Flights Gone Wrong

Real stories. Deeper understanding.

Photo credits

Event pictures on this site come from Wikimedia Commons. Each line gives the photographer, the licence the photo is shared under and a link to the original file.

  • Air Canada Flight 143: Air Canada Boeing 767 C-GAUN, later known as the Gimli Glider, at Toronto in 1984. Photo: Andrew Thomas from Shrewsbury, UK / CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Air France Flight 447: Air France Airbus A330-203 F-GZCP at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, June 2005. Photo: Pete Macklin / CC BY-SA 2.0 Source file.
  • Air Niugini Flight 73: Air Niugini Boeing 737-800 P2-PXE taxiing at Sydney. Photo: Simon_sees / CC BY 2.0
  • Air Transat Flight 236: Air Transat Airbus A330-200 C-GITS on final approach to Frankfurt. Photo: Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland / CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Alaska Airlines Flight 261: Alaska Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-83 N963AS at Santa Ana, California, September 1992. Photo: Frank Jäger / CC BY-SA 2.0 Source file.
  • Aloha Airlines Flight 243: An Aloha Airlines Boeing 737-200. Photo: Bill Abbott / CC BY-SA 2.0
  • American Airlines Flight 191: American Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 N124AA at Chicago O'Hare, October 1980. Photo: Stuart Jessup / CC BY-SA 2.0 Source file.
  • American Airlines Flight 587: An American Airlines Airbus A300-600 on approach to John F. Kennedy airport. Photo: Eheik / Public domain
  • Delta Air Lines Flight 1080: A Delta Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 1 at Miami in 1998.. Photo: Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland / CC BY-SA 2.0 Source file.
  • Delta Air Lines Flight 191: Delta Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 TriStar N726DA, the aircraft involved in the 1985 Dallas/Fort Worth accident, at Montreal in 1984.. Photo: Andrew Thomas from Shrewsbury, UK / CC BY-SA 2.0 Source file.
  • Eastern Air Lines Flight 855: An Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 TriStar on the runway. Photo: Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland / CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Emery Worldwide Flight 17: An Emery Worldwide Douglas DC-8 freighter at Frankfurt. Photo: simon butler / CC BY 2.0
  • Germanwings Flight 9525: Germanwings Airbus A320 D-AIPX taking off from Barcelona, May 2014. Photo: Sebastien Mortier / CC BY-SA 2.0 Source file.
  • Helios Airways Flight 522: Helios Airways Boeing 737-300 5B-DBY, photographed three days before the accident. Photo: Mila Daniel / CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Japan Air Lines Flight 123: Japan Air Lines Boeing 747SR-46 JA8119 landing at Osaka Itami Airport, 1984. Photo: Harcmac60 / CC BY-SA 3.0 Source file.
  • Jet Airways Flight 555: A Jet Airways Boeing 737-800 taxiing to the runway. Photo: Faisal Akram from Dhaka, Bangladesh / CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER 9M-MRO at Tokyo Narita, August 2009. Photo: Kentaro Iemoto / CC BY-SA 2.0 Source file.
  • Olympic Airways Flight 411: Olympic Airways Boeing 747 SX-OAA at London Heathrow in 1976. Photo: Rivet Joint / CC BY 2.0
  • Pan Am Flight 103: Pan Am Boeing 747 N739PA, Clipper Maid of the Seas, at Frankfurt in 1986. Photo: Kambui / CC BY 2.0
  • Swissair Flight 111: Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 HB-IWF at Buenos Aires in 1992. Photo: Kambui / CC BY 2.0
  • Swissair Flight 551: A Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-81 at Zurich. Photo: Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland / CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Tenerife airport disaster: KLM Boeing 747 PH-BUF, the aircraft involved in the 1977 Tenerife collision. Photo: clipperarctic / CC BY-SA 2.0
  • TWA Flight 800: TWA Boeing 747 N93119 at London Heathrow. Photo: Eduard Marmet / CC BY-SA 3.0
  • United Airlines Flight 232: United Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 N1819U at Newark, August 1980. Photo: Paul Seymour / CC BY-SA 4.0 Source file.
  • US Airways Flight 1549: US Airways Airbus A320 N106US at Las Vegas, November 2008. Photo: Edmund Seeger / CC BY-SA 2.0 Source file.
  • When a repair or a part gave way: Story: When a repair or a part gave way (same type). "China Airlines' Boeing 747 in maintenance hangar" by Boeing Dreamscape, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  • When the pilots saved the plane: Story: When the pilots saved the plane (actual aircraft). "Boeing 767-200 (Air Canada) Kluft Feb-2008 0374" by Ikluft, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  • Topics: Aircraft: A Lufthansa Boeing 747 on the apron at Frankfurt at sunset. Photo: Roland Arhelger / CC BY-SA 4.0 Source file.
  • Topics: Cause: An engineer inspecting the fan of a CFM56 engine from inside the inlet. Photo: J-C G / CC BY-SA 3.0 Source file.
  • Topics: Country: A hand-coloured world map from 1807 in two hemispheres. Photo: Aaron Arrowsmith, 1807 / Public domain Source file.