List of Accidents and Incidents Involving Commercial Aircraft - 1949

1949

• January 17 – In the BSAA Star Ariel disappearance, a British South American Airways Avro Tudor IV disappears without a trace en route from Bermuda to Jamaica with 20 on board. The loss of the aircraft, along with the 1948 BSAA Star Tiger disappearance remain unsolved to this day, with the resulting speculation helping to develop the Bermuda Triangle legend.
• February 19 – A British European Airways Douglas Dakota collides with a RAF Avro Anson over Exhall, Warwickshire, killing all 14 on board both aircraft.
• March 10 – A Queensland Airlines Lockheed Lodestar crashes on takeoff from Coolangatta airstrip, killing all 21 on board.
• May 4 – In the Superga air disaster, an Italian Airlines Fiat G.212 CP carrying the Torino football team crashes into the Superga hills near Turin, killing all 31 on board, including 18 players.
• July 2 – A MacRobertson Miller Airlines Douglas DC-3 crashes on takeoff from Perth, Western Australia, killing all 18 on board.
• August 19 – A British European Airways Douglas DC-3 crashes into a hillside near Oldham, United Kingdom; of the 32 on board, only 8 survive.
• October 28 – An Air France Lockheed Constellation crashes into a mountain on São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal, killing all 48 people on board, including boxer Marcel Cerdan and violinist Ginette Neveu.
• November 1 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 537, a Douglas DC-4, on approach to Washington National Airport, suffers a mid-air collision with a Lockheed P-38; all 55 people on board the DC-4 died, including Congressman George J. Bates, New Yorker cartoonist Helen E. Hokinson, and former Congressman Michael J. Kennedy; the pilot and sole occupant of the P-38 is seriously injured.
• November 20 – In the Hurum air disaster, an Aero Holland Douglas DC-3 crashes near Hurum, Norway, killing 34 of the 35 on board, including 25 Jewish children.
• November 29 – American Airlines Flight 157, a Douglas DC-6, en route from New York City to Mexico City with 46 passengers and crew, veers off the runway and strikes buildings after the flight crew loses control on final approach to Dallas Love Field; 26 passengers and 2 flight attendants die.