Private Aircraft, New York City, New York - Oct. 11, 2006
A Cirrus SR-20 propeller plane carrying Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and his flight instructor crashed into a building in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, injuring eighteen and killing both passengers. The plane veered toward Manhattan and crashed twelve minutes after taking off from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. Reports indicate that a lack of fuel combined with the difficulty of flying in the crowded East River area may have caused the crash. The accident occurred 27 years after a similarly tragic crash claimed the life of legendary Yankees catcher Thurman Munson.
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Gol Airlines, Peixoto de Azevedo, Brazil - Sept. 30, 2006
Gol Airlines Flight 1907 crashed in the dense Amazon rainforest after being clipped by a corporate jet, killing all 155 people on board. The plane was bound for Brasilia, heading from Manaus, and was scheduled for two more stops in Rio de Janeiro and San Paulo.
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Comair, Lexington, Kentucky - Aug. 27, 2006
Comair flight #5191, bound for Atlanta, overran the runway and crashed into the woods, killing all but one of the 50 people on board. For reasons currently under investigation by the NTSB, the commuter flight attempted to depart from a runway that was too short to support a successful takeoff. The twin-engine jet would have required a runway of at least 5,000 feet rather than the approximately 3,500-foot runway that was ultimately used. This crash marks the worst aviation accident in the United States since November 2001.
Private Aircraft, Off the Coast of Santa Monica, California - Mar. 13, 2006
Former game-show host Peter Tomarken and his wife were killed when the Beech A36 Bonanza airplane Tomarken was piloting plunged into the ocean, about 200 yards off the Santa Monica coast. The NTSB's initial findings, including the discovery of an 8-by-6 inch hole in the engine case, suggest that engine failure was the cause of the accident. Tomarken was a volunteer pilot for Angel Flight West, a charitable organization that offers air transportation for critically ill patients in need. He and his wife were en route to San Diego, where they were scheduled to pick up a cancer patient.
Mid-Air Collision, San Diego County - Feb. 8, 2006
A mid-air collision involving two light aircraft claimed the lives of three people who were aboard the flights. The collision occurred near Gillespie Field in San Diego County, spreading debris over a one-mile radius and causing damage to local homes.
Goship Air Cessna 560, Carlsbad, California - Jan. 24, 2006
A twin-engine Cessna 560 bound for San Diego County from Idaho ran off the end of the runway at McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, California, crashing into a storage shack and killing all four people on board. The jet engine aircraft, which was registered to Goship Air of Idaho, approached the runway at a clearly excessive speed according to an eyewitness to the crash.
Chalk's Ocean Airways, Off the Coast of Florida - Dec. 19, 2005
A twin-engine seaplane bound for the Bahamas crashed just off the coast of Miami Beach, killing all 20 passengers on board, including two Americans. The seaplane, which had been in service since the 1940s, exploded so close to land that several beach-goers reported feeling the heat from the explosion.
Radio contact with the airplane was lost three minutes after the flight departed from Lagos en route to Abuja. Wreckage from the airplane was discovered about 20 miles north of Lagos, and none of the 117 passengers and crew members aboard the flight survived.
Following a hard landing on a dirt runway at Aru, Congo, two passengers were killed during an emergency evacuation as they ran into the aircraft's still-rotating propellers.
Mandala Airlines flight #91 crashed into a residential district shortly after taking off. Among the 117 passengers and crew members aboard the flight and 47 people on the ground who were affected by the crash, there were 101 fatalities.
An aircraft bound for Isiro, Congo, crashed and exploded after colliding with a grove of trees, just before landing. All eleven people aboard the flight were killed.
TANS Peru flight #204 crashed into a dirt road just two miles short of its intended destination due to heavy turbulence and windshear. Forty of the 98 people aboard the flight were killed.
A passenger flight bound from Panama City to Martinique crashed in the mountains of Venezuela, about 20 miles from the Colombian border, due to engine failure. None of the 160 passengers and crew members aboard the flight survived.
Helios Airways flight #522 crashed into the mountains about 19 miles north of Athens, its intended destination. The last reported problem with the aircraft involved a problem with the air conditioning packs just prior to its entering Greek airspace. All 121 passengers and crew members aboard the flight were killed in the crash.
Fourteen bodies were recovered from the Baltic Sea following a helicopter crash. Two pilots and twelve passengers were trapped inside the submerged helicopter, and no survivors were found. Although the cause of the crash was not determined, technical problems were suspected.
En route from Italy to Tunisia, Tuninter flight #1153 was forced by engine problems to attempt an emergency landing in Palermo. The aircraft plunged into the sea 15 miles off the coast of Palermo, resulting in the deaths of 14 of the 39 people on board.
Attempting to land in Toronto in poor weather conditions, Air France flight #358 ran off the end of the runway and stopped in a gully some 600 feet away. Although the aircraft erupted into flames shortly thereafter, none of the 309 people aboard the flight were killed.
Air Pony Express, Florida, United States - June 13, 2005
A cargo flight bound for the Bahamas crashed into a residential area of Fort Lauderdale following an engine fire. Although there was property damage and the plane was consumed by flames, there were no fatalities as a result of the crash.
After the landing gear failed to operate correctly, the aircraft overran the runway and ended up in the Kan River. Three passengers drowned in the river during the evacuation.
After rolling abruptly to the right, the aircraft crashed just short of Varandey Airport. Of the 52 passengers and crew members aboard the flight, 29 were killed.
A passenger flight from Herat disappeared just before its scheduled landing in Kabul. Wreckage was later found in a mountainous region northwest of Kabul. None of the 104 passengers and crew members aboard the flight survived the crash.
Stricken by fuel system problems, the aircraft crashed before an emergency landing could be made, resulting in the deaths of all seven crew members aboard the flight.
While making a second attempt to land in snowy conditions, the aircraft crashed just short of the runway, killing both people participating in the mail flight.
