The biggest airplane crashes in the United States. Under what circumstances the tragedies occurred

The collision of a passenger plane with a military helicopter in Washington, D.C., on January 30 killed 67 people. It became the largest airplane crash in the United States since 2009. The worst crashes in the country's history claimed the lives of more than 200 people. Under what circumstances such disasters occurred - in the material "Izvestia".

May 25, 1979 - 273 dead

- The deadliest plane crash in U.S. history can be called the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when two planes aimed at the World Trade Center towers in New York, killed 2763 people. Among them were 157 people (including 10 terrorists) who were directly on board.

- The worst disaster in terms of the number of those who died in a single airplane occurred in 1979. A McDonnell Douglas DC-10 airliner with 258 passengers and 13 crew members flying from Chicago to Los Angeles crashed just one minute after takeoff. Two other people on the ground died along with them.

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- While still accelerating down the runway, the plane's left engine broke off. This also led to the tearing off of a piece of wing, rupture of the fuel line, electrical wiring and the hydraulic system that controlled the flaps. The airplane, which had gained speed, still took off and tilted to the left due to the disturbed aerodynamics. Within seconds it assumed a vertical position, lost lift and plummeted downward.

- The investigation revealed that the engine loss was caused by poor maintenance two months earlier. To save labor time, the engine had been removed and reinstalled in violation of the manufacturer's instructions. The mounting had developed micro-cracks that developed during further operation. The foreman of the technicians involved in maintaining the airplane committed suicide the day before he was to testify on the crash.

November 12, 2001 - 265 dead

- Just two months after the September 11 attacks, a new tragedy occurred in the United States, and the victims were again those who were both in the air and on the ground. The Airbus A300 airplane of American Airlines, flying from New York to the Dominican Republic, crashed 1 minute and 45 seconds after takeoff. The aircraft carrying 251 passengers and nine crew members crashed into a residential development, killing five other people.

- Immediately after takeoff, the plane hit a downdraft from another craft that had taken off a little earlier. This caused turbulence, which was warned about by air traffic control from the ground. Co-pilot Stan Molin began to shift the rudder to the right and left and did not stop, even when the plane left the turbulence zone. From such a load destroyed the attachment nodes of the vertical stabilizer on the tail, and it broke off. This led to a loss of control and a sharp descent.

- One of the deceased passengers was 26-year-old Hilda Yolanda Mayol. She was working at the World Trade Center on 9/11 and managed to run out of the North Tower before it collapsed. She flew to the Dominican Republic with her family to rest after the stress she had endured.

July 17, 1996 - 230 dead

- Conspiracy was shrouded in the 1996 TWA Boeing 747 crash. The plane exploded over the Atlantic Ocean just 12 minutes after leaving New York and set a course for Paris, where it was to stop on its way to Rome. Initial theories were that it was a terrorist attack or a missile fired by a U.S. warship. Suspicions were added by the fact that the flight was delayed for an hour due to the fact that the luggage was loaded on board without the owner, although in the end the passenger still took a seat in the cabin.

- A four-year investigation revealed that the cause of the explosion was an ignition in the center fuel tank, most likely caused by a short circuit. Shortly before the explosion, the crew left a record of "crazy" fuel consumption, which could just as easily have been due to a power surge in the wiring.

- The explosion claimed the lives of all 230 people on board. Italian soccer player Cristian Panucci, who had bought a ticket for the flight, escaped death. Due to an injury, he was unable to perform at the Olympic Games, held in the United States in the same days, and was going to return to Italy. However, his luggage from Atlanta was lost and he got on another plane. In the future, after his career ended, Panucci worked as a coach for the Russian national team from 2012-2014.

- The sudden crash of a Boeing 747 after takeoff was the inspiration for the Destination series of movies. In the first of them, the plot is built just around the airplane that exploded at the beginning of the flight.

August 6, 1997 - 229 dead

- Among the largest airplane crashes in the United States was the downing of a Korean Air Boeing 747 on the island of Guam, which is a U.S. territory. The aircraft, flying from Seoul with 254 people on board, crashed into a hill on approach at the airport.

- The plane was being operated by a crew led by Capt. Park Yong-chul. It was originally scheduled to fly from Seoul to Dubai, but due to insufficient rest, it was assigned to a closer flight to Guam. The crew was supposed to be flying an Airbus A300, but it was involved in transporting athletes to the South Pacific Games, for which Korean Air was a sponsor.

- During the overnight landing in Guam, there was bad weather and low visibility. One of the instrument landing beacons was not working, as the flight engineer warned. The captain mistook a different signal for the radio beacon, which disrupted the descent trajectory, making it steeper. Although the co-pilot and flight engineer indicated that the descent was not going according to plan and the airport was not visible, the captain continued to go for landing until the plane hit the ground 5 km from the runway.

- It is believed that the accident was indirectly caused by the Korean cultural principle that lower-ranking employees do not risk contradicting their superiors, even if they are wrong. Immediately on the scene, 223 people died, including all 14 crew members. Another six passengers died later from their injuries. There were 25 survivors.

October 31, 1999 - 217 dead

- The last major airplane crash before the September 11 attacks was the downing of an EgyptAir Boeing 767. It was flying from Los Angeles to Cairo with a stopover in New York. The plane, named after Pharaoh Thutmose III, was carrying 203 people and 14 crew members on board. Among them were 33 Egyptian officers, including two brigadier generals returning from exercises in the United States.

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- Nearly all the passengers boarded in New York. Shortly after the plane gained altitude over the Atlantic Ocean, Capt. Ahmed El-Habashi left the cockpit to use the restroom. The co-pilot, Hamil Al-Batouti, remained at the controls. The flight recorder recorded that he began shouting "I trust in Allah", after which the autopilot shut down. Engine rpm was reduced to a minimum and the rudder was deflected to a dive. The returning El-Habashi attempted to regain altitude, but both engines had already failed due to overload. The airplane crashed into the water 33 minutes after takeoff.

- Since the crash occurred in neutral waters, the investigation was conducted separately by Egypt and the US. Four months later, another EgyptAir pilot, Hamdi Hanafi Taha, requested political asylum in London, saying he knew the circumstances of the crash. He claimed that Al-Batouti deliberately crashed the plane because he was retaliating against the airline's management for his demotion. The US services concluded that the crash was caused by the intentional actions of the co-pilot, while in Egypt approved the version that the cause was a failure in the control system.

February 12, 2009 - 50 dead

- The last major airplane crash in the United States before the Washington tragedy occurred in 2009. A Colgan Air Bombardier Q400 airplane was flying from Newark to Buffalo with 45 passengers and four crew members on board.

- The flight proceeded normally for an hour, but shortly before landing, the airliner suddenly lifted its nose and began to lurch sideways, threatening to corkscrew. The pilots managed to level the craft at the cost of losing altitude, after which the plane began to tip again and eventually crashed into a house. Not only did everyone on board die, but also one person on the ground. Only 26 seconds elapsed from the state of normal flight to the crash.

- The investigation revealed that the crew reacted incorrectly to a warning that the plane was stalling. Instead of releasing the helm, a thrust occurred, resulting in an upward maneuver. It was later discovered that Captain Marvin Renslow had performed poorly in the simulator and co-pilot Rebecca Shaw had too little flight experience.