List of Accidents and Incidents Involving Commercial Aircraft - 1960

1960

• January 6 – National Airlines Flight 2511, a Douglas DC-6B bound from New York to Miami, crashes near Bolivia, North Carolina, when a bomb planted on board explodes in mid-air; all 34 people on board are killed.
• January 18 – Capital Airlines Flight 20, a Vickers Viscount, flying from Washington National Airport to Norfolk International Airport crashes near Holdcroft, Virginia due to engine failure caused by icy conditions; all 50 on board are killed.
• January 19 – Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 871, a Sud Aviation Caravelle, crashes while on approach to Esenboğa International Airport, killing all 42 on board; an undetermined descent was to blame for the first fatal crash of the Sud Caravelle.
• January 21 – Avianca Flight 671, a Lockheed Constellation, crashes on landing at Sangster International Airport, killing 2 of 7 crew and 35 of 39 passengers on board in Jamaica's worst aviation accident.
• February 25 – The 1960 Rio de Janeiro air crash: A United States Navy Douglas R6D-1 (DC-6A) collides with a Real Transportes Aéreos Douglas DC-3 over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; of the 38 occupants of the American aircraft, 3 survive, and all 26 passengers and crew of the Brazilian aircraft die.
• March 17 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710, a Lockheed L-188 Super Electra en route from Chicago to Miami, Florida, breaks apart at 15,000 feet (4,600 m) and crashes near Tell City, Indiana, killing all 63 on board.
• June 10 – Trans Australia Airlines Flight 538, a Fokker F-27, crashes into the ocean near Mackay, Queensland, Australia, killing all 29 on board in Australia's worst civilian air disaster. This crash was responsible for the mandatory installation of cockpit voice recorders in airliners in Australia, followed by the rest of the world.
• July 15 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 372, a C-47 Skytrain, crashes into a mountain near Jimma, Ethiopia, killing the pilot.
• October 4 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 375, a Lockheed L-188 Super Electra, crashes on takeoff from Boston's Logan International Airport into Winthrop Bay, after multiple bird strikes; 62 of 72 aboard die.
• October 29 – The Cal Poly football team plane crash: a chartered Curtiss C-46 crashes on take-off at the Toledo Express Airport in Toledo, Ohio with the loss of twenty-two people including sixteen players on the California Polytechnic State University football team.
• December 16 – The 1960 New York air disaster: United Airlines Flight 826, a Douglas DC-8, and TWA Flight 266, a Lockheed Super Constellation, collide in mid-air over Staten Island in New York; all 128 aboard the two planes and six people on the ground are killed. This was the first crash in which a flight recorder was used to provide details in a crash investigation. The accident was the deadliest U.S. commercial aviation disaster at the time.