10 Worst aircraft accidents and incidents

Turkish Airlines Flight 981
1974
Location: Ermenonville, near Senlis, France
Fatalities: 346
Survivors: 0
This is the deadliest crash of a DC-10, probably creating its terrible reputation, and was the deadliest accident in any plane at the time. Flying from Paris to London, the plane had an unusually large number of people onboard for this flight because of a British strike. As they flew over the town of Meaux, France, there was the sound of a muffled explosion and loud rush of air as the cargo hatch blew off. The cabin floor above the cargo hold collapsed, destroying the lines that connected the flight controls to the actual parts they were controlling. The pilots fought for control for 72 seconds before the aircraft crashed into a forest. The airplane disintegrated to such an extent that a bomb was temporarily considered as a possible cause. The cargo hatch that had blown off was found in a field along with part of the cabin floor and six seats still holding their dead passengers.

The cargo hatch of the DC-10 opens outward, dangerous on any airplane, where air pressure pushes outward. It was already known that the locking mechanism was potentially faulty. Changes had been made after a near-deadly accident two years before, but those changes were neglected on this particular aircraft, and the engineers did not properly check the cargo door. The cargo door problem on the DC-10 was finally fixed after this disaster, but the entire 747 fleet was grounded fifteen years later for a very similar problem.