Eight(8) Notable Historical Plane Crashes: The Cause, The Place and The Time

Air India Flight 182 (1985): A Boeing 747 was destroyed by a bomb while in Irish airspace, killing all 329 people on board. Sikh extremists were responsible for the attack.

Air India Flight 182 was a passenger flight operating on the Montreal–London–Delhi–Bombay route, that on 23 June 1985, disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean as a result of an explosion from a bomb planted by Canadian Sikh terrorists. It was operated using a Boeing 747-237B registered VT-EFO. The incident happened en route from Montreal to London at an altitude of 31,000 feet (9,400 m). The remnants of the aircraft fell into the sea approximately 190 kilometres (120 miles) off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people on board, including 268 Canadian citizens, 27 British citizens, and 24 Indian citizens. The bombing of Air India Flight 182 is the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history, the deadliest aviation incident in the history of Air India, and was the world’s deadliest act of aviation terrorism until the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster (1986): While not a traditional plane crash, the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds after liftoff, resulting in the deaths of all seven crew members. The disaster was caused by the failure of an O-ring seal in one of the solid rocket boosters.
At 11:38 a.m. EST, on January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Christa McAuliffe was on her way to becoming the first ordinary U.S. civilian to travel into space. McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school social studies teacher from New Hampshire, won a competition that earned her a place among the seven-member crew of the Challenger. She underwent months of shuttle training but then, beginning January 23 was forced to wait six long days as the Challenger‘s launch countdown was repeatedly delayed because of weather and technical problems. Finally, on January 28, the shuttle lifted off.