PARIS: As the world aviation industry reels from a black week, in which three planes have been lost, below are the major air crashes around the world over the last 15 years.
• March 8, 2014: The Indian Ocean - Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200, mysteriously disappears on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard. No debris has been found, although experts believe the plane crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.
• July 17, 2014: Ukraine - Less than four months later the same airline's Flight MH17, also a Boeing 777, is shot down while flying over rebel-held east Ukraine on route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, killing all 298 people aboard.
• June 3, 2012: Nigeria - A Dana Air MD83 crashes into a neighbourhood near the airport in Lagos, killing all 153 people on board and at least six people on the ground.
• April 10, 2010: Russia - A Tupolev-154 carrying 96 people, including Polish president Lech Kaczynski and top political and military personalities, crashes when trying to land near the western city of Smolensk, killing all on board.
• June 1, 2009: The Atlantic Ocean - AF447, an Air France Airbus A-330 crashes in the sea between Rio de Janeiro and Paris, killing all 228 on board.
• June 30, 2009: Comoros - An Airbus A-310 belonging to Yemenia Airways crashes off the Comoros islands, shortly before landing in Moroni, killing 152 people. Only a 14-year-old survives and is rescued from sea.
• August 20, 2008: Spain - 154 people die when a Spanair MD-82 plane crashes shortly after taking off from Madrid for the Canary Islands.
• January 1, 2007: Indonesia - An Indonesian Adam Air Boeing 737, with 96 passengers and six crew aboard, vanishes on New Year's Day, halfway through a flight between the central island of Java and the island of Sulawesi to the northeast. The black boxes are found 25 days later.
• July 18, 2007: Brazil - An Airbus A-320 belonging to Brazil's Tam Airlines careers off the runway upon landing at the Sao Paulo airport in heavy rain, then shoots across a crowded avenue and slams into a warehouse before bursting into flames. A total of 199 people are killed.
• January 3, 2004: Egypt - A Boeing 737 charter plane belonging to Egypt's Flash Airlines crashes into the Red Sea several minutes after taking off from Sharm El Sheikh. All 148 on board are killed, including 135 French tourists.
• February 19, 2003: Iran - An Iranian military Ilyushin 76MD crashes in the Sirach Mountains, killing 302, including 275 members of the Revolutionary Guard.
• November 12, 2001: US - An American Airlines Airbus A-300 crashes in the New York borough of Queens shortly after taking off, killing all 260 on board and five people on the ground.
This disaster comes two months after militants hijacked four passenger aircraft, crashing three of them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC, killing around 3,000 people.
• July 25, 2000: France - An Air France Concorde crashes shortly after take-off from Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport on route for New York, leaving 113 people, mainly Germans dead and eventually leading to the supersonic airliner being taken out of service.
The world's worst air disasters remain the March 27, 1977, collision of two Boeing 747s on the runway at Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 people, and the August 12, 1985 crash into a mountainside of a Boeing 747 belonging to Japan Airlines, killing 520 people.
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There are no new types of air crashes – only people with short memories. Every accident has its forerunners, and every one happens either because somebody did not know where to draw the vital dividing line between the unforeseen and the unforeseeable or because well-meaning people deemed the risk acceptable.
The aim of the accident/incident investigation is to identify the causes of mishaps, and make the final call to prevent any repetition. Unfortunately, it is human nature to ignore the inconvenient, and forget lessons. Collective knowledge, embodied in government, ought to be a safeguard against it. It is not.
If politics is the art of the possible and flying is the art of the seemingly impossible, then air safety must be the art of the economically viable. At a time of crowded skies and sharpening competition, it is a daunting task not to let the art of the acceptable deteriorates into the dodgers’ art of what you can get away with---Stephen Barlay
This is a pretty good safety record on the international sector over the years for the flag carrier despite all the criticism of its service. This standing of its safety would better most major airlines worldwide.
May all the innocent lives lost from these always rest in peace.
PIA has had three fatal crashes on the international sector. The first at Cairo of PK 705 on May 19, 1965 during the inaugural flight to London. This was a B720 aircraft, AP-AMH flown under the command of Capt. A.A. Khan.The captain had never operated to Cairo before and his only experience was of viewing the landing at Cairo from another airline's aircraft cockpit. It was a night arrival and the aircraft crashed while in the turn to align with the runway after reporting field in sight. In technical terms, after joining the traffic pattern and while turning from base leg to final, the aircraft stalled and hit the ground, wing tip first.The time of the crash was 2340Z, which would be 0140 Pakistan Standard Time, the following day. There were six survivors.
The second fatal was PK 740 near Jeddah, 125 miles northeast on departure.The accident occurred on Nov 26, 1979 and the aircraft was a B707-340, AP-AWZ, under the command of Capt. Khalid M. Wyne. All 156 perished. The suspected cause was an inflight fire, the result from a cooking stove flame gone out of control which some Haji may have used in the cabin during the flight
The third crash, PK 286 occurred at Kathmandu on Sept 28, 1992 and involved an Airbus A300 aircraft, AP-BCP, flown under the command of Capt R.M.I. Janjua who had never operated to this airfield before in command. The approach to Kathmandu is through a valley with mountains on either side and the Himalayas blocking any escape ahead. The instrument descent is planned to time with the distance remaining to touchdown and the flight crew misjudged this and were lower in one distance segment of the approach than they should have been and hit the crest of a mountain 9 miles from the runway. The aircraft was in clouds at the time. All 167 died.