List of airliner shootdown incidents

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In the history of commercial aviation, there have been many airliner shootdown incidents
which have been caused intentionally or by accident. This is a chronologically ordered list meant
to document instances where airliners have been brought down by gunfire or missile attacks,
including wartime incidents, rather than terrorist bombings or sabotage.

Contents
[hide]
• 1 Kaleva
• 2 PK-AFV
• 3 BOAC Flight 777
• 4 Cathay Pacific VR-HEU
• 5 El Al Flight 402
• 6 Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114
• 7 Korean Air Lines Flight 902
• 8 Air Rhodesia Flight RH825
• 9 Air Rhodesia Flight RH827
• 10 Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870
• 11 Korean Air Lines Flight 007
• 12 Polar 3
• 13 Iran Air Flight 655
• 14 September 1993 Transair Georgian Airline Shootdowns
• 15 Lionair Flight LN 602
• 16 Siberia Airlines Flight 1812
• 17 2003 Baghdad DHL attempted shootdown incident
• 18 2007 Balad aircraft crash
• 19 2007 Mogadishu TransAVIAexport Airlines Il-76 crash
• 20 See also
• 21 References
• 22 External links

[edit] Kaleva
Main article: Kaleva (airplane)
Junkers Ju 52-3/mge "Kaleva" OH-ALL was a small transport plane operated by the Finnish
carrier Aero O/Y, shot down by two Soviet Ilyushin DB-3 bombers on June 14, 1940, while en
route from Tallinn to Helsinki.[1] This occurred during the Interim Peace between Finland and the
Soviet Union, three months after the end of the Winter War, and a year before the Continuation
War began. A few minutes after taking off in Tallinn, Kaleva was intercepted by two Soviet DB-
3T bomber aircraft. The bombers opened fire with their machine guns and badly damaged
Kaleva, causing it to ditch in water a few kilometers northeast of Keri lighthouse. All nine
passengers and crew members on board were killed.
[edit] PK-AFV
Main article: PK-AFV
PK-AFV, also known as Pelikaan, was a Douglas DC-3 (Dakota) airliner operated by KLM from
1937 to 1942. On March 3, 1942, while on a flight from Bandung, Netherlands East Indies, to
Broome, Australia, the plane was attacked by Japanese fighter planes; PK-AFV crash-landed on
a beach near Broome. Four passengers were killed. Among its cargo were diamonds worth at the
time an estimated £150,000-300,000 (now an approximate A$20–40 million), and the vast
majority of these were lost or stolen following the crash. This mystery remains officially
unsolved.
[edit] BOAC Flight 777
Main article: BOAC Flight 777
BOAC Flight 777, a scheduled British Overseas Airways Corporation civilian airline flight on 1
June 1943 from Portela Airport in Lisbon, Portugal to Bristol (Whitchurch) Airport near Bristol,
United Kingdom, was attacked by eight German Junkers Ju 88s and crashed into the Bay of
Biscay, killing several notable passengers, including actor Leslie Howard.
[edit] Cathay Pacific VR-HEU
Main article: Cathay Pacific VR-HEU
Cathay Pacific VR-HEU, a four-engined propeller-driven Douglas Douglas C-54 Skymaster
airliner operated by Cathay Pacific Airways,[2] en route from Bangkok to Hong Kong on 23 July
1954, was shot down by Chinese Communist Lavochkin La-7 fighters off the coast of Hainan
Island, killing 10 on board.[3][4][5]
[edit] El Al Flight 402
Main article: El Al Flight 402
El Al Flight 402, a Lockheed L-049 Constellation pressurized four-engine propliner, registered
4X-AKC, was an international passenger flight from Vienna, Austria to Tel Aviv, Israel via
Istanbul, Turkey, on July 27, 1955. The aircraft strayed into Bulgarian airspace and was shot
down by two Bulgarian MiG-15 jet fighters; it crashed near Petrich, Bulgaria. All 7 crew and 51
passengers on board the airliner were killed.[6][7]
[edit] Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114
Main article: Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114
Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 was a regularly-scheduled flight from Tripoli to Cairo via
Benghazi. At 10:30 on February 21, 1973, the 727-224 left Tripoli, but became lost due to a
combination of bad weather and equipment failure over northern Egypt around 13:44 (1:44 P.M.
local). Lost, it entered Israeli-controlled airspace over the Sinai Peninsula, was intercepted by
two Israeli F-4 Phantom IIs and shot down after refusing to follow signals from the Israeli pilots.
There were 113 people on board, of those there were 5 survivors, including the co-pilot.[8][9]
[edit] Korean Air Lines Flight 902
Main article: Korean Air Lines Flight 902
Korean Air Lines Flight 902 (KAL902, KE902) was a civilian airliner shot down by Soviet
fighters on April 20, 1978 near Murmansk, after it violated Soviet airspace and failed to respond
to Soviet interceptors. Two passengers were killed in the incident. 107 passengers and crew
survived after the plane made an emergency landing on a frozen lake.
[edit] Air Rhodesia Flight RH825
Main article: Air Rhodesia Flight RH825
Air Rhodesia Flight RH825, was a scheduled flight between Kariba and Salisbury that was shot
down on 3 September 1978 by ZIPRA guerrillas using a Strela 2 missile. 18 of the 56 passengers
survived the crash, but 10 of the survivors were summarily executed by the guerrillas at the crash
site.
[edit] Air Rhodesia Flight RH827
Air Rhodesia Flight RH827 was a scheduled flight between Kariba and Salisbury that was shot
down on February 12, 1979 by ZIPRA guerrillas using a Strela 2 missile in similar circumstances
to Flight RH825 five months earlier. None of the 59 passengers or crew survived.
[edit] Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870
Main article: Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870
Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 crashed in the Tyrrhenian Sea on June 27, 1980. Around 40 minutes
after take off from Bologna, Italy; an unknown object was seen approaching the aircraft and soon
after, the plane disappeared from the screens. All 81 people on board were killed and parts of the
wreckage were floating on the water. The cause of the crash is unknown, but some suspect that it
was shot down by NATO forces or jet fighters[dubious – discuss].
[edit] Korean Air Lines Flight 007
Main article: Korean Air Lines Flight 007
Korean Air Lines Flight 007, also known as KAL 007 or KE007, was a Korean Air Lines
Boeing 747 civilian airliner shot down by Soviet jet interceptors on September 1, 1983 just west
of Sakhalin island. 269 passengers and crew, including US congressman Larry McDonald, were
aboard KAL 007; there were no known survivors.
[edit] Polar 3
Main article: Polar 3
On 24 February 1985, the Polar 3, a research airplane of the Alfred Wegener Institute, was shot
down by guerrillas of the Polisario Front over West Sahara. All three crew members died. Polar
3 was on its way back from Antarctica and had taken off in Dakar, Senegal, to reach Arrecife,
Canary Islands.[10]
[edit] Iran Air Flight 655
Main article: Iran Air Flight 655
Iran Air Flight 655 (IR655) was a commercial flight operated by Iran Air that flew from
Bandar Abbas, Iran to Dubai, UAE. On Sunday July 3, 1988, towards the end of the Iran Iraq
War, the aircraft flying IR655 was shot down by the U.S. Navy Ticonderoga class guided missile
cruiser USS Vincennes between Bandar Abbas and Dubai, killing all 290 passengers and crew
aboard, including 38 non-Iranians and 66 children. Vincennes was inside Iranian territorial
waters, at the time of the attack and IR655 was within Iranian airspace.
[edit] September 1993 Transair Georgian Airline
Shootdowns
Main article: Transair Georgian Airline Shootdowns (September 1993)
In September, 1993, three airliners belonging to Transair Georgia were shot down by missiles
and gunfire fired from rebels in Sukhumi, Abkhazia, Georgia.
[edit] Lionair Flight LN 602
Main article: Lionair Flight LN 602
Lionair Flight LN 602, operated by an Antonov An-24RV, fell into the sea off the north-western
coast of Sri Lanka under mysterious circumstances on 29 September 1998. The aircraft departed
Jaffna-Palaly Air Force Base on a flight to Colombo and disappeared from radar screens just
after the pilot had reported depressurization. Initial reports indicated that the plane had been shot
down by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels. All 7 crew and 48 passengers were killed.
[citation needed] [11]

[edit] Siberia Airlines Flight 1812

Main article: Siberia Airlines Flight 1812
On October 4, 2001, a Tupolev Tu-154 operated by Siberia Airlines en route from Tel Aviv
(Israel) to Novosibirsk (Russia) was shot down over the Black Sea by Ukrainian air defence
forces. There were 12 crew and 66 passengers aboard; all were killed.
[edit] 2003 Baghdad DHL attempted shootdown incident
Main article: 2003 Baghdad DHL attempted shootdown incident
On 22 November 2003, shortly after takeoff from Baghdad, Iraq, an Airbus A300 cargo plane
owned by European Air Transport ("DHL") was struck on the left wing tip by a surface-to-air
missile. Severe wing damage resulted in a fire and complete loss of hydraulic flight control
systems. The pilots used differential engine thrust to fly the plane back to Baghdad, and were
able to land without any injuries or major aircraft damage. This was the first time a plane has
been landed safely after entirely losing hydraulics and using differential engine thrust as the only
pilot input.
[edit] 2007 Balad aircraft crash
Main article: 2007 Balad aircraft crash
On January 9, 2007 an Antonov An-26 crashed while attempting a landing at Balad Air Base in
Iraq. Although poor weather is blamed by officials, witnesses claim they saw the plane being
shot down, and a terrorist group has claimed responsibility. 34 of the 35 civilian passengers on
board were killed.
[edit] 2007 Mogadishu TransAVIAexport Airlines Il-76
crash
Main article: 2007 Mogadishu TransAVIAexport Airlines Il-76 crash
On March 23, 2007, a TransAVIAexport Airlines Ilyushin Il-76 airplane crashed in outskirts of
Mogadishu, Somalia, during the 2007 Battle of Mogadishu. Witnesses, including a Shabelle
reporter, claim they saw the plane shot down, and Belarus has initiated an anti-terrorist
investigation, but Somalia insists the crash was accidental. All 11 Belarussian civilians on board
were killed.