in it were learned the hard way, and they are the reason the list grows so slowly now.