List of Accidents and Incidents Involving Commercial Aircraft - 2001

2001

• January 23 – Yemenia Flight 448, a Boeing 727, is hijacked 15 minutes after takeoff from Sana'a International Airport; the crew makes an emergency landing at Djibouti; the hijacker is subdued with no casualties to the 101 on board.
• January 31 – The 2001 Japan Airlines mid-air incident: Japan Airlines Flight 907, a Douglas DC-10, and Japan Airlines Flight 958, a Boeing 747, narrowly avoid colliding near Yaizu, Japan.
• March 29 – In the 2001 Avjet Aspen crash, an Avjet charter flight, a Gulfstream III jet with 15 passengers and 3 crew, crashes on approach into Aspen, Colorado, killing all on board
• July 4 – Vladivostok Air Flight 352, a Tupolev Tu-154 enters a flat spin on approach to Irkutsk Airport in Irkutsk, Russia, crashes down onto its belly and bursts into flames in a wooded area, killing all 145 aboard.
• August 24 – Air Transat Flight 236 runs out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean and makes an emergency landing in the Azores. Upon landing some of the tires blow out, causing a fire that is extinguished by emergency personnel on the ground. None of the 304 people on board the Airbus A330-200 were seriously injured.
• August 29 – Binter Mediterráneo Flight 8261, a CASA CN-235, suffers port engine failure and crashes onto the N-340 road while attempting to make an emergency landing at Ruiz Picasso International Airport, killing 4 of 43 on board, the pilot initially survives, but dies several hours later.
• September 11 – September 11 attacks
  • American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767-200ER with 92 people on board, is hijacked after taking off from Boston, and is flown into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City; all on board are killed as well as others on the ground and in the building.
  • United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767-200 with 65 people on board, is hijacked after taking off from Boston and is flown into the south tower of the World Trade Center in New York City; all on board are killed as well as others on the ground and in the building; the collapse of both towers brings the total death toll from the two crashes to at least 2,759.
  • American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757-200 with 64 people on board, is hijacked after taking off from Dulles International Airport and is flown into The Pentagon; all on board are killed as well as 125 people in the building and on the ground.
  • United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757-200 with 44 people on board, is hijacked after taking off from Newark, New Jersey; passengers struggle with the hijackers, and the aircraft crashes in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all on board.
• October 4 – Siberia Airlines Flight 1812, a Tupolev Tu-154, is suspected to be shot down by a Ukrainian missile over the Black Sea. All 66 passengers and 12 crew members are killed.
• October 8 – In the Linate Airport disaster, SAS Flight 686, a MD-87, crashes into a Cessna business jet on takeoff from Milan, Italy. The MD-87 then swerves into a baggage handling building and catches fire. All 110 people on board Flight 686 die as well as all four in the Cessna. Four people on the ground are also killed.
• November 12 – American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300, crashes into a Queens neighborhood in New York City when the plane's vertical tail fin snaps just after takeoff. All 251 passengers and nine crew members on board are killed as well as five people on the ground.
• November 24 – Crossair Flight 3597, an Avro RJ100, crashes near Bassersdorf, Switzerland, while attempting to land in Zürich. Of the 28 passengers and five crew members on board, 21 passengers (including dance singer Melanie Thornton of La Bouche) and three crew members die.
• December 22 – On board American Airlines Flight 63, a Boeing 767, a passenger, Richard Reid, attempts to detonate explosives hidden in his shoes, but fails and is subdued by two flight attendants and passengers. The plane lands safely in Boston.