Boeing 747 hull losses

As of July 2020, a total of 61 Boeing 747 aircraft, or just under 4% of the total number of 747s built, first flown commercially in 1970, have been involved in accidents and incidents resulting in a hull loss, meaning that the aircraft has either been destroyed or has been damaged beyond economical repair.[4] Of the 61 Boeing 747 aircraft losses, 32 resulted in no loss of life; in one, a hostage was murdered; and in one, a terrorist died.[4] Some of the aircraft that were declared damaged beyond economical repair were older 747s that sustained relatively minor damage. Had these planes been newer it might have been economically viable to repair them, although with the 747's increasing obsolescence this is becoming less common.[5][6] 747s have been involved in accidents resulting in the highest death toll of any aviation accident, the highest death toll of any single airplane accident and the highest death toll of a mid-air collision, although, as with most airliner accidents, the roots of causation in these incidents involved a confluence of multiple factors which rarely could be ascribed to flaws with the 747's design or its flying characteristics.

Boeing 747
British Airways Boeing 747-400 G-BNLL, which was later written off after a taxiing mishap at O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg
Role	Wide-body, long-range jet airliner
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Boeing Commercial Airplanes
First flight	February 9, 1969[1]
Introduction	January 22, 1970, with Pan Am[2]
Status	In service
Primary users	Lufthansa Korean Air
Produced	1968–present
Number built	1,528 as of December 2016[3]
Variants	Boeing 747SP Boeing 747-400 Boeing 747-8 Boeing VC-25 Boeing E-4
Developed into	Boeing YAL-1 Boeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter

1970s

• Pan Am Flight 93 was the first hull loss of a Boeing 747 (747-121), the result of terrorism after it was hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. On September 6, 1970, a new Pan American World Airways aircraft flying from Amsterdam to New York was hijacked and flown first to Beirut, then to Cairo. Shortly after the occupants were evacuated from the aircraft after arriving at Cairo, it was blown up.[7]
• Japan Airlines Flight 404, the second 747 hull loss, was very similar to the first. The aircraft was hijacked on a flight from Amsterdam to Anchorage, Alaska, on July 20, 1973, by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine working together with the Japanese Red Army. It flew to Dubai, then Damascus, before ending its journey at Benghazi. The occupants were released and the aircraft was blown up. One of the hijackers died.[8]
• Lufthansa Flight 540 was the first fatal crash of a 747. On November 20, 1974, it stalled and crashed moments after taking off from Nairobi, with 59 deaths and 98 survivors. The cause was an error by the flight engineer in combination with a lack of a sufficient warning system.
• Air France Flight 193, a Boeing 747-128 (N28888) operating the sector between Bombay (now Mumbai) and Tel Aviv to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, was destroyed by fire, 12 June 1975, on the ground at Bombay's Santa Cruz Airport, following an aborted takeoff.
• Imperial Iranian Air Force Flight ULF48, a 747 freighter, crashed near Madrid on May 9, 1976, due to the structural failure of its left wing in flight, killing the 17 people on board. The accident investigation determined that a lightning strike caused an explosion in a fuel tank in the wing, leading to flutter and the separation of the wing.[9][10]
• On March 27, 1977, the deadliest aviation accident in history occurred when KLM Flight 4805 collided on the runway with Pan Am 1736 in heavy fog at Tenerife Airport, resulting in 583 fatalities. Both aircraft were 747s. There were 61 survivors, all from the Pan Am 747. The Pan Am aircraft was the first 747 that entered commercial service.[11]
• Air India Flight 855 crashed into the sea off the coast of Mumbai (Bombay) on New Year's Day, 1978. All 213 passengers and crew died. The cause was lack of situation awareness on the captain's part after executing a banked turn.

1980s

• Korean Air Lines Flight 015, operating a flight from Los Angeles to Seoul, with a refueling stop at Anchorage, Alaska, was damaged beyond repair at landing on November 19, 1980. Of the 226 occupants, 15 passengers and crew died.
• On August 4, 1983, Pan Am Flight 73, a 747-100, struck a VASI light installation and its concrete base while taking off at Karachi International Airport, causing the nose gear to collapse backwards to the left, resulting in total destruction of the VASI light installation and damage to the forward cargo hold, floor of the first class section and the stairway leading to the upper deck.[12] (Not to be confused with a later hijacking in 1986 of a Pan Am Flight 73).
• On September 1, 1983, Korean Air Lines Flight 007, a 747-200B from New York City to Seoul via Anchorage, was shot down just west of Sakhalin Island by the Soviet Air Force, killing all 269 passengers and crew aboard.
• On November 27, 1983, Avianca Flight 011, a 747-200 flying from Paris to Bogotá via Madrid, crashed into a mountainside due to a navigational error while maneuvering to land at Madrid Barajas International Airport, killing 181 out of the 192 on board.
• On March 16, 1985, a UTA Boeing 747-300 (registration F-GDUA) was destroyed on the ground at Paris CDG when a fire was accidentally started while the aircraft's cabin was being cleaned.[13]
• On June 23, 1985, a bomb exploded on Air India Flight 182, a 747-200B en route from Montreal to New Delhi, causing the aircraft to explode and crash off the Southwest coast of Ireland, killing all 329 on board. Until the September 11 attacks of 2001, the Air India bombing was the single deadliest terrorist attack involving aircraft. It remains the "worst mass murder in Canadian history."
• On August 12, 1985, Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashed when the rear pressure bulkhead of a 747SR flying from Tokyo to Osaka shot through at cruising altitude, severing off the aircraft's vertical stabilizer. The pilots kept it in the air for 32 minutes, but it eventually struck Mount Takamagahara and crashed. Out of the 524 people on board, only four passengers survived, making it the deadliest-ever single-aircraft accident. The accident was caused by Boeing improperly repairing the tailstrike suffered by the same aircraft seven years earlier.[14]
• On December 5, 1985, Air France Flight 91 overshot the runway during a landing at Rio de Janeiro-Galeão International Airport, Brazil. There were no fatalities, but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.[15]
• On November 28, 1987, South African Airways Flight 295, a 747-200BSCD "Combi" en route from Taipei to Johannesburg, crashed into the ocean off Mauritius after a fire broke out in the rear cargo hold, damaging vital control systems. All 159 people on board died.
• On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103, a 747-100, disintegrated in mid-air after a bomb in the luggage hold exploded; the wings, with their tanks full of fuel, landed on Lockerbie, Scotland. All 259 people on board and 11 people in Lockerbie died. A Libyan national was eventually convicted at a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands of murder in connection with the bombing.
• On February 19, 1989, Flying Tiger Line Flight 66, a 747-200F, was flying using a non-directional beacon (NDB) approach to Runway 33 at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, Kuala Lumpur, when the aircraft hit a hillside 600 ft (180 m) above sea level, resulting in the deaths of all four people on board.[16]

1990s

• 7 May 1990. Air India Flight Number AI132. VT-EBO. The Boeing 747, named "Emperor Vikramaditya", touched down at Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport after a flight from London-Heathrow. On application of reverse thrust, a failure of the no. 1 engine pylon to wing attachment caused this engine to tilt nose down. Hot exhaust gasses caused a fire on the left wing. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The aircraft involved in the China Airlines Flight 605 accident at Kai Tak Airport after the accident.

The reconstructed wreckage of TWA Flight 800.

• British Airways Flight 149 was a 747-100 flying from London Heathrow Airport to Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, Kuala Lumpur with stopovers in Kuwait International Airport and Madras International Airport ( now Chennai ). The aircraft landed in Kuwait City on August 1, 1990, four hours after the Gulf War broke out. All 385 passengers and crew were taken hostage by Iraqi forces; one was executed but the others were released. The aircraft was subsequently blown up.
• On December 29, 1991, China Airlines Flight 358, a 747-200, crashed shortly after takeoff from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taipei, Taiwan, killing all 5 crewmembers, when the number-three and number-four engines (the ones on the right wing) detached from the aircraft.
• On October 4, 1992, El Al Flight 1862, a 747-200F, crashed shortly after takeoff from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport after the right side engines both fell off due to metal fatigue and damaged the right wing, killing all three crew members and the single passenger on board, as well as 39 people on the ground.
• On November 4, 1993, China Airlines Flight 605, a brand-new 747-400 from Taipei to Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport, landed 2,000 feet (610 m) past the threshold on runway 13, with insufficient braking power. Unable to stop before the end of the runway, the captain steered the aircraft into Victoria Harbour. All passengers were evacuated via inflatable life rafts. The vertical fin was blown off with explosives, as it disrupted airport operations. The aircraft was recovered from the harbor days later and was written off.
• On December 20, 1995, Tower Air Flight 41, a 747-100, veered off the left side of runway 4L during an attempted takeoff at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Jamaica, New York. The flight was a regularly scheduled passenger/cargo flight conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 121. Of the 468 persons aboard (451 passengers, 12 cabin crewmembers, 3 flightcrew members, and 2 cockpit jumpseat occupants), 24 passengers sustained minor injuries, and a flight attendant received serious injuries. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.
• On July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800, a 747-100 bound for Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, exploded during its climb from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, killing all 230 people aboard. A spark from a wire in the center fuel tank caused the explosion, although several alternative theories have persisted. Changes in fuel tank management were adopted after the crash.
• On November 12, 1996, Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 763, a 747-100B, collided with Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907, an Ilyushin Il-76, in mid-air over Charkri Dadri in Haryana, India in the Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, resulting in the deaths of all 349 occupants of both aircraft, the deadliest mid-air collision in history.
• On August 6, 1997, Korean Air Flight 801, a Boeing 747-300, crashed into a hillside while on approach to Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport on the island of Guam. Out of the 254 people on board, 26 survived.
• On August 5, 1998, Korean Air Flight 8702, a Boeing 747-400, overshot a runway at Incheon International Airport while landing. The fuselage split and 25 people were injured.
• On March 5, 1999, Air France flight 6745, a 747-2B3F (F-GPAN) carrying 66 tons of cargo from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Madras International Airport, Madras via Karachi and Bangalore HAL Airport, was destroyed by fire after landing with the nose gear up. There were no fatalities.[17]
• On December 22, 1999, Korean Air Cargo Flight 8509, a 747-200F from London Stansted Airport, crashed shortly after take-off, killing all four crew. The captain of the aircraft had mishandled it due to erroneous indications on his attitude indicator.

2000s

• On October 31, 2000, Singapore Airlines Flight 006, a 747-400 flying from Singapore to Los Angeles via Taipei, collided into construction equipment while attempting to take off from a closed runway at Taiwan's Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (now Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport), killing 79 passengers and four crew members on board.[18] There were 96 survivors, including all three pilots.
• On August 23, 2001, Saudia Flight 3830, 747-368, rolled into a drainage ditch at Kuala Lumpur Airport and toppled forward causing severe damage to the nose section. Reportedly, the aircraft was being taxied by a ground engineer on the no. 2 and 3 engines. When trying to make a turn the brakes and steering had no effect and the aircraft continued into the ditch. It is said that the auxiliary hydraulic pumps, which actuated brakes and steering, were switched off.[19]
• On November 27, 2001, an MK Airlines 747-200F crashed about 700m short of the runway near Port Harcourt Airport, Nigeria. Of the 13 on board, 1 died.[20]
• On May 25, 2002, China Airlines Flight 611, a 747-200B en route to Hong Kong International Airport from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, broke up in mid-air 20 minutes after take off and crashed into the Taiwan Strait, killing all 225 occupants on board. Subsequent investigation determined the cause to be metal fatigue cracking due to an improperly-performed repair after a tailstrike.
• On October 14, 2004, MK Airlines Flight 1602, a 747-200F, crashed while attempting to take off from Halifax Stanfield International Airport, killing all seven on board. The aircraft's take-off weight had been incorrectly calculated and it was only airborne briefly before stalling at the end of the runway.[21]
• 24 Jan 2005. Atlas Air N808MC. Flt No 8995. The Boeing 747 operated on a cargo flight from Dubai to Düsseldorf on behalf of Emirates. The en route part of the flight was uneventful.The flight crew established radio contact with Düsseldorf Radar at 05:43. The crew were told that runway 23L was in use.

Two minutes later the radar controller contacted flight 8995: "I just talked to the tower and ah for the time being braking action on all parts of the runway is supposed to be good. They are measuring again right now because it started to snow again and I'll keep you advised." The flight was then cleared to descend to FL80. The flight crew decided to set the autobrakes for landing on Medium, to account for the snow.

At 05:50 the radar controller again contacted the flight about the current weather circumstances: "...latest update on the weather situation ahm the friction tester has reported braking action to be good for the moment however as its continuing to snow they are ah afraid that it might worsen, so they are going to do another friction test right before you land."In the following minutes the flight was given descent instructions and vectors for an approach to runway 23L.At 05:54 the controller radioed: "weather update we now have a surface wind of three four zero degrees eleven knots, that's slight tail wind component by two knots. Visibility is down to one thousand five hundred meters, still in snow showers and ah cloud base is now five hundred feet only."The flight was subsequently cleared for the approach.At 05:57 the radar controller instructed the crew to contact Düsseldorf Tower. The Tower controller stated: "Good morning,... we are just waiting for the braking action values from the friction tester stand by a second. The surface wind is actually three three zero degrees one two knots."Two minutes later the controller radioed: "... the braking action was measured to be medium at all parts. And ah the visibility dropped right now due to the heavy snow showers at the field ah. The RVR value at the touch down zone is presently nine hundred meters, at the mid-point one thousand one hundred meters and ah stop end one thousand one hundred meters." At that moment the flight was 3,5 nautical miles out. The flight was subsequently cleared to land.The airplane touched down about 1700 ft (518 m) past the runway threshold. Ground spoilers and thrust reversers deployed and the autobrakes activated. Still the airplane did not decelerate as expected and the pilot applied manual braking. The airplane failed to stop and overran the runway end. It collided with ILS aerials, which caused a fire in engines no. 2 and no. 3.The aircraft was withdrawn from use at Düsseldorf until being scrapped there in April 2006.[22]

• On June 7, 2006, Tradewinds International Airlines Flight 444, a 747-200F, aborted a takeoff from Rionegro/Medellín-José María Córdova Airport and overran the runway. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and withdrawn from service.[23]

• On May 25, 2008, Kalitta Air Flight 207, a 747-200F, suffered a bird strike during takeoff from Brussels Airport, Belgium. The crew aborted takeoff, but the aircraft was unable to stop before it overran the runway and broke up, with no injuries.[24]
• On July 7, 2008, Centurion Air Cargo Flight 164, a 747-200F, crashed into a farm field near the small village of Madrid, Colombia shortly after takeoff from El Dorado International Airport. The crew had reported an engine fire and were attempting to return to the airport. One of the aircraft's engines hit a farmhouse and killed two people inside it.[25]
• On September 4, 2009, Air India Flight 829, a 747-400, suffered an engine fire at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai, India, shortly before takeoff. None of the 213 passengers and 16 crew was injured or killed, but the aircraft was written off.[26]

2010s

• On September 3, 2010, UPS Airlines Flight 6, a 747-400F, crashed near Dubai International Airport, killing two crew members. The crash was blamed on lithium-ion batteries in the cargo hold that caught fire.[27]
• On July 28, 2011, Asiana Airlines Flight 991, a 747-400F, caught fire and crashed in the sea near Jeju island, killing both crew members.
• On April 29, 2013, National Airlines Flight 102, 747-400BCF, stalled and crashed shortly after taking off from Bagram Airfield in Bagram, killing all 7 crew members.[28]
• On December 22, 2013, the right wing on British Airways Flight 34, a Boeing 747-436 registered as G-BNLL, struck a building at O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg while taxiing on the wrong taxiway. Both the aircraft's wing and the building sustained severe damage, but there were no injuries amongst the crew or 189 passengers, although four on the ground were injured. The aircraft was officially written off in February 2014.[29]
• On March 19, 2015, 7O-YMN, a 747-SP used by the president of Yemen, was damaged by gunfire from troops loyal to deposed president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Photos released a few months later showed the remains of the destroyed aircraft.[30]
• On January 16, 2017, Turkish Airlines Flight 6491, a 747-400F operated by ACT Airlines en route from Hong Kong to Istanbul via Bishkek, overshot the runway on landing in thick fog at Manas International Airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and caught fire. 39 people died, including all four crew members, as well as 35 residents of a village at the crash site.[31][32][33]
• On November 7, 2018, SkyLease Cargo Flight 4854, a 747-400F, overran the runway while landing at Halifax Stanfield International Airport. The aircraft sustained substantial damage and all four crew survived with minor injuries.

2020s

• On August 27th,2020, A Boeing 747-SP belonging to Las Vegas Sands Corporation was damaged beyond repair by Hurricane Laura while stored at Chennault International Airport in Louisiana, U.S. The tip of the right wing struck a silver beam causing the tip to separate. The nose section of the aircraft was also damaged by the wing of another aircraft stored at the airport. [34]

References

1. Rumerman, Judy. "The Boeing 747." U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, 2003. Retrieved: April 30, 2006.
2. "Jumbo and the Gremlins." TIME, February 2, 1970. Retrieved: December 20, 2007.
3. "747 Model Orders and Deliveries data." The Boeing Company, March 2015. Retrieved: April 8, 2015.
4. List of Boeing 747 hull losses retrieved 2013-02-17.
5. Page describing N4723U incident retrieved 2008-01-13.
6. Page describing N808MC incident retrieved 2008-01-13.
7. Page describing N752PA incident retrieved 2008-01-13.
8. Page describing JA8109 incident retrieved 2008-01-13.
9. Page describing the crash of IIAF 5-8104 retrieved 2008-01-13.
10. "Special Investigation Report - Wing Failure of Boeing 747-131, Near Madrid, Spain, May 9, 1976" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. October 6, 1978. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
11. "1977: Hundreds dead in Tenerife plane crash", "On This Day." BBC News. Retrieved: 26 May 2006.
12. Retrieved July 16, 2016
14. "Japan marks air crash anniversary", BBC News. Retrieved: August 12, 2005.
15. Aviation Safety Network record. Retrieved July 17, 2016
16. Page describing N807FT accident retrieved February 14, 2015.
17. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 747-2B3F (SCD) F-GPAN Chennai Airport (MAA)". Aviation-safety.net. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
18. "Rushing to Die, The Crash of Singapore Airlines flight 006". Airline Safety. Retrieved: 17 December 2007.
19. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 747-368 HZ-AIO Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL)". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
20. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 747-246F 9G-MKI Port Harcourt". Aviation-safety.net. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
21. Page describing 9G-MKJ accident. aviation-safety.net. Retrieved: 17 August 2008.
22. https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20050124-0
23. Page describing N922FT accident. aviation-safety.net. Retrieved: 6 April 2015.
24. Page describing N704CK accident. Retrieved: 17 August 2008.
25. "Crash: Kalitta B742 at Bogota on Jul 7th 2008, engine fire, impacted a farm house". The Aviation Herald. July 11, 2008. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
26. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 747-437 VT-ESM Mumbai-Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM)". Aviation-safety.net. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
27. "Cargo plane crashes near Dubai motorway killing two". BBC. September 3, 2010. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
28. "Crash: National Air Cargo B744 at Bagram on Apr 29th 2013, lost height shortly after takeoff following load shift and stall". Avherald.com. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
29. Retrieved 17 July 2017
30. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 747SP-27 7O-YMN Aden International Airport (ADE)". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
31. "Belarus' First Deputy Foreign Minister signs Book of Condolences at Kyrgyzstan's embassy". Belarusin Telegraph Agency. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
32. "Под Бишкеком упал грузовой самолет Turkish Airlines (фото)" [A Turkish Airlines cargo plane crashed near Bishkek (with pictures)]. Zanoza (in Russian). January 16, 2017. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
33. "При крушении Boeing под Бишкеком погибли не менее 16 человек" [At least 16 people killed in Boeing crash near Bishkek]. RIA Novosti (in Russian). January 16, 2017. Retrieved January 16, 2017.