The following are the seven deadliest airplane crashes in history, by passenger deaths (thus excluding the coordinated attacks of September 11, 2001, in which most of the three thousand deaths were people on the ground).

1.On March 27, 1977, in Tenerife, Canary Islands, a KLM 747 collided with a Pan Am 747 on the runway during heavy fog, killing 583. Sixtysix on the Pan Am plane survived.

2.On August 12, 1985, in Japan, a Japan Airlines 747 experienced a mechanical failure that caused it to plow into a mountain, killing 520 people and sparing only four.

3.On November 12, 1996, near New Delhi, India, a Saudi Arabian 747 and a Kazakhstan Airlines Ilyushin 76 collided in midair just outside the city, killing all 349 people on-board both planes..

4.On March 3, 1974, outside Paris, a Turkish airliner lost a rear cargo door just after takeoff and crashed, killing 346.

5.On June 23, 1985, near the...