List of Accidents and Incidents Involving Commercial Aircraft - 1979

1979

• January 30 – PP-VLU, a Varig Boeing 707, disappears over the Pacific 125 mi (201 km) from Japan Narita International Airport to Rio de Janeiro-Galeão International Airport
• February 12 – Air Rhodesia Flight 827, a scheduled civilian flight between Kariba and Salisbury is shot down by Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army militants using a SA-7 (Strela 2) surface-to-air missile soon after take off in similar circumstances to Flight 825 five month earlier; all 55 passengers and 4 crew are killed.
• March 17 – Aeroflot Flight 1691, a Tupolev Tu-104, crashes near Vnukovo Airport while attempting to make an emergency landing after a fire alarm is reported, killing 58 of 119 on board.
• March 29 – Quebecair Flight 255, a Fairchild F-27, crashes after an explosion in an engine, killing 17 of 24 on board.
• April 4 – TWA Flight 841, a Boeing 727 with 89 on board, goes into a dive over Saginaw, Michigan; the aircraft makes an emergency landing at Detroit; all on board survive.
• May 25 – American Airlines Flight 191, a McDonnell-Douglas DC-10, crashes on takeoff from O'Hare International Airport after an engine falls off, killing all 271 on board and 2 on the ground; prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks, this was the deadliest airliner occurrence in American history, and it remains the worst single-aircraft airliner accident on US soil.
• June 17 – Air New England Flight 248, a De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, crashes near Camp Greenough, Massachusetts while on approach to Barnstable Municipal Airport, killing the pilot.
• July 11 – A Garuda Indonesia Fokker F28 strikes a volcano on approach to Medan Airport, Indonesia, killing all 61 on board.
• July 31 – Dan-Air Flight 0034, a Hawker Siddeley HS 748 failed to become airborne at Sumburgh Airport, Scotland. Of the 47 on board, 15 passengers and two crew die.
• August 11 – The 1979 Dniprodzerzhynsk mid-air collision between two Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134s kills 178.
• October 8 – Swissair Flight 316 crashes after overrunning the runway at Athens-Ellinikon International Airport, killing 14 of the 154 passengers and crew on board.
• October 31 – Western Airlines Flight 2605, a McDonnell-Douglas DC-10, strikes a vehicle on a closed runway in dense fog at Mexico City, Mexico; 72 die.
• November 26 – PIA Flight 740, a Boeing 707, crashes after a fire in the cabin in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; all 145 passengers and 11 crew die.
• November 28 – Air New Zealand Flight 901, a McDonnell-Douglas DC-10, collides with Mount Erebus, Antarctica during a sightseeing flight, killing all 257 people on board; this crash is also known as the Mount Erebus Disaster.
• December 23 – A Turkish Airlines Fokker F28 crashes into a hillside near Kuyumcuköy, Ankara, Turkey while on approach to Esenboğa Airport; of the 45 on board, only 4 survive.