Was 1972 the deadliest year in aviation history?

The worst crash year on record — 1972 — also had the most deaths: 2,429. The deadliest aviation accident in history didn't even occur in any of the top 10 years. In 1977, two Boeing 747s collided on a runway on the Spanish island of Tenerife, killing 583.



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The most fatalities in any aviation accident in history occurred during 1977 in the Tenerife airport disaster, when 583 people were killed when two Boeing 747s collided on a runway.

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Though many Americans may associate airport security with 9/11, it was a wave of hijackings in the late 1960s and early 1970s that laid the foundation for today's airport security protocols. During that period, a hijacking occurred, on average, once every five days globally.

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Security screenings didn't become mandatory until the early 1970s when bigger flights meant more passengers. Security screenings didn't become mandatory until 1973, and even those were pretty relaxed compared to the airport security we go through today, The Boston Globe reported.

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In 1972, a man hijacked an United Airlines flight and parachuted from the plane over Utah with ransom money. Here's how the FBI tracked him down. Richard Floyd McCoy, Jr.

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1985 – EgyptAir Flight 648 Until the events of 9/11, the EgyptAir Flight 648 was considered the most infamous hijacking in the history of aviation because of the number of victims – 60 dead – and the number of parties involved.

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September 24, 2023 A single-engine Beechcraft BE23 crashed in a field near Roger M Dreyer Memorial Airport in Gonzales, Texas, around 7:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, September 24. Only the pilot was on board. The FAA and NTSB will investigate.

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British Airways Since 1985, BA has never had a fatal accident, the closest call coming in 2008, when First Officer John Coward earned his place in the aviation Hall of Fame by landing a plane without any power. Read the full story here. BA ranks among the world's top 20 safest airlines according to AirlineRatings.

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Running since 1929, Hawaiian is among the oldest airlines in the world but, remarkably, it has never suffered a single fatal crash or hull loss.

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The sole survivor of the crash was Cecelia Cichan, a four-year-old girl from Tempe, Arizona, who was returning home alongside her mother, Paula, father, Michael, and a six-year-old brother, David, after visiting relatives in Pennsylvania.

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In May 2021, a Ryanair commercial jet was intercepted by Belarusian authorities while flying over Belarus on route to Vilnius, Lithuania. This occurrence is considered to be the most recent hijacking incident in the global aviation industry.

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It is a history of the golden age of aircraft hijacking in the United States from the first incident in May 1961 through January 1973. Hijackings during this period took place as often as once a week, with about 160 incidents in total (most were to Cuba).

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The ICAO attributes the improvements in safety to the safety commitments shared across the industry. In fact, the trend across many years of aviation is that, today, it is safer than ever to fly.

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Pressure for an inflight smoking ban also came from flight attendants' unions, such as the Association of Flight Attendants. United Airlines created a nonsmoking section in 1971, the first airline to do so. Aurigny Air Services became the first airline to ban smoking entirely on its flights, in July 1977.

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Since commercial flights are pressurized to 6000 – 8000 ft, older adults with stable cardiovascular disease should be able to fly without risk.

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