Boeing 737 Next Generation - Accidents and Incidents

Accidents and Incidents

According to the Aviation Safety Network, the Boeing 737 Next Generation series has been involved in 8 hull-loss accidents and 7 hijackings, for a total of 527 fatalities.

Notable accidents and incidents

• December 8, 2005 (2005-12-08) – Southwest Airlines Flight 1248, a 737-700, skidded off a runway upon landing at Chicago Midway International Airport in heavy snow conditions. A six-year-old boy died in a car struck by the airliner after it skidded into a street. Passengers on board the aircraft and on the ground reported several minor injuries. The aircraft involved, N471WN, became N286WN after repairs.
• September 29, 2006 (2006-09-29) – Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907, a 737-800 Brazilian airliner with 154 people on board crashed following a midair collision with an Embraer Legacy 600. All on board the 737-800 were killed. The Legacy landed safely at a Brazilian Air Force Base.
• May 5, 2007 (2007-05-05) – Kenya Airways Flight 507, a 737-800 carrying 105 passengers and nine crew lost contact and crashed into a swamp on a flight to Nairobi, Kenya from Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, after making a scheduled stop at Douala, Cameroon. There were no survivors.
• August 20, 2007 (2007-08-20) – China Airlines Flight 120, a Boeing 737-800 inbound from Taipei, caught fire shortly after landing at Naha Airport in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. There were no fatalities. Following this incident, the FAA issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD) on August 25 ordering inspection of all Boeing 737NG series aircraft for loose components in the wing leading edge slats within 24 days. On August 28, after initial reports from these inspections, the FAA issued a further EAD requiring a detailed or borescope inspection within 10 days, and an explicit tightening of a nut-and-bolt assembly within 24 days.
• November 10, 2008 (2008-11-10) – Ryanair Flight 4102, a Boeing 737-800 from Frankfurt-Hahn suffered substantial damage in an emergency landing at Rome Ciampino Airport. The cause of the accident was stated to be birdstrikes affecting both engines. The port undercarriage of the 737 collapsed. The aircraft involved was Boeing 737-8AS EI-DYG (c/n33639, msn 2557). Of the six crew and 166 passengers on board, two crew and eight passengers were taken to hospital with minor injuries. As well as damage to the engines and undercarriage, the rear fuselage was also damaged by contact with the runway.
• February 25, 2009 (2009-02-25) – Turkish Airlines Flight 1951, a Boeing 737-800 coming from Istanbul, crashed during landing into a field near the Polderbaan at Schiphol airport, Amsterdam. The fuselage broke into three pieces after the crash and the engine pylons separated. Of the 135 passengers and crew, there were nine fatalities: five passengers and four crew members (including both pilots and a pilot-in-training), and 84 people suffered injuries. Crash investigations initially focused on a malfunctioning left radio altimeter, which may have resulted in false altitude information causing the autothrottle to reduce power.
• December 22, 2009 (2009-12-22) – American Airlines Flight 331, a 737-800 (registration N977AN) overran the runway at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston Jamaica. The aircraft, registration N977AN, overran the runway during a landing hampered by poor weather. The plane continued on the ground outside the airport perimeter and broke apart causing injuries. All 154 persons on board survived.
• January 25, 2010 (2010-01-25) – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409, a 737-800, crashed into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after take-off from Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport. The flight had 90 passengers and 8 crew, 50 passengers of which were Lebanese, and was bound for the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. There were no survivors.
• May 22, 2010 (2010-05-22) – Air India Express Flight 812, a 737-800, overran the runway on landing at Mangalore International Airport, killing 158 passengers including six crew on board. There were eight survivors. The airliner overran beyond the middle of the runway hitting the antenna and crashed through the fence at the end of the runway going into the valley 200 feet below. Although the 8,000 ft runway is sufficient for landing there was no bare land at the end of the runway on the table top airport to account for mistakes.
• August 16, 2010 (2010-08-16) – AIRES Flight 8250, a 737-700, crashed and split into three pieces on the Colombian island of San Andres. There was no fire and two fatalities reported.
• January 5, 2011 (2011-01-05) – an attempt was made to hijack Turkish Airlines Flight 1754 from Gardermoen Airport, Oslo to Ataturk International Airport, Istanbul. The hijacker was overpowered by other passengers on the flight and was arrested when the aircraft landed. The flight was being operated by Boeing 737-800 TC-JGZ.
• July 30, 2011 (2011-07-30) – Caribbean Airlines Flight 523, a 737-800, overran the runway in rainy weather and crashed through the perimeter fence while landing at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Guyana. The aircraft broke into two at around the first class area. There were no fatalities, but several passengers were injured with at least two passengers suffering broken legs. Caribbean Airlines confirmed 157 passengers and 6 crew members were on board.