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As a frantic pilot pounded on the cockpit door and passengers screamed in panic, the Germanwings co-pilot “intentionally” sent Flight 9525 straight into the side of a mountain in the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board, a prosecutor said Thursday. But why?
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Sadly, the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 on Tuesday, March 24, is just the latest of many airplane crashes and disappearances in history that still leave unanswered questions.
1. Amelia Earhart
July 2, 1937: Amelia Earhart attempted a flight around the world in her Lockheed Electra. She lost radio contact while trying to land at Howland Island in the Pacific. Despite a $4 million search effort, neither she nor navigator Fred Noonan was ever found. (Source: CNN; Photo: AP)
2. Flight 19
December 5, 1945: Five Navy bombers vanished off Florida in the Bermuda Triangle. According to radio transmissions, one of the pilots – a flight instructor – got lost when his compass stopped working. The planes were never found. (Source: CNN; Photo: AP)
3. British South American Airways Star Dust
August 2, 1947: The British South American Airways Star Dust disappeared during a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile. Fifty-three years later, the wreckage was finally found in a glacier in the Argentine Andes. (Sources: BBC, CNN; Photo: AP)
4. Flying Tiger Line Flight 739
March 16, 1962: Lockheed L-1049 “Super Constellation” disappeared en route to the Philippines. Although witnesses reported an explosion, the plane and its 96 passengers were never found. (Source: Telegraph; Photo: Getty Images)
5. Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571
October 13, 1972: Flight 571, which was carrying 45 passengers, crashed in the Andes en route to Santiago, Chile, in October 1972. Seventy-two days later, rescuers found 16 survivors, who admitted they had turned to cannibalism to survive. The disaster inspired the 1993 movie “Alive.” (Sources: BBC, Telegraph; Photo: AP)
6. TWA Flight 800
July 17, 1996: TWA Flight 800 exploded a few minutes after taking off in New York. Investigators said a short circuit caused the blast, which killed all 230 people on board (Sources: BBC, CNN; Photo: Getty Images)
7. EgyptAir Flight 990
October 31, 1999: EgyptAir Flight 990 went down off the Massachusetts coast during a flight from New York City to Cairo. Egyptian investigators blamed the crash, which killed all 217 people on board, on a mechanical failure. U.S. officials believed the pilot crashed the plane intentionally. (Sources: BBC, CNN; Photo: Getty Images)
8. Boeing 727
May 25, 2003: Boeing 727 disappeared in Luanda, Angola. Investigators believe the plane, which has never been found, was stolen by flight engineer Ben Charles Padilla. (Source: CNN; Photo: AP)
9. Air France Flight 447
May 31, 2009: Air France Flight 447 vanished in the Atlantic while traveling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. The wreckage was found nearly two years later. All 228 passengers died. (Source: CNN; Photo: Getty Images)
10. Vittorio Missoni
January 2013: A small plane carrying fashion designer Vittorio Missoni; his wife, Maurizia Castiglioni; and four other people vanished off the Venezuela coast. Six months later, investigators found the wreckage and the bodies of the six passengers. (Source: BBC; Photo: AP)
11. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
March 8, 2014: MH370, which was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, went missing March 8, 2014. Although the Boeing 777 has never been found, officials believe the wreckage is at the bottom of the southern Indian Ocean. All 239 people aboard are presumed dead. (Photo: AP)
12. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
July 17, 2014: MH17, which was carrying 283 passengers and 15 crew members from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was shot down over Ukraine. All 298 people aboard the Boeing 777 died. Investigatiors believe that pro-Russian separatists were responsible for the crash, but Russia and separatist groups have denied those claims. (Photo: AP)
