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Season 1 of Hijack, the thriller drama series on Apple TV+, centered around the hijacking of the passenger plane KA29, ended on August 2, 2023. The finale episode, titled Brace Brace Brace, left the audience in a state of shock after the Royal Air Force deployed fighter jets to shoot the plane down. However, at the end of the nail-biting finale episode, Idris Elba's Sam Nelson and the other passengers were safe and sound, giving viewers a satisfactory ending.
Although KA29 had overcome its terrible fate, there were a number of real-life commercial planes that failed to land safely as they were shot down before landing. From mistaking Iran Air Flight 655 for another target to shooting Siber Airlines Flight 1812 by mistake, the world saw some of the deadliest true plane crash cases that shook people to the core.
Without further delay, let's dive right in and take a closer look at some of the most horrifying commercial plane take-down cases in the history of aircraft as Hijack season 1 streams on Apple TV+.
From Iran Air Flight 655 to Korean Air Lines Flight 007, a list of five real-life commercial plane shot downs
1) Siberia Airlines Flight 1812
Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 is one of the real-life commercial planes that faced a terrifying fate on October 4, 2001, over the Black Sea. As reported by Timenote, while conducting a significant military exercise in Crimea, the defense forces of Ukraine went on to fire a 5V28 ground-to-air missile. The actual target of the missile was apparently a drone.
However, unfortunately, it missed the drone and landed on the Tupolev Tu-154 commercial flight that was flying from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk, Russia. The plane's shootdown killed a total of 78 individuals, which mostly included passengers who were Soviet immigrants.
2) Korean Air Lines Flight 007
Another deadly passenger plane takedown in history was the shooting down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007, which took place on September 1, 1983. The route of the flight was from New York to Seoul via Anchorage. As per CNN, Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by Soviet air-to-air missiles. Reportedly, the flight strayed into Soviet airspace's prohibited area.
Initially, the Soviet government denied their involvement in the case but later revealed that they believed that the flight was an RC-135 reconnaissance plane that arrived there on a secret spy mission. The takedown saw the deaths of a total of 269 people.
3) Iran Air Flight 655
Iran Air Flight 655 is another prominent name in the history of horrifying real-life commercial flight shot-downs. As reported by CNN, on July 3, 1988, the U.S. Navy cruiser USS Vincennes went on to fire two SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles at Iran Air Flight 655, crashing it down.
Later on, the United States claimed that the Vincennes navy crew mistook the passenger flight for an Iranian Tomcat fighter jet named F-14 that had the intention to attack their ship. A total of 290 lives were lost due to the incident. The U.S. went on to pay $61.8 million to Iran in compensation.
4) Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114
Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 was another commercial flight that ended up getting shot down. As per CBC News, the terrible incident occurred on February 21, 1973. It was a Boeing 727-224 aircraft that was reportedly intercepted by two Israeli air force jets that fired 20 mm rounds.
Apparently, their intention was to cripple the flight, not crash it. The passenger flight went on to sustain serious damage and soon exploded while the plane's pilot tried to pull off a belly landing in the desert. A total of 108 people died due to the takedown, while five fortunate individuals, including the co-pilot, survived the deadly event.
5) El Al Flight 402
One of the deadliest passenger plane shoot-downs included the takedown of El Al Flight 402. The tragic incident took place on July 27, 1955. As reported by CBC News, El Al Flight 402 took off from London and was flying to Tel Aviv via Paris, Vienna, and Istanbul.
Reportedly, the commercial flight strayed into Bulgaria's airspace while on its way to Istanbul, where it was shot down by two Bulgarian Air Force MiG-15 jets. Before the flight could have crossed into Greek airspace, the deputy commander-in-chief of Bulgaria's air defense gave the orders for the shot-down. The incident took the lives of a total of 58 passengers.
Viewers can watch all seven episodes of Hijack season 1, which is currently streaming on Apple TV+.
