6. KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736

Commonly referred to as the Tenerife Airport Disaster, flights KLM 4805 and Pan Am 1736 collided on a runway in the Canary Islands in 1977 after pilot miscommunication with radio traffic control. Due to an overcrowding of planes on the runway following a bomb explosion at a nearby airport and heavy fog, air traffic controllers were having a hard time keeping the runway organized, let alone being able to see it. From the tower, nobody was able to see that the Pan AM and KLM flights were sitting on the same runway. The pilot of the KLM flight misinterpreted a radio traffic controller’s muffled “OK” and assumed he was clear for take-off, instead of asking the controller to clarify. The flight then geared for take off, crashing directly into the Pan AM flight sitting on the runway and killing 583 people – making it the deadliest crash in aviation history.

5. Polish Air Force TU154

In 2010, Polish president Lech Kaczynski, his wife and several other military officials were killed when Polish Air Force plane TU154 crashed in Russia. The crash was a classic case of “get there-itis”, a term often referred to in the aviation community for when pilots risk dangerous landings or flying conditions because they don’t want to upset passengers, airline officials or the system in general. In this case, the pilot ignored automated warnings and attempted an unadvised landing in heavy fog; crashing into a forest and killing all onboard.

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