List of accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 727


Since the first flight of the prototype in February 1963, a total of 120 of the 1,832 Boeing 727s built have been lost due to crashes, terrorist acts and other causes as of March 2024.

1960s

1970s

1980s

  • January 21, 1980: Iran Air Flight 291 crashed near Tehran, Iran; all 128 on board died.
  • April 12, 1980: Transbrasil Flight 303, a 727-100C, crashed in Florianópolis, Brazil. 55 of the 58 people aboard died.
  • April 25, 1980: Dan-Air Flight 1008, a 727-100 crashed in Tenerife. All 146 passengers and crew on board died when the aircraft hit terrain while circling.
  • November 21, 1980: Continental Micronesia Flight 614, a 727-92C crashed while attempted to land at Yap International Airport. All 67 passengers and six crew survived.
  • June 8, 1982: VASP Flight 168, 727-200 registration PP-SRK from Rio de Janeiro-Galeão to Fortaleza collided with a mountain while on approach to Fortaleza. The captain descended below a minimum descent altitude. All 137 passengers and crew died.
  • July 9, 1982: Pan Am Flight 759 crashed due to a microburst shortly after take-off from New Orleans International Airport. All 145 on board the 727 as well as eight people on the ground were killed.
  • January 16, 1983: Turkish Airlines Flight 158, crashed short of the runway at Esenboğa International Airport. 47 of the 67 passengers and crew on board died.
  • December 7, 1983: the Madrid runway disaster took place where a departing Iberia 727 struck an Aviaco Douglas DC-9 causing the death of 93 passengers and crew. 51 of the 93 passengers on board the 727 died.
  • January 1, 1985: Eastern Air Lines Flight 980 crashed into Mount Illimani at an altitude of 19,600 feet. All 29 crew and passengers on board died. The flight was flying from Silvio Pettirossi International Airport and destined for El Alto International Airport.
  • January 23, 1985: a passenger detonated a bomb in a lavatory on board a Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano flight from La Paz to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, killing him. The aircraft involved, a Boeing 727-200 registered CP-1276, was substantially damaged but could safely be landed. There were no fatalities among the other 119 passengers and seven crew members.
  • February 19, 1985: Iberia Airlines Flight 610 crashed after striking a television antenna while landing in Bilbao; all 148 people on board died. Flight 610 originated from Madrid-Barajas Airport.
  • June 12, 1985: Alia Royal Jordanian Airlines Flight 402, a 727-200 operated on a flight from Beirut, Lebanon to Amman, Jordan. Shortly before takeoff, five Shiite Arab men armed with automatic weapons and explosives, hijacked the airplane. They demanded to be flown to Tunis, Tunisia. Due to fuel shortage, the flight was diverted to Larnaca, Cyprus. Permission to land at Tunis was refused, so the flight diverted to Palermo. After refueling there, the aircraft was flown back to Beirut. All occupants were released and the plane was blown up using explosives.
  • June 14, 1985: TWA Flight 847, a 727-200 operated a flight from Cairo to San Diego with en route stops in Athens, Rome, Boston, and Los Angeles was hijacked by members of Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad shortly after takeoff from Athens. The hijackers were seeking the release of 700 Shi'ite Muslims from Israeli custody. The passengers and crew endured a three-day intercontinental ordeal. Some passengers were threatened and some beaten. Passengers with Jewish-sounding names were moved apart from the others. United States Navy diver Robert Stethem was killed, and his body was thrown onto the tarmac. Dozens of passengers were held hostage over the next two weeks until released by their captors after some of their demands were met.
  • March 31, 1986: Mexicana Flight 940, a 727-200 crashed near Maravatío in the Mexican state of Michoacán. Shortly after takeoff and climbing to, an overheated tire exploded in the right main wheel well, tearing through fuel lines and damaging the hydraulic and electrical systems. The resulting fire eventually rendered the aircraft uncontrollable. All 167 people on board were killed.
  • April 2, 1986: TWA Flight 840 was descending for landing when a bomb exploded, ejecting four passengers to their deaths. The plane landed safely at Athens International Airport. The Abu Nidal Organisation was responsible.
  • February 27, 1988: a Talia Airways Flight 2H79 727-2H9 registration TC-AKD had been cleared for a VOR approach, but cancelled IFR and descended to 2000 feet, disregarding the altitude of the mountain chain ahead. Noticing mountains ahead the pilot tried to turn left and climb, but struck the Girne Arap mountain in Cyprus. All nine passengers and six crew members were killed.
  • March 17, 1988: Avianca Flight 410, a domestic flight, crashed into low mountains near Cúcuta – Norte de Santander, Colombia, after take-off; all 143 on board died. It was determined that pilot error was also the cause of this crash, in a situation similar to that of Avianca Flight 011, five years earlier.
  • May 23, 1988: LACSA Flight 628, a 727-22 aborted takeoff after V1 because the aircraft could not rotate. The aircraft overran runway 07, collided with a fence, crossed a ditch, struck a hill and caught fire at Juan Santamaría International Airport in San José, Costa Rica. There were no fatalities.
  • August 31, 1988: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141, a 727-232 crashed on takeoff from Dallas–Fort Worth; 14 of the 108 passengers and crew on board died, 76 others were injured. Investigators found that the plane had taken off without the wing flaps and slats properly configured.
  • January 31, 1989: ACES Colombia Flight 385 was hijacked after taking off from Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport in San Andrés Island. The crew managed to land in Costa Rica where the hijacker was arrested.
  • October 14, 1989: Delta Air Lines Flight 1554, a 727-232, preparing for a flight to Edmonton International Airport caught fire while at the gate at Salt Lake City International Airport due to a faulty oxygen generator control unit. Smoke filled the cabin, but all 22 passengers and crew evacuated with just five minor injuries. The aircraft was destroyed by the fire.
  • October 21, 1989: Tan-Sahsa Flight 414 a 727-200 operated as TAN, crashed in the Cerro de Hula mountains after an unsuccessful approach method, killing 131 of 138 passengers and crew.
  • November 27, 1989: Avianca Flight 203 crashed after a bomb exploded on board. All six crew and 101 passengers died and 3 on ground.

1990s

2000s

2010s

  • January 9, 2011: Iran Air Flight 277, a 727-286 Advanced, crashed shortly before landing, at Urmia, Iran. Of the 105 passengers and crew on board, 78 were killed.
  • July 8, 2011: Hewa Bora Airways Flight 952, a 727-22WL, registration 9Q-COP crashed while trying to land at Bangoka International Airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during bad weather. A total of 77 were killed.
  • October 18, 2011: Iran Air Flight 742 landed at Mehrabad with the nosegear retracted after it failed to come down; all 113 on board survived.
  • June 2, 2012: Allied Air Flight 111, a 727-221F, overshot the runway while landing in a heavy thunderstorm at Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana after flying from Lagos, Nigeria. The aircraft continued through the airport boundary fence and across a main road, hitting a minivan. 10 people in the minivan died along with a cyclist and passenger in taxi. The four crew members suffered minor injuries.
  • December 20, 2016: Aerosucre Flight 157 crashed soon after taking off from Germán Olano Airport, in Puerto Carreño, Colombia. The aircraft overran the runway, broke through the airport perimeter fences, and barely became airborne. It lost height again about three minutes later, impacted the ground about 10 miles from the airport, disintegrated, and burst into flames. Colombia's Aerocivil reported that five of the six crew members died.

2020s

  • March 31, 2024: A Safe Air Company Boeing 727-2Q9, crashed and broke up on impact while landing at Malakal Airport, South Sudan. The aircraft collided with an MD-82 that had been parked at the airport after suffering an accident in February of that same year.
  • January 21, 2025: A Boeing 727-200 cargo plane was destroyed during an attack on the airport of Nyala, Sudan. The crew was killed, and the cargo was destroyed.
  • October 23, 2025: A Boeing 727-200 crashed while landing in Nyala, the plane veered off the side of the runway and caught fire, reportedly killing 19 people including both pilots and 17 passengers. The Sudanese army claimed to have shot down the plane and stated that it was transporting weapons.