2010: A bad year for flying

2010: A bad year for flying

In the aftermath of the Mangalore crash, we take a look at some grim statistics. 2010 has been a very bad year for flying so far.

Mangalore
Date:  May 22, 2010
Time: c 06:30
Location: Mangalore, India
Operator: Air India Express
AC Type: Boeing 737

About 160 people were killed when an Air India Express flying from Dubai overshot the runway after landing at the Mangalore airport near here early Saturday and caught fire as it crashed into a forested area. There were 160 passengers and six crew members onboard. Eight people survived the crash.

Afghanistan
Date: May 17, 2010
Location: Salang pass, Afghanistan
Operator: Pamir Airlines
AC Type: Antonv An-24B 

The plane carrying 44 passengers crashed in Salang pass, 60 miles north of Kabul. Weather was poor in the general area. All persons on board, including 38 passengers and a crew of 6 were killed.

Libya
Date:May 12, 2010
Location: Tripoli, Libya
Operator: Afriqiyah Airways
Flight: 771
AC Type: Airbus A330-202

The aircraft from Johannesburg to Tripoli crashed and disintegrated a half mile from the runway while attempting to land at Tripoli International Airport. 103 people, including 92 passengers and 11 crewmembers were killed. An 8-year-old Dutch boy was the sole survivor.

Russia
Date: April 10, 2010
Time: 10:41
Location: Smolensk, Russia
Operator: Military - Polish Air Force
AC Type: Tupolev 154M

The military jet with Polish president Lech Kaczynski and his wife on board, crashed into a forest. The plane broke while attempting to land in dense fog at Smolensk Air Base. The pilot was advised not to land and use his alternates for Moscow or Minsk. All 96 people on board died in the incident.

Lebanon
Date: January 25, 2010
Location: Off Na'ameh, Lebanon
Operator: Ethiopian Airlines
Flight: 409
AC Type: Boeing 737-8AS

A passenger flight disappeared off radar shortly after taking off from Rafik Hariri International Airport in stormy weather and crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, two miles west of the village of Na'ameh, Lebanon. The pilot was asked to correct his course to miss the storm, but turned in the opposite direction for unknown reasons. All 90 passengers on board were killed.

Other crashes on May 22
The Mangalore crash was the third such incident on what can be termed a fatal day for aircraft.

In 1962, a Continental Airlines B707 crashed near Unionville, Missouri after the detonation of a dynamite bomb in the right rear lavatory, killing all 45 people on board.

In 1981, a helicopter blade near Portland, Oregon decapitated film director Boris Sagal, father of actress Katey Sagal.
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