© Shutterstock

© Getty Images

Indian Air Force An-32 crash -

On 22 July 2016, an Antonov An-32 twin-engine aircraft of the Indian Air Force disappeared with 29 people on board, while flying over the Bay of Bengal. The aircraft was en route from the Tambaram Air Force Station to Port Blair.

© Getty Images

Indian Air Force An-32 crash -

No trace of the aircraft was found in the immediate aftermath, and the search and rescue became India's largest search operation in history at sea. In January 2024, wreckage discovered off the coast of Chennai was confirmed as belonging to the aircraft.

© Getty Images

EgyptAir Flight 804 -

EgyptAir Flight 804 was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Cairo International Airport, operated by EgyptAir. 

© Getty Images

EgyptAir Flight 804 -

On May 19, 2016, the plane crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, killing all 66 people onboard. Only debris was located about 180 miles (289 km)off the Egyptian coast.

© Getty Images

EgyptAir Flight 804 -

No mayday call was received by air traffic control, although there were signals that smoke had been detected in one of the aircraft's lavatories. In April 2022, it was reported that the fire likely was caused by one of the pilots smoking a cigarette in the cockpit, compounded by a leaking oxygen mask.

© Getty Images

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 -

The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 carrying 239 people is one of the world's biggest aviation mysteries. The aircraft vanished en-route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, 38 minutes after takeoff.

© Getty Images

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 -

The search for the missing airplane became the largest and most expensive search in aviation history. It included 334 search flights and deep-sea scouring of 46,000 square miles (120,000 km²) of ocean floor, which uncovered no wreckage. 

© Getty Images

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 -

About 20 pieces of debris, believed to have come from Flight MH370, have been recovered on the islands of Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues, and along the African coastline as far away as Tanzania. 

© Getty Images

Air France Flight 447 -

On June,1, 2009, the Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed into the Atlantic with the loss of all 216 passengers and 12 crew.

© Getty Images

Air France Flight 447 -

However, the accident was a mystery until the black box flight data was recovered from the bottom of the ocean in May 2011, nearly two years after the accident. It was concluded that the aircraft's speed recorders had frozen during a storm. 

© Getty Images

Air France Flight 447 -

The Brazilian Navy recovered the first major wreckage and two bodies from the sea within five days of the accident. 

© Getty Images

Flying Tiger Flight 739 -

In 1962, during the preliminary stages of the Vietnam War, United States Army Flying Tiger Flight 739 disappeared over the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.

© Getty Images

Flying Tiger Flight 739 -

Aircraft and surface ships from four branches of the US military searched more than 144,000 square miles (370,000 km²) during the course of eight days. But no survivors, wreckage, or debris was ever recovered.

© Getty Images

Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501 -

The Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501 was flying between New York City and Seattle when it disappeared on the night of June 23, 1950. The aircraft was at approximately 3,500 feet (1,100 meters) over Lake Michigan when flight controllers lost radio contact with it soon after the pilot had requested a descent to 2,500 feet (760 meters). 

© Public Domain

Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501 -

Light debris, upholstery, and human body fragments were found floating on the surface of the lake, but divers were unable to locate the plane's wreckage. All 58 people onboard were declared dead. 

© Shutterstock

The disappearance of Amelia Earhart -

Amelia Earhart (1897-1937) was an American aviation pioneer and writer, who became the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. 

© Getty Images

The disappearance of Amelia Earhart -

On July 2, 1937, Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan took off from Lae, New Guinea, in a Lockheed Electra 10E on one of the last legs of their around-the-world flight.

© Getty Images

The disappearance of Amelia Earhart -

However, the Lockheed Electra disappeared over the Pacific and nearly one year later, Earhart and Noonan were presumed dead.

© Getty Images

Flight 19 torpedo bombers -

On December 5, 1945, at the height of World War II, the United States Navy dispatched five torpedo bombers on a routine training flight over the Bermuda Triangle. 

© Public Domain

Flight 19 torpedo bombers -

All 14 crew members aboard the five military aircraft disappeared. Pictured is Lieutenant Charles Carroll Taylor, flight leader of Flight 19. 

© Public Domain

Flight 19 torpedo bombers -

Hours later, the navy sent an additional 13 men on a search-and-rescue mission in a Marine flying boat. However, they too were never seen again.

© Shutterstock

Lady Be Good -

A US Army Air Corps B-24D named Lady Be Good was part of a bombing raid in Naples, Italy on April 4, 1943. Pictures are the crew of Lady Be Good.

© Public Domain

Lady Be Good -

It was the only plane of the mission that didn't return to its base in Libya. Officials assumed the plane went down in the Mediterranean Sea.

© Public Domain

Lady Be Good -

However, in 1958, the wreck was accidentally discovered 440 miles (710 km) inland in the Libyan Desert by an oil exploration team from British Petroleum. In 1960, the United States Army conducted a formal search of the area for the remains of the crew, and five bodies were found. 

© Public Domain

BSAA Avro Lancastrian Star Dust accident -

A British South American Airways Lancastrian plane went missing on August 2, 1947, while finishing its final leg of a connecting flight from Buenos Aires to Santiago. It crashed into Mount Tupungato in the Argentine Andes with 11 people onboard. 

© Getty Images

BSAA Avro Lancastrian Star Dust accident -

An extensive search operation failed to locate the wreckage, despite covering the area of the crash site. It was only in the late '90s that pieces of the wreckage began to emerge, and in 2000 various body parts from the flight's passengers were found. 

© Getty Images

The disappearance of Glenn Miller -

Considered to be the father of modern US military bands, Glenn Miller (1904-1944) was an important American band conductor and officer in the US Army Air Forces. 

© Getty Images

The disappearance of Glenn Miller -

Miller went missing in action on December 15, 1944, on a flight over the English Channel, which headed to Paris from London. The wreckage and his body were never found, and he was officially declared dead a year and a day later. 

Sources: (Irish Times) (Britannica) (History)

© Getty Images