Terrorism played a part.
By Sreekanth A Nair
Despite advances in technology in the aviation industry, plane accidents were on the rise in 2015.
Here are the five worst aviation disasters of the year:
- Metrojet Flight 9268
The crash of Metrojet Flight 9268 killed 224, people including 217 passengers and seven crew members. This was the deadliest plane crash in 2015 and in the history of Russian aviation.
The flight operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia disappeared above northern Sinai on October 31, 2015 on the way to Pulkovo Airport, Saint Petersburg, Russia, from Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, Egypt.
Immediately after the incident, the Sinai branch of the militant group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility. It’s suspected that a bomb was put on the aircraft at el-Sheikh International Airport.
- Germanwings flight 9525
One hndred and fifty people, including 144 passengers and 6 crew members, were killed on March 24 when the Germanwings flight 9525 owned by German airline Lufthansa crashed 100 Kms. north-west of Nice in the French Alps.
The flight was on its way from Barcelona–El Prat Airport in Spain to Düsseldorf Airport in Germany.
Later it was known that the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, deliberately crashed the plane. He had suicide tendencies in the past and had been treated for it and also been declared unfit for work by a doctor.
He kept this a secret and reported for duty. During the flight, when the pilot went out of the cockpit, Lubitz locked the cockpit and crashed the plane.
- C-130 Hercules aircraft
A C-130 Hercules aircraft of the Indonesian Air Force crashed near a residential area shortly after taking off from Medan, in Indonesia, to Tanjung Pinang, killing 143 people, including 109 passengers, 12 crew members, along with 22 people on the ground.
Military personnel of Indonesia and their families and some civilians were the passengers. Since the aircraft was not fitted with flight recorders, the investigation done by the Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee was based on other factors.
It was reported that number 4 engine of the aircraft malfunctioned and immediately after that the flight hit a mobile phone tower and it led to the crash. This was the second deadliest plane crash that happened in Indonesia within eight months.
- Trigana Air Service Flight 257
The crash of Trigana Air Service Flight 257, operated by an Indonesian domestic airline Trigana Air Service, killed 54 people, including 49 passengers and five crew members on August 16. The flight was going to Oksibil from Sentai when it crashed near Bintang highlands region of Oksibil.
Initially, it was said that bad weather condition was the reason behind the accident. But later it was confirmed that the weather condition was on the contrary, good.
During the investigation, the Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee found that the flight manifest of the aircraft was a wrong one and the Chairman of Sentani Airport was fired subsequently.
- TransAsia Airways Flight 235
TransAsia Airways Flight 235, a domestic flight of Taiwan crashed into the Keelung River shortly after takeoff from Taipei Songshan Airport on February 4, killing 43 people. Seventeen people were injured, including two on the ground and 15 people survived the accident.
The flight was flying from Taipei to Kinmen and was operated by Trans Asia Airways with a 9-month-old ATR 72-600 aircraft.
Two minutes after the take-off, an engine caught fire and the flight climbed to the maximum height of 1500 feet and then descended. Other working engines were shut down accidentally.