WAmerican Airlines Flight 444 was a scheduled American Airlines flight from Chicago to Washington, D.C.'s National Airport. On November 15, 1979, the Boeing 727 serving the flight was attacked by "the Unabomber", Ted Kaczynski, who placed a bomb on board. The bomb, planted in the cargo hold, caused "a sucking explosion and a loss of pressure," which was then followed by large quantities of smoke filling the passenger cabin, forcing the pilots to make an emergency landing at Dulles International Airport. Twelve passengers had to be treated afterward for smoke inhalation. It was later determined that the bomb was powerful enough to have destroyed the aircraft if it had worked correctly.
WContinental Airlines Flight 11, registration N70775, was a Boeing 707 aircraft which exploded in the vicinity of Centerville, Iowa, while en route from O'Hare Airport, Chicago, Illinois, to Kansas City, Missouri, on May 22, 1962. The aircraft crashed in a clover field near Unionville, in Putnam County, Missouri, killing all 45 crew and passengers on board. The investigation determined the cause of the crash was a suicide bombing committed as insurance fraud.
WNational Airlines Flight 967, registration N4891C, was a Douglas DC-7B aircraft that disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico en route from Tampa, Florida to New Orleans, Louisiana on November 16, 1959. All 42 on board were presumed killed in the incident.
WNational Airlines Flight 2511 was a United States domestic passenger flight from New York City to Miami, Florida. On January 6, 1960, the Douglas DC-6 serving the flight exploded in midair. The National Airlines aircraft was carrying 5 crew members and 29 passengers, all of whom perished. The Civil Aeronautics Board investigation concluded that the plane was brought down by a bomb made of dynamite. No criminal charges were ever filed, nor was the blame for the bombing ever determined, though a suicide bombing is suspected. The investigation remains open today.
WNorthwest Airlines Flight 253 was an international passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands, to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in the United States. The flight was the target of a failed al-Qaeda bombing attempt on Christmas Day, December 25, 2009, in which a passenger tried to set off chemical explosives sewn to his underwear. There were 290 people on board the aircraft—an Airbus A330-323E operated by Northwest Airlines, which had merged with Delta Air Lines the year before. Had the attempt succeeded, it would have surpassed American Airlines Flight 191 as the deadliest aviation occurrence on U.S. soil and tied Iran Air Flight 655 as the eighth-deadliest of all time. The incident was also the second in 2009 involving an Airbus A330, after the crash of Air France Flight 447 on June 1. This was also the final accident/incident involving Northwest Airlines as it closed down a month later when it merged with Delta Air Lines.
WPan Am Flight 830 was a flight from Narita International Airport in Tokyo, Japan to Honolulu International Airport in Hawaii. On August 11, 1982, the Boeing 747-121 serving the flight, nicknamed "Clipper Ocean Rover", was en route to Hawaii when the airplane was damaged by a bomb that had been placed on board. Despite the damage to the aircraft, Captain James E. "Skipper" O'Halloran III, of Spokane, Washington, was able to land in Honolulu safely. One person was killed while 284 survived. 16 of them were wounded.
WThe 2001 shoe bomb attempt was a failed bombing attempt that occurred on December 22, 2001, on American Airlines Flight 63. The aircraft, a Boeing 767-300ER with 197 passengers and crew aboard, was flying from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France to Miami International Airport in the U.S. state of Florida.
WOn October 10, 1933, a Boeing 247 airliner operated by United Airlines and registered as NC13304 crashed near Chesterton, Indiana. The transcontinental flight carried three crew and four passengers and originated in Newark, New Jersey, with its final destination in Oakland, California. It had already landed in Cleveland and was headed to its next stop in Chicago when it exploded en route. All aboard died in the crash, which was caused by an on-board explosive device. Eyewitnesses on the ground reported hearing an explosion shortly after 9 p.m. and seeing the aircraft in flames at an altitude of about 1,000 feet (300 m). A second explosion followed after the aircraft crashed. The crash scene was adjacent to a gravel road about 5 miles (8 km) outside of Chesterton, centered in a wooded area on the Jackson Township farm of James Smiley.
WUnited Airlines Flight 629, registration N37559, was a Douglas DC-6B aircraft also known as "Mainliner Denver", which was blown up with a dynamite bomb placed in the checked luggage on November 1, 1955. The explosion occurred over Longmont, Colorado, United States at about 7:03 p.m. local time, while the airplane was en route from Denver, Colorado to Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. All 39 passengers and 5 crew members on board were killed in the explosion and crash.