• American Airlines Flight 191

May 25th, 1979 was the darkest day in the aviation history of America. On that Friday, American Airlines Flight 191 operated by a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 (three-engine wide body airliner) crashed and all the 258 passengers, plus 13 crew members lost their lives.

In command of flight 191 was Captain Walter Lux, one of the most experienced and qualified DC-10 pilots. He had about 22,000 hours of logged, out of which around 3,000 hours were in DC-10. Here is the short story of what happened on that blustering Friday.

American Airlines Flight 191 was ready to take off from O’Hare International Airport. It was scheduled from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles International Airport. After clearance, the aircraft began its ascent on the runway. However, almost simultaneous with the takeoff, the engine number one fell from the left wing and dropped to the ground. Unfortunately, in this process, it damaged the left wing, and it severed hydraulic lines resulting in the retraction of the slats. No more than 400 feet off the ground, it subsequently rolled to the left. The control tower tried to contact the captain of the plane, but no response was heard from the cockpit. Less than a minute after takeoff, the aircraft destroyed into the ground in a flaming heap about a half mile from the end of the runway. All of the passengers and the crew members were killed as well as two people on the ground were also killed.

• Japan Airlines Flight 123

On August 12th 1985, Japan Airlines Flight 123 (Boeing 747-SR46) crashed and all 15 crew members and 505 out of 509 passengers lost their lives. Boeing 747-SR46 was a domestic flight of Japan Airlines, registered as JA8119. In command of Boeing 747-SR46 was Capt. Masami Takahama, who was a Training Captain .He had about 12,500 hours of total flight time and had been with the company for nineteen years.

Boeing 747 SR-146 was ready to take off from Tokyo International Airport (Haneda). It was scheduled from Haneda Airport to Itami Airport (Osaka International Airport). The flight took off at 06:12 p.m. form Runway 15L at Haneda Airport. Twelve minutes after takeoff when the airplane reached sailing height over Sagami Bay, the failure in the rear pressure bulkhead occurred. Due to failure of the rear pressure bulkhead, explosive decompression (unexpected drop in the pressure of a system) ripped the vertical stabilizer (located at the end of the body) from the aircraft and disengaged all four of the aircraft's hydraulic systems.

The aircraft pilot sent the distress signal (internationally recognized signal that means help) to the Tokyo Air Traffic Control Center (ATC), which instructed the aircraft to come down and gave it heading vectors for an emergency landing. After coming down to 4100 m (13,500 feet), the pilots reported the uncontrollability of the plane to the Tokyo ATC. The aircraft flew over the Izu Peninsula, headed towards the Pacific Ocean, then returned toward the coast and came down to below 2100 m (7,000 feet) before the pilots somehow managed to go back to a height. The plane reached an elevation of 4000 m (13,000 feet) before disappearing from radar and entering an uncontrollable fall into the mountains at 6:56 p.m. The aircraft crashed into two ridges of Mount Takamagahara in Ueno, which is 100 kilometers from Tokyo.