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List of accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 737

The following is a list of accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 737 family of jet airliners, including the Boeing 737 Original (-100/-200), Boeing 737 Classic (-300/-400/-500), Boeing 737 Next Generation (-600/-700/-800/-900) and Boeing 737 MAX (-8/-9) series of aircraft. , there have been a total of 529 aviation accidents and incidents involving all 737 aircraft (not all are notable enough for inclusion on this list), which have resulted in a total of 5,779 fatalities and 234 hull losses.

The 737 first entered airline service in February 1968; the 10,000th aircraft entered service in March 2018. The first accident involving a 737 was on July 19, 1970, when a was damaged beyond repair during an aborted takeoff, with no fatalities; the first fatal accident occurred on December 8, 1972, when United Airlines Flight 553 crashed while attempting to land, with 45 (43 on board plus 2 on the ground) fatalities; and, , Lion Air Flight 610, a 737 MAX 8, has the most fatalities aboard a 737 when it crashed into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff on October 29, 2018, with 189 fatalities.

737 Original (-100/-200)

1970s

  • July 19, 1970 – United Air Lines Flight 611, a new registered as N9005U, named City of Bristol, was damaged beyond economical repair after an aborted take off at Philadelphia International Airport. During take off, a loud "bang" was heard, and the aircraft veered right. The captain aborted the take off, and the aircraft ran off the end of the runway, stopping 1,634 feet past its end, in a field. There were no fatalities. This was the first, non-fatal, accident involving a 737.
  • July 20, 1970 – Condor Flight 316, a registered as D-ABEL, collided on approach to Reus Airport with a Piper PA-28 Cherokee. While the 737 was able to land, the Piper went down, killing all three occupants, making this the first fatal accident involving a 737.
  • December 31, 1970 – At Washington National Airport, a in preparation for a United Air Lines flight scheduled at 12:35 pm suffered a fire when its oxygen supply system was being recharged. No passengers were onboard and nobody was injured. The cabin and fuselage were damaged in the fire.
  • July 5, 1972 – Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 710, a en route to Los Angeles was hijacked by two men who demanded $800,000 and that they be taken to the Soviet Union. In San Francisco, the aircraft was stormed and the two hijackers died along with one passenger.
  • December 8, 1972 – United Air Lines Flight 553, a registered as N9031U, crashed while attempting to land at Chicago Midway International Airport after pilot error allowed the plane to stall. Two people on the ground and 43 of the 61 passengers and crew on board died. This was the first fatal accident involving a crashed 737.
  • May 31, 1973 – Indian Airlines Flight 440, a registered as VT-EAM, hit power lines and crashed on approach to Palam International Airport in New Delhi, India. The cause was determined to be crew error in letting the aircraft descend below glidepath. 48 of the 65 passengers and crew on board died.
  • March 31, 1975 – Western Airlines Flight 470, a registered as N4527W, overshot a runway coated with snow at Casper/Natrona County International Airport in Casper, Wyoming in the United States. Four of the 99 aboard were injured, and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.
  • October 13, 1977 – Lufthansa Flight 181, A registered as D-ABCE, named Landshut, was hijacked by four Palestinians, who demanded the release of seven Red Army Faction members in West German prisons and $15,000,000. The captain was fatally shot. On October 17, members of West Germany's GSG-9 stormed the aircraft and killed three of the hijackers, capturing the other.
  • December 4, 1977 – Malaysian Airline System Flight 653, a registered as 9M-MBD, crashed following a phugoid oscillation that saw the aircraft diving into a swamp after both its pilots were shot following a hijacking attempt. The crash happened in the southern Malaysian state of Johor. A total of 93 passengers and 7 crew died.
  • February 11, 1978 – Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314, a registered as C-FPWC, crashed while attempting to land at Cranbrook Airport, British Columbia, Canada. The aircraft crashed after thrust reversers did not fully stow following a go-around that was executed in order to avoid a snowplow. Four of the crew members and 38 of the 44 passengers died in the accident.
  • April 26, 1979 – An Indian Airlines was damaged by a bomb that detonated in the forward lavatory. The aircraft made a flapless landing in Chennai, India.

1980s

  • November 4, 1980 – a TAAG Angola Airlines registered as D2-TAA landed short of the runway at Benguela Airport in Angola, which was followed by the collapse of the landing gear and the aircraft sliding some 900 meters afterwards; a fire broke out in the right wing but there were no reported fatalities. The aircraft caught fire again during recovery operations the next day and was written off.
  • May 2, 1981 – Aer Lingus Flight 164, a , was hijacked en route from Dublin Airport, Ireland to London's Heathrow Airport, United Kingdom. While on approach to Heathrow, about five minutes before the flight was due to land, a 55-year-old Australian man went into the toilet and doused himself in petrol. He then went to the cockpit and demanded that the aircraft be diverted to Le Touquet – Côte d'Opale Airport in France, and refuel there for a flight to Tehran, Iran. Upon landing at Le Touquet and after an eight-hour standoff (during which time 11 of 112 hostages were released), French special forces stormed the aircraft and apprehended hijacker Lawrence Downey. No shots were fired and nobody was injured.
  • August 22, 1981 – Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 103, a registered as B-2603, broke apart in mid-air and crashed 14 minutes after taking off from Taipei Songshan Airport. All 104 passengers and 6 crew died.
  • January 13, 1982 – Air Florida Flight 90, a registered as N62AF, crashed in a severe snowstorm immediately after takeoff from Washington National Airport, hitting the 14th Street Bridge and fell into the ice-covered Potomac River in Washington, D.C. All but five of the 74 passengers and five crew members were killed; four motorists on the bridge also died.
  • May 25, 1982 – VASP Flight 234, a Boeing registered as PP-SMY, made a hard landing and touched down on its nose gear first at Brasília in rainy conditions. The gear collapsed and the aircraft skidded off the runway breaking in two. Two passengers out of 118 occupants died.
  • August 26, 1982 – Southwest Air Lines Flight 611, a registered as JA8444 overran the runway at Ishigaki Airport in Japan and was destroyed. There were no fatalities but some were injured during the emergency evacuation.
  • March 27, 1983 – a LAM Mozambique Airlines registered as C9-BAB suffered an undercarriage failure after landing some 400 meters (1,300 ft) short of the runway at Quelimane Airport. There were no fatalities.
  • July 11, 1983 – TAME Ecuador Flight 173, a registered as HC-BIG, crashed while attempting to land at Mariscal Lamar Airport; all 111 passengers and 8 crew on board died. The cause of the accident was a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) as a result of the pilot's inexperience with the aircraft. It remains the deadliest aviation accident in Ecuadorean history. after a radio station reported witnesses to a mid-air explosion.
  • September 23, 1983 – Gulf Air Flight 771, a registered as A4O-BK, suffered a bomb explosion in the baggage compartment causing it to stall and crash in the United Arab Emirates. All 5 crew and 107 passengers died.
  • November 8, 1983 – TAAG Angola Airlines Flight 462 stalled and crashed shortly after taking off from Lubango Mukanka Airport in Angola resulting in the deaths of all its 130 occupants (126 passengers and 4 crew) on board. Local guerilla force UNITA claimed it had brought the aircraft down with a Surface-to-air missile.
  • February 9, 1984 – A TAAG Angola Airlines registered as D2-TBV, that departed from Albano Machado Airport operating a scheduled passenger service, suffered hydraulic problems following an explosion in the rear of the aircraft and returned to the airport of departure for an emergency landing. The aircraft touched down fast and overran the runway.
  • March 22, 1984 – Pacific Western Airlines Flight 501, a regularly scheduled flight that caught fire in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Five people were seriously injured and 22 suffered minor injuries, but there were no fatalities. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.
  • August 30, 1984 – Cameroon Airlines Flight 786, a (registration TJ-CBD) caught fire as the aircraft was taxiing out for takeoff at Douala International Airport in Douala, Cameroon. 107 of 109 passengers and seven crew were reported to have survived.
  • November 23, 1985 – EgyptAir Flight 648, a (registration SU-AYH) was hijacked by 3 Palestinian men en route to Cairo International Airport from Athens. During the first few minutes of the hijacking, a sky marshal fatally shot a hijacker before being severely wounded. The plane was ordered to land in Malta by the hijackers. Later, Egyptian commandos raided the aircraft. During the raid, 60 passengers died, including 1 hijacker, and 38 survived, including 1 hijacker.
  • June 21, 1985 – Braathens SAFE Flight 139, a was hijacked at the Trondheim Airport in Værnes, Norway. The aircraft was stormed and the hijacker arrested.
  • August 22, 1985 – British Airtours Flight 28M, a , aborted its takeoff at Manchester Airport in Manchester, England, after it caught fire due to a crack in one of the combustors of the left Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15 engine. Of the 137 passengers and crew on board, 55 died, most due to toxic smoke inhalation. Research following the accident investigation led to many innovations in air safety, including a redesign of the 737's galley area.
  • January 28, 1986 – VASP Flight 210, a , tried to take-off from a taxiway at São Paulo-Guarulhos Airport. The take-off was aborted, but the aircraft overran the pavement, collided with a dyke and broke in two. The weather was foggy. There was one fatality.
  • 16 February 1986 – China Airlines Flight 2265 – a Boeing operating a charter flight went missing after executing a go-around after touching down at Penghu Airport, Taiwan. It was discovered at March 10 on the seabed, 19 kilometres (12 mi; 10 nmi) north of the island. All six passengers and seven crew members were confirmed dead.
  • October 15, 1986 – Iran Air registered as EP-IRG was attacked by Iraqi aircraft. Passengers were disembarking at the time of the attack. According to Iranian authorities, some C-130 Hercules aircraft were also destroyed. Three occupants died.
  • December 25, 1986 – Iraqi Airways Flight 163, a that was hijacked and crashed, catching fire near Arar in Saudi Arabia. There were 106 people on board, and 60 passengers and 3 crew members died.
  • August 4, 1987 – LAN Chile registration CC-CHJ, landed short of the displaced threshold of runway 27 at El Loa Airport, Chile. The nosegear collapsed and the aircraft broke in two. A fire broke out 30 minutes later and destroyed the aircraft. The threshold was displaced by 8.8 kilometres (0.55 mi) due to construction work. There was one fatality.
  • August 31, 1987 – Thai Airways Flight 365, a registered as HS-TBC, crashed into the sea off Ko Phuket, Thailand. All 74 passengers and 9 crew on board lost their lives.
  • January 2, 1988 – Condor Flugdienst Flight 3782, a on a charter flight, crashed in Serefsihar near Ä°zmir, Turkey, due to ILS problems. All 11 passengers and 5 crew died in the accident.

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

737 Classic (−300/-400/-500)

1980s

  • May 24, 1988 – TACA Flight 110, a 737-300 en route to New Orleans, suffered double engine failure due to a severe hail storm. The pilot conducted a successful forced landing on a grass levee. The aircraft was repaired and returned to service. As a result of this incident, further engine development was carried out to prevent flameouts in severe weather conditions.
  • September 29, 1988 – VASP Flight 375, a 737-300, was hijacked by Raimundo Nonato Alves da Conceição, who aimed to crash the plane with 105 people (98 passengers and 7 crew) aboard against the Planalto Palace in Brasília. The flight left Porto Velho to Rio de Janeiro, making stops in Brasília, Goiânia and Belo Horizonte. The hijacking was unsuccessful, and the aircraft landed safely in Goiânia. The First Officer was the only fatality.
  • January 8, 1989 – British Midland Airways Flight 92, a , crashed on an embankment adjacent to the M1 motorway while attempting to land at East Midlands Airport. The aircraft broke apart on impact. Of the 8 crew and 118 passengers, 47 passengers died. The left engine had suffered a fan blade fracture and the crew, unfamiliar with the , shut down the still-functional right engine, causing the aircraft to lose power. This accident marked the first hull loss of a 737 Classic.
  • September 20, 1989 – USAir Flight 5050, a , drifted to the left and plunged into Bowery Bay at LaGuardia Airport after the crew attempted to abort the takeoff due to a mistrimmed rudder; 2 passengers died out of the 63 on board.

1990s

2000s

  • March 5, 2000 – Southwest Airlines Flight 1455, using a , overran the runway upon landing at Burbank, California, narrowly missing a gas station. All of the passengers and crew survived.
  • March 3, 2001 – Thai Airways International Flight 114, a bound for Chiang Mai from Bangkok, was destroyed by an explosion while on the ground, the result of ignition of the flammable fuel/air mixture in the tank. The source of the ignition energy for the explosion could not be determined with certainty, but the most likely source was an explosion originating at the center wing tank fuel pump as a result of running the pump in the presence of metal shavings and a fuel/air mixture. One flight attendant died; incident occurred prior to passenger boarding.
  • January 16, 2002 – Garuda Indonesia Flight 421, using a , en route from Lombok to Yogyakarta, was forced to make an emergency ditching on the Solo River. One person, a flight attendant, died in the accident.
  • May 7, 2002 – EgyptAir Flight 843, using a , crashed during approach to Tunis. Three of six crew members and 11 of 56 passengers died.
  • January 3, 2004 – Flash Airlines Flight 604, using a with 135 passengers and 13 crew members, crashed into the Red Sea, everyone on board died, making it the deadliest involving the Boeing 737 Classic.
  • June 9, 2005 – US Airways Flight 1170, a , avoided collision with an Airbus A330 of Aer Lingus at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts.
  • August 14, 2005 – Helios Airways Flight 522, a , suffered a gradual decompression which incapacitated five of the 6 crew members and all 115 passengers. The aircraft circled in the vicinity of Athens International Airport on its pre-programmed flight path before running out of fuel and crashing near Grammatiko; everyone on board died.
  • January 16, 2006 – Continental Airlines Flight 1515, a Boeing , was set to depart from El Paso International Airport for George Bush Intercontinental Airport, when the right engine suffered an oil leak. The captain was asked by the mechanics to run the engine up to 70% for three minutes. Shortly after the power was increased, one of the mechanics stood up, stepped into the inlet hazard zone, and died instantly when he was ingested into the engine.
  • June 15, 2006 – TNT Airways Flight 352, using a freighter and operating from Liège Airport in Belgium to London Stansted Airport in the United Kingdom had to divert to East Midlands Airport due to bad weather. On final approach, the autopilot was disengaged for a short period. The aircraft touched down off the runway to the left, resulting in the right main landing gear being detached and the right wing tip and engine scraping the ground. The pilots managed to lift off again and subsequently made an emergency diversion to Birmingham Airport, where a landing was performed on the remaining two landing gear, during which the aircraft scraped on its nose and right engine. There were no injuries. The cause of the crash was determined to be a poorly timed message from local air traffic control which the pilot misinterpreted, causing him to descend too quickly. The team of pilots were said by the airline to have managed the situation with skill once the error had been detected, but were dismissed from service with the company as a result of the incident. The aircraft was severely damaged and was written off.
  • July 23, 2006 – United Airlines Flight 1015, a Boeing , nearly collided with Atlas Air Flight 6972, a Boeing. All 131 survive without injury.
  • October 3, 2006 – Turkish Airlines Flight 1476, a , was hijacked by Hakan Ekinci in Greek airspace. All 107 passengers and six crew members on board survived. The aircraft landed safely at Brindisi Airport in Italy.
  • January 1, 2007 – Adam Air Flight 574, a with 96 passengers and six crew members aboard, crashed off the coast of Sulawesi. All 102 people on board died, making it the deadliest accident involving the 737-400.

2010s

2020s

737 Next Generation (−600/-700/-800/-900)

2000s

  • The accident resulted in the first hull loss and first fatal accident involving the 737NG.

2010s

  • July 1, 2019: SpiceJet Flight 6237, a Boeing registered as VT-SYK, serving a flight from Jaipur to Mumbai, overran the runway on landing at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, causing the nose landing gear to collapse. There were no injuries among the 167 people on board, but the aircraft was written off.
  • November 21, 2019: Turkish Airlines Flight 467, a Boeing registered as TC-JGZ, suffered a nose gear collapse while attempting to land in heavy crosswinds at Odesa International Airport in Ukraine. All 142 passengers and crew were evacuated via the emergency slides injury-free. However, the aircraft was written off.

2020s

737 MAX (MAX 7/8/200/9/10)

2010s

2020s

  • December 4, 2023: Ryanair Flight 1269, a 737 MAX 8-200 landing at Stansted Airport, dropped more than in only 17 seconds. The airline is reportedly cooperating with the AAIB. This incident is still under investigation.
  • January 5, 2024: Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, a 737 MAX 9 registered as N704AL, on a flight from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California, experienced an explosive decompression shortly after take off, after the loss of an incorrectly installed door plug. The aircraft returned to Portland and landed. Some on board sustained minor injuries, but there were no deaths. The type was subsequently grounded for nearly a month. A preliminary report pointed to the conclusion that the four bolts that hold the door plug in place were missing at the time of the flight.
  • May 25, 2024: Southwest Airlines Flight 746, a 737 MAX 8, experienced "an uncontrolled side-to-side yawing motion" called a Dutch roll at an elevation of 32,000 feet less than an hour after departing from Phoenix. The pilots were able to land the plane in Oakland safely. FAA investigations showed that a Power Controller Unit (PCU) for backup power control responsible for tail rudder movements was damaged. Further NTSB analysis reveals that prior to the event, the jet was parked outdoors during a strong storm with gusts up to 84 mph which could have caused the damage to the stabilizer ribs and standby power control unit.
  • June 22, 2024: Korean Air Flight 189, a 737 MAX 8 departing from Incheon International Airport bound for Taiwan, experienced a loss of pressurization roughly 30 minutes into the flight. At the time, the aircraft was flying over South Korea's southern Jeju Island, per Yonhap. The pilots were forced to turn back. The incident resulted in 13 people reporting injuries of hyperventilation and eardrum pain. A Korean Air spokesperson added that the aircraft was under five years old and delivered to Korean Air in July 2022. Investigations into this incident are ongoing.

See also

References