A devastating aviation catastrophe recently unfolded in South Korea, marking not only the deadliest incident of the year but also the nation’s worst air disaster in decades. On Sunday, a Boeing 737-800 operated by budget carrier Jeju Air tragically lost control while attempting to land at Muan International Airport situated in southern South Korea. The aircraft failed to lower its front landing gear, ultimately crashing into a concrete fence, resulting in the loss of 179 lives.
Reflecting on historical precedents, the most fatal aviation disaster recorded happened back in 1977, involving a collision between two Boeing 747 jets on a fog-laden runway in Tenerife, Spain. That horrific incident claimed the lives of 583 individuals among the 644 passengers on board. Investigators later attributed the disaster to the actions of the KLM747 captain, who improperly took off without the required clearance from air traffic control.
Additionally, a traumatic event on September 11, 2001, witnessed nearly 3,000 lives being lost when al-Qaida hijackers crashed four commercial airliners into significant landmarks in the United States, including the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania.
In 2024, several notable aviation incidents occurred, highlighting ongoing risks in air travel:
On January 2, a large commercial airplane collided with a Japanese coast guard plane on a runway in Tokyo, leading to the deaths of all five personnel onboard the coast guard aircraft, while 379 passengers on the Japan Airlines flight managed to escape the flames that engulfed their jet.
On June 10, severe weather conditions caused a military aircraft carrying Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima and former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri to crash in the mountainous regions of northern Malawi, leading to the fatalities of all ten people aboard.
A tragic event in Nepal occurred on July 24, when a Saurya Airlines aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff from Kathmandu, resulting in 18 deaths, although one of the pilots miraculously survived. Most passengers were airline employees or mechanics headed to a maintenance facility.
August 11 saw Brazil’s Voepass suffer a similar fate, as a turboprop crashed with 62 people on board, all perishing. Preliminary findings indicated icing on the aircraft’s exterior, suggesting an issue with the deicing system.
Later, on December 22, a small plane went down in a tourist-friendly residential area of Brazil, killing 10 individuals onboard and injuring over a dozen locals. The cause of the accident remained unclear.
Finally, on December 25, tragedy struck in Kazakhstan when an Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft crashed, taking the lives of 39 passengers, while 29 survived. Following investigations, the president of Azerbaijan stated the plane was accidentally shot down by Russian forces. In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed remorse over the “tragic incident,” though he did not take full responsibility.
Adding to the chilling events, on December 28, another catastrophic incident occurred involving a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 that crashed in Seoul. This crash, resulting from a prior failed landing attempt and a bird strike warning from ground control, led to the aircraft overshooting the runway, colliding with a concrete barrier, and subsequently igniting a fire. Among the wreckage, two crew members were rescued from the rear of the plane, although the toll of 179 fatalities deeply shocked the nation.
