The disasters below include accidents, a bombing and military shootdowns; they are not all crashes in the same sense. They are arranged from fewer to more deaths so the final entry is the deadliest, counting victims on the ground where applicable.
Fatality figures can vary slightly between historical accounts, particularly when ground victims are included. The descriptions distinguish what happened from what investigators or authorities concluded, and treat those affected with respect.
9Pan Am Flight 103
On 21 December 1988, a bomb destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 above Lockerbie, Scotland, while the Boeing 747 was travelling from London to New York. Wreckage fell across the town and surrounding countryside.
All 259 people aboard and 11 people on the ground were killed. The bombing was a deliberate attack, not an accidental mechanical failure, and the disaster led to extensive investigations and aviation-security changes.
