List of Accidents and Incidents Involving Commercial Aircraft - 1977

1977

• January 15 – Skyline Sweden-operated Linjeflyg Flight 618, a Vickers Viscount 838, crashes in Kälvesta, Sweden just outside Stockholm, killing all 22 on board.
• March 27 – In the Tenerife airport disaster, KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736, both Boeing 747s, collide on the runway in Los Rodeos Airport; 583 of 644 people on board both aircraft are killed in the worst accident in the history of commercial aviation.
• April 4 – Southern Airways Flight 242, a Douglas DC-9, crash-lands on a highway near New Hope, Georgia after dual engine failure encountered in a thunderstorm; 63 out of 85 aboard are killed, along with 9 people on the ground.
• April 27 – An Aviateca Convair 240 crashes near Guatemala City, Guatemala, due to a maintenance error, killing all 28 people on board.
• May 14 – In the 1977 Dan-Air Boeing 707 crash, a Boeing 707 crashes near Lusaka, Zambia, due to structural failure, killing all 6 on board.
• May 27 – Aeroflot Flight 331, an Ilyushin Il-62, crashes while on approach to Havana, Cuba, killing 68 out of 70 people on board, plus one person on the ground. It remains the second-worst air accident in Cuba's history.
• September 27 – Japan Airlines Flight 715, a Douglas DC-8, crashes into a hillside while on approach to Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, killing 34 of 79 on board.
• September 28 – Japan Airlines Flight 472, a Douglas DC-8, is hijacked after taking off from Mumbai, India by Japanese Red Army (JRA) terrorists, who force the plane to land in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where they demand US$6,000,000 and the release of nine imprisoned JRA members being held in Japan; the Japanese government complies and all of the hostages are eventually released.
• October 13 – Lufthansa Flight 181, a Boeing 737, is hijacked by four Palestinian members of the PFLP, who kill the captain; subsequently, German police commandos from GSG 9 storm the aircraft, killing three of the hijackers and capturing the fourth, with no other casualties.
• October 20 – In the 1977 Convair CV-300 crash, the airliner chartered by the band Lynyrd Skynyrd runs out of fuel en route to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, crashing five miles (8 km) north of Gillsburg, Mississippi in a swampy pine forest while trying to reach an alternate airport; band members Ronnie Van Zant, Steve and Cassie Gaines, plus assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick and the two pilots of the plane, are killed in the accident.
• November 19 – TAP Portugal Flight 425, a Boeing 727, overruns the runway at Madeira Airport and plunges over a steep bank, bursting into flames and killing 131 of the 164 people on board.
• December 2 – In the 1977 Benghazi Libyan Arab Airlines Tu-154 crash, a Tupolev Tu-154 leased from Balkan Bulgarian Airlines crashes near Benghazi, Libya due to fuel starvation, killing 59 of 165 on board.
• December 4 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 653, a Boeing 737, is hijacked under mysterious circumstances; minutes later, the airliner crashes into a swamp near Tanjung Kupang, Malaysia at a steep angle, killing all 100 people aboard.
• December 17 – United Airlines Flight 2860, a Douglas DC-8, Jet Trader, crashes in the Wasatch Range in Utah, killing the 3 crew on board.
• December 18 – SA de Transport Aérien Flight 730, a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle 10R, crashes into the sea while on final approach to Madeira Airport, killing 36 people.