One of the most chilling chapters in bestselling author Dean Koontz’s many thrillers details a lone survivor’s experience of a horrific airplane crash. Even more terrible are these 10 harrowing emergency landings caught on tape… because they really happened!

Related: 10 Shocking Air Disasters Caused by Birds

10 Alaska Airlines Flight 1288

On August 20, 2023, during Tropical Storm Hilary, Alaskan Airlines Flight 1288’s 106 passengers’ anxiety increased tremendously when a problem with their Boeing 737’s landing gear forced the pilot to undertake a risky landing at John Wayne Airport.

The 737 parked on the runway rather than taxiing to the gate, and buses took passengers to the terminal building. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) found that the airliner’s left main gear had collapsed but could not determine why. Fortunately, there were no injuries or deaths.

Abhinav Amineni, who filmed the moment, admitted that he “was panicking,” thinking sparks along the runway might indicate that the airplane was about to burst into flames. His video offers a sense of the jitters he and his fellow passengers felt as they touched down roughly in the dark and raced along the wet runway as sparks streaked past the speeding airplane.^[1]

9 LOT Polish Airlines Flight LO16

As the result of a six-year, year-month-long investigation, Poland’s State Commission on Aircraft Accidents Investigation concluded that the November 1, 2011, LOT Polish Airlines’ Flight L012’s Boeing 747 landing gear wouldn’t work due to a combination of mechanical failures and human errors. Aircraft design features and other procedural omissions were contributing factors.

While the airplane circled the airport to burn off fuel, firefighters doused the runway with flame retardant. An ABC News video of the airplane’s crash-landing at a Warsaw airport shows the screeching aircraft skidding along the runway on its belly, emitting sparks and smoke from its underside. After it landed, the firefighters sprayed thick streams of water over the airplane, preventing it from bursting into flames.

Safe inside the terminal building, passengers praised Captain Tadeusz Wrona’s performance. One said that the landing was so “masterful” that the 747 had seemed to land “on [its] wheels.” None of the 220 passengers or 11 crew members who’d begun their trip in Newark were killed or injured.^[2]

8 Red Air Flight 203

As NBC News reports, when a Red Air twin-engine McDonnell Douglas MD-82, carrying 126 people, crash-landed at Miami International Airport on June 21, 2022, it burst into flames. Three of the people onboard were treated for minor injuries. After controlling the blaze, firefighters dealt with the aircraft’s fuel spill.

The airplane’s front landing gear collapse appears to have caused the fire. Video included with the NBC News article shows the fiery, smoking aircraft’s rough landing, first responders’ arrival on the scene, and firefighters subduing the fire.^[3]

7 Cathay Pacific Flight 780

A Civil Aviation Department’s Accident Investigation Department’s bulletin provides details concerning the April 13, 2010, crash-landing of the Airbus A330-342 in operation during Cathay Pacific Flight 780. The pilot announced the emergency situation as the aircraft approached the Hong Kong International Airport with 13 crew members and 309 passengers aboard, stating that there were “control problems on both engines.”

Despite these conditions, Captain Malcolm Waters and First Officer David Hayhoe landed the Airbus, but at a ground speed of 230 knots (approximately 265 mph or 167 km/h). After the rescue leader confirmed “fire and smoke on the wheels, the commander initiated an emergency evacuation of passengers.” There were no fatalities, but one passenger was seriously injured.

Mayday: Air Disaster video’s simulation of the incident puts viewers inside the cockpit and the cabin with the terrified pilots, passengers, and flight attendants.^[4]

6 Air France Flight 358

An online CBC article sums up the story of Air France Flight 358’s Airbus A340-313’s August 2, 2005, crash landing, stating that the airplane “ended up skidding off the runway.” Canada’s Federal Transport Minister Jean Lapierre says the fact that no one was injured or killed in the incident was a “miracle.” The violence of the crash landing is indicated by the fact that, although no deaths occurred, “12 people suffered serious injuries,” and some passengers believed that they would die.

A Disaster Breakdown video, offering further details concerning the flight from Paris to Toronto, explains how inclement weather and a number of pilot errors were responsible for the crash-landing, during which the airplane overshot the runway by 300 meters. The video also mentions the flight attendants’ decision not to open two of the airplane’s doors due to the fire hazard as an aggravating factor.^[5]

5 Qantas Flight 72

As the 7NEWS Spotlight video concerning the November 7, 2008, Qantas Flight 72 indicates, the airliner was on its way from Singapore to Perth when Captain Kevin Sullivan, a former Top Gun pilot in the U.S. Navy, was alerted that the autopilot had disconnected. This alarm was followed by contradictory stall and overspeed warnings. Then, the airliner began to pitch “violently down.” As Sullivan put it, the aircraft’s “automation… was trying to kill us.”

As the airplane plummeted toward the Indian Ocean, passengers and flight attendant Fuzzy Maiava, who were not strapped into their seats, were thrown against the ceiling. Two were rendered unconscious. All were pinned in place. Sullivan released his control stick, and the plane righted itself, causing Fuzzy and the unrestrained passengers to fall from the ceiling.

The primary flight computer, the automatic brake, the auto-trim function, and the third trim had also failed. Over 100 passengers were injured, some severely. Sullivan decided to land at nearby Learmonth, a Royal Australian Air Force base. Passengers were ordered to fasten their seat belts, but Caroline Southcott had trouble doing so. She was in agony, having broken her back and an ankle, the latter so severely that her foot faced backward. She would require extensive surgery.

Despite his concern that the automated system could again wrest control of the aircraft, Sullivan successfully landed the airplane. Walking through the cabin, he witnessed the injuries, terror, and trauma that his passengers had suffered and was so affected that he quit piloting.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau found that “incorrect data” caused the in-flight emergency but could not say how or why.^[6]

4 Asiana Airlines Flight 214

On July 6, 2013, with 292 passengers on board, Asiana Flight 214 was completing its overnight journey from Seoul to San Francisco when the pilots were alerted that the aircraft, a Boeing 777-200ER, was dangerously low. The pilot-in-training, Lee Kang-koo, and his trainer, the pilot-in-command Lee Jeong-min, tried to ascend, but it was too late. Short of the runway, the plane struck the ground, and its tail was ripped off.

The front part of the aircraft skimmed along the runway before coming to an abrupt halt. Were fire to spread from the burning engine to the fuel tanks, the airplane could explode. There was no slide, but evacuating passengers were able to climb down the fuselage. Firefighters fought the blaze and tended to injured passengers.

Although there were contributing factors, the National Transportation Safety Board determined that there were several probable causes of the accident, two crucial ones of which were the flight crew’s mismanagement of the airplane’s descent during the visual approach and their delay in executing a go-around after becoming aware that the airplane was below acceptable glide path and airspeed tolerances. Of the 310 people aboard the aircraft, 3 died, and 187 were injured, 49 seriously.^[7]

9 Flying Tiger 923

Engine number three of the Flying Tiger, a 73-ton Lockheed 1049H Super Constellation with 76 passengers on board, was on fire, spitting flames and bits of molten metal as an alarm bell clanged. Captain John Murray ordered the discharge of an extinguisher. The September 23, 1962, crisis had been averted—or so the passengers and crew had thought.

In fact, as Eric Lindner writes, flight engineer Garrett “had forgotten to close the no. 3 engine firewall.” This oversight “triggered a chain reaction” of equipment failures, and the airplane lost “two of its four engines.” Nearly 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) from land, the Flying Tiger had no alternative but to ditch into the Atlantic Ocean. Impact “would feel like crashing onto a cement runway,” a Popular Mechanics article observed.

It didn’t help when rain started, obscuring visibility, especially since Murray would have to ditch between waves; otherwise, the airplane’s wings could snap off, or the aircraft itself might break apart and sink when it struck the water at 120 mph (193 km/h).

Murray was up to the task, though, and all aboard survived the impact and evacuated. Unfortunately, only 48 lived through the seven hours they spent in the bitter-cold waters; the other 28 drowned. An Aviation Horrors video captured the passengers’ and crew’s harrowing ordeal.^[8]

2 U.S. Bangla Flight 211

According to the final report concerning the March 12, 2018, accident involving U.S. Bangla Flight 211’s Bombardier Q400 aircraft, the aircraft’s pilot, Abid Sultan, probably experienced “disorientation and a complete loss of situational awareness.” As a result of the crash-landing, all 4 crew members and 45 out of the 67 passengers aboard the aircraft were killed, and “more… succumbed to injury later in hospital during the course of treatment.”

The report also found other contributing factors, including dangerous attempts to “align the aircraft with the runway… at very close proximity and very low altitude,” without any prior attempt to execute a “go around,” even though such a maneuver appeared to be possible until the last instant before touchdown on the runway.

A Smithsonian Channel video indicates that, near the conclusion of the 90-minute flight from Dhaka to Nepal, the airplane flew past the Kathmandu Airport toward the mountains. The control tower’s supervisor redirected the errant plane, instructing the pilot to loop back around and land on the runway for southbound traffic. The turn was executed, but the aircraft was to the right of the runway.

During several attempts to correct the aircraft’s approach, Sultan first aligned the airplane with the taxiway before lining up with the control tower instead of the runway. The plane missed the tower but crashed into a field 1,443 feet (440 meters) away from the runway, bursting into flames.^[9]

1 United Airlines Flight 232

The explosion of the DC-10 aircraft in service to the July 19, 1989, United Airlines Flight 232, as it headed from Denver to Chicago, severed the airplane’s hydraulic lines, disabling flight controls. Captain Alfred C. Haynes, First Officer William Records, and Second Officer Dudley Dvorak eventually stabilized the aircraft by “adjusting the thrust” of the one working engine on each wing. An off-duty flight instructor among the 284 other passengers and the 11 crew members on board joined them in the cockpit to operate the throttles.

They’d attempt to land at Sioux City, Iowa. As the Des Moines Register’s understatement declares, “It was not a happy landing.” The flight crew was unable to reduce speed, and the aircraft’s right wing, clipping the runway, caused a fuel spill. The airplane broke into four pieces, the main part of the burning wreckage sliding into a cornfield.

One hundred and twelve passengers died. Two local hospitals, assisted by the Iowa National Guard, whose soldiers helped search for and rescue the injured and perform triage, treated the crash-landing’s 184 survivors.^[10]

Ever think you’re going through a crisis, only to find the issue dramatically overstated? Perhaps your kid is bleeding profusely but it turns out to be a small paper cut, or maybe you’re running late and your car won’t start (until it does).

Well, 911 gets a lot of close calls like that, only theirs are actual emergencies…until they get there. Here is a list of some of the more absurd emergency call misunderstandings and miscommunications.

Two ambulances and the cops are dispatched to a miniature train accident.

Usually when someone describes something as a train wreck, it’s not a good thing. Even at your most optimistic, you are sure to imagine nothing short of carnage. So what if you thought there was an actual train wreck?

The 999 dispatch in Essex, UK received a call reporting a “military train accident,” and sent two ambulance crews and a police car to the reported accident site. They would have brought the big guns, but bad weather didn’t permit the airlift.

They arrived on the scene to find a surprised miniature train convention, who had requested an ambulance for three people hurt by a miniature train. A dispatcher misheard, and the result was overkill. Also overkill: dialling emergency dispatch for a miniature train accident.

Woman calls 911 over a stuffed mountain lion

Generally, having a mountain lion in the area is cause for local authorities to be on their toes a little bit. You want the neighborhood to be safe, and cougars aren’t a great thing to have around. 

Beverly Bradham had heard recent reports of a wild bobcat or some such terrifying creature snatching up local cats in the area, and as the internet will tell you, that’s a bad thing. So when she walked out onto her deck one morning and saw a sleeping mountain lion, she naturally freaked and called 911. “I’m waiting for it to move,” Beverly said in the emergency call. “Surely there’s no way that it’s something fake that somebody left up there.”

Authorities came out and after a brief investigation (which presumably involved poking the cat with a stick) discovered the animal was, in fact, something fake that somebody left up there.

Kid at a movie premiere causes mall mayhem

A lot of people like to dress funny nowadays. We see people with giant ear gauges and absurd hair and people who choose to wear next to no clothes at all. And those high-schoolers? Man, they dress scary.

Brandon Jurasin is a New Jersey high school student who was walking around a mall, and wearing some scary-looking clothing. Like, gas mask and armor scary. Scary enough that a woman called the police on him, who searched the mall for the boy matching the description.

Police were prepared for the worst, because a gas mask in a crowded mall would usually be bad news. When police found him, he was dressed as Bane for The Dark Knight Rises movie premiere. Police asked Brandon to change clothes, and he was happy to comply. At least until that cranky woman left the mall, we’re sure.

Man calls 911 when a stuffed buffalo falls on him

Vicious animal attacks are the stuff of nightmares – though probably not often involving water buffalo. But once an animal is dead, you pretty much expect it never to bother you again. 

At least, that’s what Florida resident Jim Harris thought. He was sitting in his recliner one day enjoying a glass of milk and watching the news, when all of a sudden he was pinned to his chair by a water buffalo. Or more specifically, the 200 pound stuffed head of a water buffalo. Harris was unable to get up, but managed to grab his cell phone and yell obscenities at the 911 operator. ”I think a f**king buffalo fell on me,” he told them.

After being “rescued,” he immediately removed all dead stuffed animals from his house. Harris doesn’t quite agree with the phrase “karma’s a bitch.” He knows for a fact that karma is a buffalo. “I didn’t even shoot him,” he told reporters.

The bomb – that was actually a box of kittens

We’ve all had that little fantasy where some man in a trenchcoat hands you an unmarked package, and all of a sudden you know exactly what to do, because inside that package are the keys to your new spymobile and… never mind. Unmarked packages are usually cause for concern in the real world.

A Social Security office in Florida called 911 in to report a suspicious unmarked package. A bomb squad was immediately dispatched to the scene, ready with emergency detonation equipment and everything. However, upon closer examination, the bomb squad determined that it was about to explode with cuteness. Instead of beeping or ticking, they heard a calm mewing sound, and found that it was a box containing two kittens. One ran away (suspiciously) and the other was taken to an animal shelter, where it was put up for adoption.

Pigs sprawling over the highway causes numerous 911 calls

Everyone hates traffic. They hate it. There’s nothing worse than an unnecessary stoppage. And a lot of times, that stoppage comes from people just slowing down to gawk at whatever scene a police car happens to be attending. Those pigs ruin everything, don’t they?

One morning during rush hour, a number of people starting calling 911 to complain about some pigs. Pigs everywhere. They’d been falling out of the back of a truck and had started wandering around the highway during already bad traffic. It ended up taking police over an hour to round up all the pigs (good thing they weren’t greased), who were pretty much unharmed. They were kept at an animal shelter to be held until claimed or auctioned off.

The police have to help a family lost in a corn-field – 25 feet from the exit

Autumn is such a lovely time of year, and during the daytime, we see the beauty of seasons changing and can embrace it for all it’s worth. But it’s often the dark and mysterious part of fall, Halloween and the like, that give us the most memorable autumn stories.

One day, a woman with her husband and 3 week old child decided to go to a corn maze. Stop and let that sink in for a minute. This woman gave birth less than a month ago, and she’s already taking this child out in the cold where you can almost certainly get lost. What happened? They got lost. The woman called 911 and police were dispatched to them while her husband’s eyes probably rolled all the way back in his head.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for police to escort the family to safety. When found, they were less than 25 feet away from the exit.

A SWAT team responds wrongly to a hoax call

Crime dramas are fun to watch because we get to see teams of elite trained specialists going in, breaking down doors, and kicking some ass. The bad guy gets pinned, the innocent victims are safe, and all is good. They’d never get an assignment like that wrong would they?

Stephanie Milan was sitting at home watching TV one day, when all of a sudden a stun grenade went off. The front door burst open, and a SWAT team went in prepared for a total showdown. They’d received anonymous bomb threats against the city of Evansville, Indiana (a city totally worth blowing up), and traced it back to the Milan residence through an IP address. Except they got the wrong house. Stephanie Milan had nothing to do with what turned out to be hoax emergency calls, serving as a valuable lesson to us all about the dangers of unsecured Wi-Fi.

Vibrator in a box causes bomb scare

No, this isn’t another little package of kittens, and sorry to disappoint, but it didn’t involve a model bursting out of a package either.

A post office in Russia called in anti-terrorism experts when they noticed a package emitting a strange buzzing noise. Because again, suspicious packages are a very bad thing. Especially if they’re making noises. In what was probably the most exciting thing to happen to this little post office ever, a bomb squad was dispatched, the building was evacuated, and the area was put on moderate lockdown. Still super scary and exciting for those post office workers, right? 

The buzzing, as you have no doubt guessed, was actually a vibrator accidentally turned on in the mail. Insert joke about it being an anticlimax here.

Clown gets his crotch stuck in a vacuum – permanently

If you’re a male and you just read the title of this entry, don’t worry, every other male on the planet would make the same face you just made upon reading something like that.

A dwarf circus performer fell victim to a circus act gone bad and had to have an ambulance called. When the circus comes to town, the hospitals in the area are immediately on red alert; it just comes with the territory. But there probably wasn’t a ton of preparation for this type of, uh… accident.

Part of his act involved a vacuum sticking to his crotch region (this is why people go to the circus, right?), but the attachment used for the illusion broke before the performance. He hastily superglued it together backstage, but due to a tragic glue miscalculation the attachment was more permanent than intended, resulting in hospitalization. It’s totally understandable if you’re not laughing right now.

Gabriel is a Workshop Moderator over at Cracked.com, and his work there can be found here. He also does internet radio here