South Korea’s worst aviation disaster in decades also was the year’s deadliest plane crash worldwide, and time is running out on 2024. A Boeing 737-800 plane operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air came down with its front landing gear closed and struck a concrete fence Sunday at Muan International Airport in southern South Korea, killing 179 people.
The deadliest accident in aviation history occurred in 1977, when two Boeing 747 jumbo jets collided on a foggy runway on the Spanish island of Tenerife, killing 583 of the 644 people on board the planes. Spanish investigators blamed the captain of the KLM 747 for taking off without clearance from air traffic controllers.
In an act of terrorism, nearly 3,000 people died when al-Qaida hijackers crashed four jetliners into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., and a field in southwest Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001.
These are some of the significant aviation accidents that happened in 2024:
Jan. 2: A large passenger plane and a Japanese coast guard aircraft collided on a Tokyo runway. All five people in the coast guard plane died, but all 379 on the Japan Airlines escaped before the jet became engulfed in flames.
July 24: In Nepal, a Saurya Airlines plane crashed shortly after taking off from the capital of Kathmandu, killing 18 people; one of the pilots survived. The Bombardier CRJ 200 plane was flying to a maintenance shop, and most of the passengers were mechanics or airline employees.
Aug. 11: A turboprop operated by Brazil’s Voepass crashes, killing all 62 people on board. A preliminary report indicated that pilots saw ice building up on the outside of the plane, indicating a possible problem with the deicing system.
Dec. 22: A small plane crashed in a mostly residential area of a Brazilian town popular with tourists, killing all 10 people on board and injuring more than a dozen on the ground. The cause was not immediately clear.
Dec. 25: An Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashes in Kazakhstan, killing 39 people; 29 survive. Azerbaijan’s president said the plane was shot down accidentally by Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized for the “tragic incident,” but stopped short of accepting responsibility.
Dec. 28: A Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 jetliner crashes in Seoul, killing 179 people. After an initial failed landing attempt, the plane received a bird strike warning from the ground control center. The pilot issued a distress signal before the plane came down, overshot the runway, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames. Two crew members survive after being pulled from the rear of the plane.
