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A photo of a crashed plane by PIRO4D –

10 Famous People Who Died in Plane Crashes

Aviation disasters have claimed the lives of numerous individuals who have left a lasting impact on the world, and the loss of these figures has been felt deeply by their families, friends, and fans alike. These individuals were known for their exceptional talents and contributions to various fields, and their untimely deaths were a tragic loss.

These individuals’ passing serves as a reminder of the fragility of life, as well as the profound impact that they had on the world during their all-too-brief time here. While their untimely deaths were undoubtedly a tragedy, their legacies continue to inspire and touch the lives of many. In the article are ten famous people who died in plane crashes.

1. Aaliyah

A photo of Aaliyah by mika-photography.com –

Aaliyah Dana Haughton was an American singer and actress. She has been credited for helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop, and hip hop, earning her the nicknames the “Princess of R&B” and “Queen of Urban Pop”.

On August 25, 2001, at 6:50 p.m. (EDT), Aaliyah and some employees of her record company boarded a twin-engine Cessna 402 light aircraft at the Marsh Harbour Airport in Abaco Islands, the Bahamas, to travel to Opa-Locka Airport in Florida after they completed filming the video for “Rock the Boat”. They had a flight scheduled the next day, but with filming finishing early, Aaliyah and her entourage were eager to return to the US and decided to leave immediately.

The designated aeroplane was smaller than the Cessna 404 on which they had initially arrived, but the whole party and all the equipment were accommodated on board. The plane crashed and caught fire shortly after takeoff, about 200 feet (60 m) from the end of the runway.

Aaliyah and the eight others on board; pilot Luis Morales III, hair stylist Eric Forman, Anthony Dodd, security guard Scott Gallin, family friend Keith Wallace, make-up stylist Christopher Maldonado, and Blackground Records employees Douglas Kratz and Gina Smith, were killed.

2. Michael J. Adams

A photo of Michael J. Adams –

Michael James Adams was an American aviator, aeronautical engineer, and USAF astronaut. He was one of twelve pilots who flew the North American X-15, an experimental spaceplane jointly operated by the Air Force and NASA.

On November 15, 1967, Adams flew X-15 Flight 191 also known as X-15 Flight 3-65-97 aboard the X-15-3, one of three planes in the X-15 fleet. Flying to an altitude above 50 miles, Adams qualified as an astronaut according to the United States’ definition of the boundary of space. Moments later the craft broke apart, killing Adams and destroying the X-15-3. He was the first American space mission fatality by the American convention.

3. Adolf II, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe

Adolf II, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe was the last ruler of the small Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe. Together with his wife Ellen Bischoff-Korthaus, they were both killed in a plane crash in Zumpango, Mexico, on 26 March 1936, while flying from Mexico City to Guatemala City in a Ford Trimotor aeroplane.

The New York Times from 27 March 1936 reported that it was the worst Mexican air crash. All fourteen people died on board the aeroplane, ten tourists from Europe, and four crew members. His youngest brother Prince Friedrich Christian of Schaumburg-Lippe, who served as an adjutant to Joseph Goebbels, spoke out against letting Ellen be buried in Bückeburger Mausoleum next to her husband because she was not of “Aryan origin”. He was succeeded as head of the House of Schaumburg-Lippe by his brother Wolrad.

4. Yahaya Ahmad

Tan Sri Yahaya bin Ahmad was the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of the DRB-HICOM Group of Malaysia. He was famously known as Malaysia’s “Car Czar”. On 2 March 1997, Yahaya Ahmad and his wife Rohana Othman were killed in a helicopter crash near Kuala Lipis, Pahang while on their way to visit his ailing mother, Mandak Omar in Marang, Terengganu.

After a mid-air explosion, the six-seater Agusta A109P helicopter plunged 2,900m into rubber trees just meters away from houses in Kampung Along, Jerangsang, about 40 km southwest of Kuala Lipis. The pilot Major (R) Azlizan Abdul Manas from Batu Pahat, Johor was also killed.

The helicopter, belonging to Gadek Aviation Helicopter Sdn Bhd, one of DRB-HICOM’s companies, was believed to have had engine trouble about 30 minutes after it took off from the Segambut helipad in Kuala Lumpur. On 4 March 1997, the bodies of Yahaya Ahmad and Rohana Othman were brought back to their hometown in Marang, Terengganu, and were buried in a Muslim cemetery in Marang.

5. John Alcock

Captain Sir John William Alcock KBE DSC was a British Royal Navy and later Royal Air Force officer who, with navigator Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown, piloted the first non-stop transatlantic flight from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Clifden, Ireland in June 1919.

On 18 December 1919, Alcock was piloting a new Vickers amphibious aircraft, the Vickers Viking, to the first post-war aeronautical exhibition in Paris when he crashed in fog at Cottévrard, near Rouen in Normandy. Alcock suffered a fractured skull and never regained consciousness after being transferred to a hospital in Rouen where he succumbed to his injuries later that day. His grave in Southern Cemetery, Manchester is marked by a large stone memorial.

6. Modi Alon

A photo of Mody Alon by IDF Spokesperson’s Unit photographer –

Mordechai “Modi” Alon was an Israeli fighter pilot who with the formation of the Israeli Air Force in May 1948, assumed command of its first fighter squadron. Flying the Avia S-199, Alon participated in the IAF’s first combat sortie on 29 May 1948, and on 3 June scored the IAF’s very first aerial victories, downing a pair of Royal Egyptian Air Force C-47s over Tel Aviv.

At 16:58 on 16 October 1948, Alon and Ezer Weizman took off from Herzliya to attack Egyptian forces operating in the vicinity of Isdud, not far from where both had participated in the squadron’s combat debut in May. Returning to base, Alon had trouble lowering the plane’s landing gear and consequently began flying violent manoeuvres to try and force the wheels to lower.

The Avia’s engine started streaming white smoke and the aircraft began losing altitude before hitting the ground and bursting into flames, instantly killing Alon. He was survived by his wife, Mina, three months pregnant at the time. Alon’s daughter, Michal, would later serve her mandatory IDF service with the 101 Squadron.

7. George Saitoti

A photo of Geroge Saitoti by Foreign and Commonwealth Office –

George Musengi Saitoti, E.G.H. was a Kenyan politician, businessman, and American- and British-trained economist, mathematician, and development policy thinker. As a mathematician, Saitoti served as Head of the Mathematics Department at the University of Nairobi, pioneered the founding of the African Mathematical Union, and served as its vice president from 1976 to 1979.

As an economist, Saitoti served as the Executive Chairman of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1990–91, and as President of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States in 1999–2000, at the crucial phase of re-negotiating the new development partnership agreement to replace the expired Lomé Convention between the ACP bloc and the European Union (EU).

Saitoti died on Sunday 10 June 2012 at around 9:00 am when a Eurocopter AS350 helicopter belonging to the Kenya Police Air Wing registration 5Y-CDT, carrying him and the Assistant Minister for Internal Security, Joshua Orwa Ojode, crashed in the Kibiku area of Ngong forest, killing them and four others.

He was buried on 16 June in the Kajiado North constituency. After the Maasai elders agreed to abandon the traditional burial rites and embrace the Catholic way, fifty bulls were slaughtered at the funeral by Maasai tradition. Al Shabaab militias and drug traffickers are the main suspects in the disaster. Investigations have not yet found anyone guilty. Saitoti was to table a ministerial statement in Parliament.

8. David Angell

David Lawrence Angell was an American screenwriter and television producer. He won multiple Emmy Awards as the creator and executive producer of the Cheers spin-off shows Wings and Frasier with Peter Casey and David Lee. Angell and his wife Lynn were killed heading home from their vacation on Cape Cod aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to hit the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks.

9. Frederick Banting

A photo of Fredrick Banting by Arthur Goss –

Sir Frederick Grant Banting KBE MC FRS FRSC was a Canadian medical scientist, physician, painter, and Nobel laureate noted as the co-discoverer of insulin and its therapeutic potential. In 1923, Banting and John Macleod received the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Banting shared the honours and award money with his colleague, Charles Best. That same year, the government of Canada granted Banting a lifetime annuity to continue his work. To this day, Frederick Banting, who received the Nobel Prize at age 32, remains the youngest Nobel laureate for Physiology/Medicine.

In February 1941, Banting died of wounds and exposure following the crash of a Lockheed L-14 Super Electra/Hudson in which he was a passenger, in Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland. After departing from Gander, Newfoundland, both of the plane’s engines failed. The navigator and co-pilot died instantly, but Banting and the pilot, Captain Joseph Mackey, survived the initial impact.

According to Mackey, the sole survivor, Banting died from his injuries the next day. Banting was en route to England to conduct operational tests on the Franks flying suit developed by his colleague Wilbur Franks. Banting and his wife are buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto.

10. Heinrich Bär

Heinz “Pritzl” Bär was a German Luftwaffe flying ace who served throughout World War II in Europe. Bär flew more than one thousand combat missions and fought in the Western, Eastern, and Mediterranean theatres. On 18 occasions he survived being shot down, and according to records in the German Federal Archives, he claimed to have shot down 228 enemy aircraft and was credited with 208 aerial victories, 16 of which were in a Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter.

Sources credit him with 220 – 96 on Eastern Theatre and 124 on Western Theatre – up to 222 aerial victories may also be possible. On 28 April 1957, while conducting a routine flight check in a light aircraft, an LF-1 Zaunkönig, Bär put the aircraft into a flat spin, the final manoeuvre in the test process. The plane spun down to 50 meters (160 ft); unable to regain control, Bär was killed in the resulting crash at Braunschweig-Waggum.