Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK Global civil aviation closes a year that began with catastrophe and ends with a crash.
Jeju Air Flight "Jeju Air" that crashed tonight (morning Israel time) 29.12, on the runway at Muan International Airport in South Korea, is a harsh final chord to a not-so-good year (to put it lightly) in aircraft and passenger safety, and it joins another deadly flight this week with an Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane which crashed just before landing in Kazakhstan, in an incident still under investigation that brought apologies from the President of Russia.
Already on January 2, a day after the start of the year, a new civilian plane of Japan Airlines model A350 collided with a Japanese Coast Guard plane model Dash 8. All passengers of the civilian plane survived, five out of six coast guard crew members were killed. Both planes caught fire and were destroyed.
boeing 737 max. Photo: ShutterstockOne of the year's major stories occurred just three days later when an unused exit door detached from an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-MAX plane. The serious incident led to the grounding of this model's fleet worldwide and endless inspections until they returned to service.
A month later, on February 18, a flight of Air Serbia's Embraer 195, similar to the one that crashed today of Azerbaijan Airlines, hit light posts at the airport in Belgrade. Despite a large hole in the plane, all 111 passengers and crew left unharmed.
In March, a flight of the South American airline LATAM model 787-9, supposed to fly from Sydney, Australia, to Santiago, Chile, via Auckland, New Zealand, dropped 90 meters in seconds due to a malfunction. Fifty of the 250 on board, including passengers and crew, were injured to varying degrees. The plane landed safely at Auckland Airport.
Photo: LATAMIn May, one of the year's most unusual events occurred as a Singapore Airlines flight on a Boeing 777-300 experienced severe air turbulence. After the plane landed at Bangkok Airport, it was discovered that one person died as a result of the turbulence and more than a hundred passengers were injured and required medical attention, many staying in Bangkok for extended treatment.
Photo: SHUTTERSTOCKIn July, a small Bombardier CRJ plane crashed in Kathmandu, en route to Pokhara. Eighteen out of nineteen passengers and crew were killed.
Another fatal event occurred on a flight of Voepass in Brazil. An ATR-72 plane went into a spin and crashed during a domestic flight in the country on its way to Sao Paulo. All 62 passengers and crew were killed.
Last month, November 2024, a non-commercial but a cargo plane operating for the delivery company DHL crashed. The plane crashed outside Vilnius Airport in Lithuania as it was about to land. One of the four crew members was killed.
Photo: SHUTTERSTOCKJust a few days ago, a SWISS flight from Bucharest to Zurich made an emergency landing at Graz Airport due to engine problems and smoke in the cockpit and cabin. Two crew members on the Airbus A220 model required medical treatment, one in worse condition than the other.
Last week, just before year-end, an Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane crashed just before landing in Kazakhstan, in an incident still under investigation.
Another unusual event occurred last week when a woman exited through the emergency door of an Alaska Airlines plane onto the wing and was removed by airport staff.
This past weekend, more serious safety incidents occurred, which are under investigation, one of which was the discovery of an unidentified passenger's body after landing in Hawaii on a United Airlines flight, a case still under investigation.