Most well known accident?

[User546]

Although not the most well known, I think Payne Stewart's crash - brought on by the crews incapacitation - deserves an honorble mention.

And a little factoid... John Denver's father died of a massive heart attack while taxiing his Lear out to the runway to go pick John up in Phoenix many years ago.

 

[WMUchickenhawk]

Id say the US Air crash outside of Pittsburgh was pretty well known, and coupled with another US Air accident that was close in time (not sure which came first) where a US Air flight collided with another plane on the runway at LAX, has helped lead to the current state of US Air.

It also brought about a modification of the power control units on all 737's and just about grounded the fleet. Although it wasnt as big in terms of loss of life, Id say that the grounding of all 737's would have been a huge thorn in the side of the Airlines, and I dont think many airlines could have survived it.

 

[WMUchickenhawk]

Oh and as far as most well known accident, what about "The day the music died"?
Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper

 

[ArcticFlier]

Korean Airlines 401 crashes into a mountain in Guam because they descended below minimums in a 747 on a non precision approach. Kills everyone on board.

254 on board............228 killed.



AF

 

[LAXSaabdude]

Another freaky thing about this one (and correct me if I'm wrong) is the passengers watched themselves die. AA used to have a camera in the cockpit that showed an outside view. This camera was on during 191's takeoff. That had to have been just horrible.

Echhhh! I know that AA used to have cockpit cameras, not sure what the time frame was when they started/discontinued using them. I know I jumpseated on an AA DC-10 a few years ago and saw the camera on/off switch in the cockpit with the "Deactivated" placard over it.

I rode on Cathay Pacific a few months ago, and one of their A-340s had a belly-cam that was wired into the in-seat entertainment. It was pretty cool coming in over Vancouver Island on the arrival to YVR, but they turned it off about 10 minutes before we landed.

LAXSaabdude.

 

[ERfly]

Echhhh! I know that AA used to have cockpit cameras, not sure what the time frame was when they started/discontinued using them. I know I jumpseated on an AA DC-10 a few years ago and saw the camera on/off switch in the cockpit with the "Deactivated" placard over it.

I rode on Cathay Pacific a few months ago, and one of their A-340s had a belly-cam that was wired into the in-seat entertainment. It was pretty cool coming in over Vancouver Island on the arrival to YVR, but they turned it off about 10 minutes before we landed.

LAXSaabdude.

I think it was up until 86.

 

[User546]

Oh and as far as most well known accident, what about "The day the music died"?
Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper

** smacking forehead ** Why on earth hadn't I thought of that yet. That's defintely up at the top of the list.

 

[FN FAL]

They had it turned on. I don't think they planned on crashing. When the s*** hit the fan, I don't think they had time or even thought of turning it off.

Sorry ErFly...I was being my usuall facetious self. I know they didn't have time to turn it off, thanks anyway.

 

[Everett Howe]

It is unfortunate that people need to die to make these changes but it is making flying safer.

It's called evolution and it works quite well.

The most mentioned crash to me with regular folks is the Buddy Holly accident.

 

[User546]

What's truly tragic about both the Buddy Holly, and Patsy Cline crashes was that both airplanes were equipped with an autopilot. Had the non-instrument rated pilots flipped that thing on at first sign of trouble, the accident may have been avoided all together.

I would assume you could say that same for JFK Jr. as well.