welcome to mojo travels and today we're counting down our picks for the 10
plane crashes that changed aviation forever are you a fan of our videos
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for this list we're looking at devastating and eye-opening aerial accidents that brought about
much needed change in how we operate aircraft
number 10 1956 grand canyon mid-air collision the grand canyon is usually such an awe-inspiring site
but on june 30th 1956 it was the site of the most fatal commercial airline flight in the us up until
that point on this fateful day a united airlines douglas dc-7 and a transworld airlines lockheed
l-1049 departed from los angeles one was bound for chicago and the other for kansas city but neither
made it to their respective destinations both flights collided over grand canyon national park
resulting in the deaths of all 128 people on board the tragedy led to several overdue changes in air
traffic control including hiring more personnel and highlighting the need for radar most notably
the federal aviation agency was created in 1958 helping to prevent future collisions
number nine delta airlines flight 191 flying through a storm is always distressing but
delta flight 191 was a worst case scenario on august 2nd 1985 a l1011 closing in on dallas
fort worth international airport crossed paths with a microburst i knew something was wrong
when the rain started coming said j slusher one of the survivors i felt something on top of the plane
pushing the plane down the pilots lost control of the aircraft which missed the runway by more than
a mile the plane crushed a car before hitting two airport water tanks causing 137 fatalities
with 27 survivors this inspired a lengthy investigation leading to the installation
of wind shear detectors while pilots received more training on how to deal with microbursts
number eight aeromexico flight 498. although the federal aviation act of 1958 brought about
a decline of mid-air collisions a privately owned aircraft presented another serious issue in late
august of 1986. the kramer family's piper archer aircraft accidentally collided with aeromexico
flight 498 over la the pilots supposedly didn't see each other's aircraft coming
and lax lacked the warning systems that could have prevented the ensuing collision there were
no survivors on either plane and the crash left the suburbs below devastated investigations show
that the piper didn't have proper clearance or a transponder to keep track of its altitude the faa
thus took measures to add traffic collision avoidance systems to commercial jets mode c
transponders also became mandatory for altitude safety number 7. turkish airlines flight 981
considered history's worst plane crash at the time a mcdonnell douglas dc-10 went down in her
meninville forest costing more than 300 lives this 1974 tragedy was traced to a rear cargo door that
hadn't been properly secured since the door was designed to open outwards there was always a risk
that it might get pulled off at high altitudes if the latch system failed when the door tore
it triggered an explosive decompression making it impossible to maintain control of the elevators
rudder or engine number two the latching and locking systems were subsequently given overhauls
to keep doors more secure the faa also required planes with outward leaning doors to have vents
cut into cabin doors helping air pressure to equalize under these circumstances number six
american airlines flight 587 this crash occurred on november 12 2001 two months after another
infamous aircraft-related disaster some initially theorized that there might have been a common link
but flight 587 was ultimately deemed an unrelated accident when a japan airlines boeing 747-400
took off shortly beforehand flight 587 was faced with wake turbulence the first officer reacted
by aggressively operating the rudder controls unintentionally causing the vertical stabilizer to
snap and the airbus a300 to crash in bell harbor with no survivors aboard and five fatalities below
the crash motivated american airlines and the faa to revise pilot training in 2006 mark rosenker of
the u.s national transportation safety board noted that pilots were making progress but
he still felt the rudder system's design could be improved number five value jet airlines flight 592
in-flight fires have been a problem for a while and value jet airlines flight 592 finally
sparked some changes after 1996. unfortunately more than 100 souls were lost in the process
a mcdonald douglas dc-9 was about 10 minutes into flying when it crashed into the everglades
maintenance contractor sabretech improperly and illegally packaged hazardous materials
starting the fire that led to this catastrophic loss under the faa's rule smoke detection and fire
extinguishment systems became mainstay of class-d cargo compartments this was the beginning of the
end for value jet airlines which had faced various safety issues in the past after being grounded for
three months value jets struggled to restore its reputation it soon merged into air tran airways
which southwest airlines eventually acquired number 4 swiss air flight 111 only two years after
the value jet airlines flight 592 incident tragedy struck swiss air flight 111 when the crew sensed
smoke from the cockpit the pilots were unable to land safely before the fire started to spread
causing the mcdonnell douglas md-11 to crash in the atlantic ocean with no survivors the in-flight
entertainment system and faulty wiring were linked to the fire but the insulation blankets proved to
be the flight's ultimate downfall covered in metallized mylar the flammable blankets
caused the fire to break out so quickly almost 700 aircraft would swap out their insulation blankets
in response this was also a massive blow for swiss air which would go bankrupt only four years later
number three air france flight 447 air france flight 447 also met its end in the atlantic ocean
although wreckage started to surface shortly after it take two years to recover the flight records
as such the investigation behind this crash was a drawn out process ultimately experts deduced that
the speed sensors or pitot tubes likely froze the inconsistent air speed readings led to the
autopilot disconnecting the pilot struggled without his technological support amounting
to the flight's disastrous end if this incident demonstrated anything it's that pilots might have
become too reliant on automation while computers are still a major facet of aviation this crash
would strengthen efforts to increase manual flying in pilot training number two twa flight 800. 12
minutes after departing from jfk airport on july 17 1996 a boeing 747 exploded over the atlantic
ocean on its way to europe it remains one of the deadliest u.s aircraft accidents ever it's widely
believed that this massive explosion started with a simple short circuit this likely led to the fuel
tank exploding and the plane breaking up in flight measures would be taken to prevent fuel tanks
from blowing up in the future namely the faa and boeing put more stock in inerting systems which
limits oxygen in fuel tanks and thus prevents combustion the faa also strongly recommended
that older boeing 747s had their wiring updated number one us air flight 427 on september 8
1994 usa flight 427 neared its destination at pittsburgh international airport the boeing 737
instead crashed at hopewell township claiming the 132 lives on board what ensued would go down as
the national transportation safety board's longest investigation ever lasting nearly four and a half
years the ntsb ultimately placed the blame on a defective valve that caused the rudder
to malfunction according to former ntsb chairman jim hall boeing invested almost 1 billion dollars
in upgrading the 737s rudders as a result the crash also inspired loved ones of the
victims to pursue the aviation disaster family assistance act giving the ntsb primary federal
responsibility for facilitating the recovery and identification of fatally injured passengers
involved in a craft accident do you agree with our picks check out this other recent clip from
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