Each time we step onto an airplane, we entrust our lives to the skill and expertise of the pilot at the controls.
It’s indeed a daunting realization, given that the overwhelming majority of aviation accidents stem from human error rather than any other cause.
Although these occurrences remain exceptionally rare, with odds estimated at around one in 11 million, there have been heartbreaking instances of preventable crashes resulting from significant errors made by pilots in the past.
Aeroflot Flight 593, 1994
Arguably the most absurd action of all was when relief pilot Yaroslav Kudrinsky, serving as the second-in-command to the co-pilot, allowed his children to toy with the controls.
The tragic crash took place on March 23, 1994, during an Aeroflot flight en route from Moscow to Hong Kong. The Airbus A310 plummeted in Siberia, claiming the lives of all 75 individuals aboard.
Subsequent analysis of cockpit recordings revealed that Mr. Kudrinsky had invited his two children, Yana, aged 12, and Eldar, aged 15, into the cockpit in the middle of the night.
Both children were permitted to occupy the captain’s chair and manipulate the controls, despite the fact that they should have been disabled as the aircraft was in autopilot mode.
However, when Eldar held the control column down for a full 30 seconds, it forced the system out of autopilot mode and back into manual control.
By the time the captain and co-pilot returned to their seats and attempted to regain control, it was already too late. The aircraft collided with the mountains below, resulting in the tragic loss of all passengers and crew on board.
TransAsia Airways Flight 235, 2015
“Wow, pulled back the wrong side throttle.”
These were among the final words spoken by the pilot of TransAsia Flight 235 on February 4, 2015, just moments before the aircraft collided with a highway bridge in Taiwan, resulting in the tragic deaths of 43 out of its 58 passengers.
According to the report from Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council, the aircraft had just departed from Taipei’s Songshan Airport when one of its engines experienced a loss of power.
The pilot, tragically killed along with the co-pilot, inadvertently shut down the remaining operational engine by pulling the wrong throttle, resulting in a sharp banking of the aircraft. This led to a collision with the Huandong Viaduct before the plane nosedived into the Keelung River below.
Tuninter Flight 1153, 2009
In March 2009, the pilot and co-pilot of Tuninter Flight 1153, which tragically crashed into the Mediterranean Sea in 2005, received ten-year jail terms for the deaths of 16 passengers.
Captain Shafik Al Gharbi and co-pilot Ali Kebaier Lassoued were accused of neglecting emergency procedures when Tuninter Flight 1153 ran out of fuel due to a mechanical error, instead choosing to pray as the plane descended towards the ocean.
In cockpit recordings presented in court, Mr. Gharbi was heard invoking the aid of ‘Allah and Muhammad, his prophet,’ as reported by The Guardian.
Evidence suggests that the crew made several efforts to rectify the situation, yet ultimately succumbed to panic, resulting in the crash.
The aircraft was en route from Djerba, Tunisia, to Bari, Italy. Of the 49 passengers onboard, 23 were rescued from the water and survived the ordeal.
KLM and Pan Am collision
This tragic event remains the deadliest accident in aviation history, claiming the lives of 583 individuals when two jumbo jets collided. The root cause was attributed to errors in communication.
In March 1977, two Boeing 747s, KLM Flight 1736 and Pan Am Flight 1736, collided with each other at Tenerife Airport.
The collision resulted from misunderstandings between the KLM flight crew and Air Traffic Control, leading to the Pan Am plane still being on the runway when the KLM plane attempted to take off.
The dense fog that day impaired visibility, preventing both aircraft from seeing each other.
All 248 passengers and crew members aboard the KLM plane perished, along with 326 passengers and nine crew members aboard the Pan Am aircraft. However, 54 passengers and seven crew members on the Pan Am plane survived, including the captain.
