The Tenerife disaster which killed almost 600 people is often regarded as the worst-ever incident in Aviation history. If the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks in New York and Washington which are accounted are regarded as aviation disasters, rather than as acts of terrorism or warfare, then between them they accounted for about 2800 lives, significantly more than the Tenerife disaster. Several equally aviation-related events during World War II, however, resulted in the deaths of tens or even hundreds of thousands of people. The "worst ever aviation incident", in other words, is a matter of definition.
Many of the Atlantic Ocean pioneers had to deal with the point of no return, after which they would not be able to return back to where they started, but had to continue to their destinations. Many have lost their lives crossing this point.
Perhaps the earliest known crash landing of a powered aircraft occurred on March 31 1903 when South Canterbury, New Zealand farmer, inventor and aviation pioneer, Richard Pearse crash landed his monoplane on a hedge after an uncontrolled powered flight. The date for this event is poorly documented but eyewitness accounts and local historians claim it was before the Wright brothers flew.
Two incidents of note have happened in Puerto Rico: On December 31,1972, baseball player Roberto Clemente, his helpers and crew died when the DC-3 they rented for a relief flight to Nicaragua crashed off the Atlantic coast, shortly after take-off from Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, then known as Isla Verde International Airport. Neither their bodies or the wreckage of the plane have been recovered so far. In 1985, an American Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10 ran off the runway at the same airport, ending up in a lake. No one, however, was injured in the 1985 incident.
Legend has it also, that many planes (as well as ships) have been lost in the Bermuda Triangle. The Mythical triangle covers everything in between San Juan, Puerto Rico, Miami and Bermuda. Public speculation as to what happened to those planes is wide: Some say that the planes were taken hostage, others say they were taken away by aliens, and so on. What ultimately happened to most of the planes, and ships, that lost contact while navigating this area, remains a mystery.
World boxing champion Rocky Marciano was killed in 1969, when a plane he piloted himself crashed. In 1979, New York Yankees catcher Thurman Munson also died in the crash of a plane he was flying. In 1993, two top NASCAR drivers were killed in separate aviation accidents. First, defending series champion Alan Kulwicki was killed when the plane in which he was a passenger crashed while he was on his way to a race. Later, Davey Allison died in a helicopter crash during a race weekend. In 1999, a private jet that was carrying golf star Payne Stewart crashed in South Dakota with no survivors; it is believed that all on board died when the plane suddenly lost cabin pressure early in the flight, while the plane was on autopilot.
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