The deadliest plane crashes in US history

The Jan. 29 crash of American Eagle Flight 5342, which killed 67 people after colliding with a military helicopter over Washington, D.C.'s Potomac River, broke a nearly 16-year streak in which the U.S. had no deadly commercial plane crashes. Despite this, the country has a long history of plane accidents, resulting in many fatalities. This list does not include the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which were a deliberate act of violence.

American Airlines Flight 191

American Airlines Flight 191 departed Chicago on May 25, 1979. Moments after takeoff, the "left engine and strut assembly separated from the wing, and traveled over the wing," said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The engine falling off also severed hydraulic lines that "caused a loss of hydraulic pressure," which eventually led to an "uncontrollable left roll and loss of control of the airplane."

Flight 191 crashed several miles from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, and a "total of 273 people died: all 258 passengers and 13 crew members on the aircraft, as well as two individuals at the site of the crash," said Encyclopedia Britannica. Not counting the Sept. 11 attacks, this makes Flight 191 the deadliest airline accident in U.S. history.

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American Airlines Flight 587

American Airlines Flight 587 was on its way out of New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Nov. 12, 2001, when it "crashed into a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, shortly after takeoff, said the FAA. All 260 on board died, as well as five people on the ground. The accident was the "result of the in-flight separation of the vertical stabilizer and subsequent loss of control."

The crash occurred just about a month after the Sept. 11 attacks, leading many in New York to initially suspect that it was another terrorist incident. If "we are gonna compare 9/11 with Flight 587, the magnitude is different," Belkis Lora, whose brother died on the flight, said to Spectrum News. But the "loss is the same. Because everybody lost a loved one."

TWA Flight 800

Trans World Airlines Flight 800 departed New York City on July 17, 1996, bound for France. Just minutes after takeoff, the plane "exploded midair over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Long Island," said History, blowing up 12 minutes into the flight. Conspiracy theories about the cause of the flight ran rampant, with many suspecting terrorism.

Ultimately, the cause of the explosion was determined to be "an electrical failure that ignited a nearly empty center wing fuel tank in the 25-year-old aircraft," said History. All 230 people on board the plane were killed in the accident.

Air Florida Flight 90

The recent American Eagle crash conjured up memories of Air Florida Flight 90, another deadly accident involving the Potomac River. As the flight was leaving Washington, D.C. out of Reagan National Airport on Jan. 13, 1982, it "crashed into the 14th Street Bridge in downtown Washington, D.C., and plunged into the icy waters of the Potomac," said ABC News. The plane had taken off "despite the dangerous blizzard conditions" at the time.

In all, "70 of the passengers and four of the five crew members aboard the Boeing 737" were killed, said USA Today, in what remains one of Washington's worst aircraft accidents. But "five others escaped the broken fuselage of the sinking and waterlogged plane in a dramatic rescue that played out on live television."

Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182

Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182 was a short-haul flight from Sacramento to San Diego on Sept. 25, 1978. The plane collided with a small Cessna plane on approach to San Diego; the "resulting impact tore the Cessna in half, causing one of its internal fuel tanks to rupture and explode along the right wing's leading edge," said the San Diego History Center.

Eventually, both planes crashed into suburban San Diego, killing all 135 people on both planes and seven people on the ground. The "resulting explosion of thousands of gallons of jet fuel sent a shock wave that registered two miles away" on a seismograph, said the San Diego History Center.