Notable accidents
On October 1, 1966, West Coast Airlines Flight 956 crashed with eighteen fatalities and no survivors. This accident marks the first loss of a DC-9.[26]
On March 9, 1967, TWA Flight 553 fell to earth in a field in Concord Township, near Urbana, Ohio, following a mid-air collision with a Beechcraft Baron, an accident that triggered substantial changes in air traffic control procedures.[27] All 25 people on board the DC-9 were killed.
On March 16, 1969, Viasa Flight 742, a DC-9-32, crashed into the La Trinidad neighborhood of Maracaibo during a failed take-off. All 84 people on board the aircraft, as well as 71 people on the ground, were killed. With 155 dead in all, this was the deadliest crash involving a member of the original DC-9 family, as well as the worst crash in aviation history at the time it took place.[28]
On June 27, 1969, Douglas DC-9-31 N906H of Hawaiian Airlines collided on the ground with Vickers Viscount N7410 of Aloha Airlines at Honolulu International Airport. The Viscount was damaged beyond repair.[29]
On September 9, 1969, Allegheny Airlines Flight 853, a DC-9-30, collided in mid-air with a Piper PA-28 Cherokee near Fairland, Indiana. The DC-9 carried 78 passengers and 4 crew members, the Piper one pilot. The occupants of both aircraft were killed in the accident and the aircraft were destroyed.[30][31]
On February 15, 1970, a Dominicana de Aviación DC-9 crashed after taking off from Santo Domingo, in what is known as the Dominicana DC-9 air disaster. The crash, possibly caused by contaminated fuel, killed all 102 passengers and crew, including champion boxer Teo Cruz.[32][33]
On May 2, 1970, an Overseas National Airways DC-9, wet-leased to ALM Dutch Antilles Airlines and operating as ALM Flight 980, ditched in the Caribbean Sea on a flight from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Princess Juliana International Airport on Saint Maarten. After three landing attempts in poor weather at Saint Maarten, the pilots began to divert to their alternate of Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands but ran out of fuel 30 mi (48 km) short of the island. After about 10 minutes, the aircraft sank in 5,000 ft (1524 m) of water and was never recovered. 40 people survived the ditching, 23 perished.[34]
On November 14, 1970, Southern Airways Flight 932, a DC-9, crashed into a hill near Tri-State Airport in Huntington, West Virginia. All 75 on board were killed (including 37 members of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, eight members of the coaching staff, 25 boosters, and others).
On June 6, 1971, Hughes Airwest Flight 706, midair collision between commercial DC-9 and a U.S. Marine Corp jet. All 49 people on board the DC-9 died; one of two pilots from the F-4E Phantom ejected and survived.
On January 21, 1972, a Turkish Airlines DC-9-32 TC-JAC diverted to Adana, Turkey after pressurization problems. The aircraft hit the ground downwind on the 2nd approach and caught fire. There were only one fatality.[citation needed]
On January 26, 1972, JAT Flight 367, in flight from Copenhagen to Belgrade, DC-9-32 registration YU-AHT, was destroyed in flight by a bomb placed on board. The sole survivor was a flight attendant, Vesna Vulović, who holds the record for the world's longest fall without a parachute when she fell some 33,000 ft (10,000 m) inside the tail section of the airplane and survived.
On November 10–11, 1972, Southern Airways Flight 49 was hijacked while departing Birmingham, Alabama's airport by three armed men. The hijackers then proceeded to fly the passengers and crew to multiple locations in the United States, Canada, and Cuba, including Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the less-than-demanded ransom money was delivered, the now-defunct McCoy Air Force Base in Orlando, Florida, where the FBI shot out two of the DC-9's four main landing wheels, and Havana, where the 30 hours and 4,000 miles (6,400 km) odyssey came to an end with no fatalities or injuries between the passengers and crew members. This incident is notable for being the first hijacking in which an aircraft left Cuba with the hijackers on board.[35]
On December 20, 1972, North Central Airlines Flight 575, DC-9-31 registration N954N, collided during its takeoff roll with Delta Air Lines Flight 954, a Convair CV-880 that was taxiing across the same runway at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, in what is known as the 1972 Chicago-O'Hare runway collision. The DC-9 was destroyed, killing 10 and injuring 15 of the 45 people on board; two people among the 93 aboard the Convair 880 suffered minor injuries.[36]
On July 31, 1973, Delta Air Lines Flight 723, DC-9-31 registration N975NE, crashed into a seawall at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, killing all 83 passengers and 6 crew members on board. One of the passengers initially survived the accident but later died in a hospital.
On September 11, 1974, Eastern Air Lines Flight 212, a DC-9-30 crashed just short of the runway at Charlotte, North Carolina, killing 71 out of the 82 occupants.
On October 30, 1975, an Inex-Adria Aviopromet DC-9-32 hit high ground during an approach in fog near Prague-Suchdol, Czechoslovakia. 75 people were killed.[37]
On September 10, 1976, an Inex-Adria Aviopromet DC-9-31 collided with a British Airways Trident over the Croatian town of Vrbovec, killing all 176 people aboard both aircraft and another person on the ground, in what is known as the 1976 Zagreb mid-air collision.
On April 4, 1977, Southern Airways Flight 242, a DC-9-31, lost engine power in a storm then crash landed onto a highway in New Hope, Georgia, US, striking road side buildings. The crash and fire resulted in the death of both flight crew and 61 passengers. Nine people on the ground also died. Both flight attendants and 20 passengers survived.[38][39]
On June 26, 1978, Air Canada Flight 189, a DC-9 overran the runway in Toronto after a blown tire aborted the takeoff. Two of the 107 passengers and crew were killed.[40]
On September 14, 1979, Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 12, a DC-9-32 crashed in the mountains near Cagliari, Italy while approaching Cagliari-Elmas Airport. All 27 passengers and 4 crew members died in the crash and ensuing fire.[41]
On June 27, 1980, Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870, a DC-9-15 suffered an in-flight explosion and crashed into the sea near the Italian island of Ustica. All 81 passeners and crew on board were killed. Italian prosecutors and the Parliament Commissions came to the conclusion that the DC-9 was mistakenly identified by French, US and Italian fighters as an executive jet believed to be carrying Libyan leader M. Qaddafi and shot down.[42][43][44]
On July 27, 1981, Aeroméxico Flight 230, a DC-9 ran off the runway in Chihuahua. Bad weather and pilot error were blamed.
On June 2, 1983, Air Canada Flight 797, a DC-9 experienced an electrical fire in the aft lavatory during flight, resulting in an emergency landing at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. During evacuation, the sudden influx of oxygen caused a flash fire throughout the cabin, resulting in the deaths of 23 of the 41 passengers, including Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers. All five crew members survived.
On December 7, 1983, the Madrid Runway Disaster took place where a departing Iberia Boeing 727 struck an Aviaco Douglas DC-9 causing the death of 93 passengers and crew. All 42 passengers and crew on board the DC-9 were killed.
On August 31, 1986, Aeroméxico Flight 498 collided in mid-air with a Piper Cherokee over the city of Cerritos, California, then crashed into the city, killing all 67 aboard the aircraft, 15 people on the ground, and all 3 in the small plane.
On April 4, 1987, Garuda Indonesia Flight 035, a DC-9-32, hit a pylon and crashed on approach to Polonia International Airport in bad weather with 24 fatalities.[45]
On December 3, 1990, Northwest Airlines Flight 1482, a DC-9-14, went on the wrong taxiway in dense fog at Detroit-Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Michigan (DTW). It entered the active runway instead of taxiway instructed by air traffic controllers. It collided with a departing Northwest Boeing 727. Nine people were killed.[46][47]
On April 18, 1993, Japan Air System Flight 451, a DC-9-41 JA8448 crashed while landing at Hanamaki Airport in Japan. There were 19 injuries, all of them 77 passengers and crew survived. The aircraft was written off.[48]
On June 21, 1993, Garuda Indonesia Flight 630, a DC-9-32 PK-GNT landed heavily on runway 09 (forces of 5g) and taxied safely to apron at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia. Major structural damage was discovered there. The aircraft was high on approach, which was overcorrected, causing the aircraft coming too low. Thrust was increased and the DC-9 then struck the runway in a nose up attitude. No deaths.
On July 2, 1994, USAir Flight 1016, a DC-9-31 N954VJ crashed in Charlotte, North Carolina while performing a go-around because of heavy storms and wind shear at the approach of runway 18R. There were 37 fatalities and 15 injured among the passengers and crew. Although the airplane came to rest in a residential area with the tail section striking a house, there were no fatalities or injuries on the ground.
On May 11, 1996, ValuJet Flight 592, a DC-9-32 N904VJ crashed in the Florida Everglades due to a fire caused by the activation of chemical oxygen generators illegally stored in the hold. The fire damaged the plane's electrical system and eventually overcame the crew, resulting in the deaths of 110 people.
On October 10, 1997, Austral Flight 2553, a DC-9-32 registration LV-WEG, en route from Posadas to Buenos Aires, crashed near Fray Bentos, Uruguay, killing all 69 passengers and 5 crew on board.[49]
On February 2, 1998, Cebu Pacific Flight 387, a DC-9-32 RP-C1507 crashed on the slopes of Mount Sumagaya in Misamis Oriental, Philippines, killing all 104 passengers and crew on board. Aviation investigators deemed the incident to be caused by pilot error when the plane made a non-regular stopover to Tacloban.
On November 9, 1999, TAESA Flight 725 crashed a few minutes after leaving the Uruapan Airport en route to Mexico City. 18 people were killed in the accident.[50]
On October 6, 2000, Aeroméxico Flight 250, a DC-9-31 en route from Mexico City to Reynosa, Mexico, could not stop at end of runway and crashed into houses and fell into a small canal. Four people on the ground were killed. None of 83 passengers and 5 crew members were killed. The DC-9 was heavily damaged and classified as a loss. The runway had seen heavy rainfall as a result of Hurricane Keith.[51]
On April 15, 2008, a Hewa Bora Airways DC-9 crashed into a residential neighborhood, in the Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo,[52] resulting in the deaths of at least 44 people,[53] in what is known as the 2008 Goma DC-9 crash.
On July 6, 2008, USA Jet Airlines Flight 199, a DC-9-15F, crashed after taking off from Shreveport, LA airport bound for Saltillo, Mexico. The captain died and first officer were seriously injured.[54] The accident investigation results have not yet been released.[citation needed]
