Fatal Events Since 1970
for Swiss, Swissair, and Crossair

The following events are those involving at least one passenger death where the aircraft flight had a direct or indirect role. Excluded would be events where the only passengers killed were stowaways, hijackers, or saboteurs.

  1. 21 February 1970; Swissair Convair 990; near Wuerenlingen, Switzerland: The aircraft had an onboard explosion shortly after takeoff on a flight to Tel Aviv. The crew had difficulty seeing the instruments due to smoke in the cockpit and the aircraft crashed a short time later. The explosion was due to a bomb. All nine crew members and 38 passengers were killed.

  2. 7 October 1979; Swissair DC8-60; near Athens, Greece: The aircraft touched down long on the runway at night during rainy weather conditions. The aircraft eventually overran the runway and caught fire. Fourteen of the 142 passengers were killed.

  3. 2 September 1998; Swissair MD11; near Halifax, Canada: The aircraft was on a nonstop flight from New York's JFK airport to Geneva. The aircraft crashed at night in the Atlantic Ocean close to shore about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia. All 15 crew members and 214 passengers were killed.
    MD11 fatal passenger events
    Transportation Safety Board of Canada Accident Synopsis
    Transportation Safety Board of Canada Accident Report
    Swissair Flight 111 report from the Aircraft Crashes Records Office

  4. 10 January 2000; Crossair Saab 340; Zurich, Switzerland:
    The aircraft had just departed on a flight to Dresden, Germany when it crashed just north of the runway. The three crew members and seven passengers were all killed.
    Fatal Saab 340 Events

  5. 24 November 2001; Crossair Avro RJ100; near Zurich, Switzerland: The aircraft was on a flight from Berlin, Germany to Zurich, Switzerland when it crashed into a wooded area about two miles (3.2 km) from the runway during a night approach to Zurich's airport. Three of the five crew members and 21 of the 28 passengers were killed.
    Fatal BAe 146/Avro RJ100 Events

Fatal Events by Model
Fatal Event Rates by Model
Accidents by Model

Fatal Events Since 1970 for Swiss, Swissair, and Crossair
http://airsafe.com/events/airlines/swissair.htm -- Revised: 23 June 2008