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The following events are those involving at least one passenger death where the aircraft flight had a direct or indirect role. Excluded would be events where the only passengers killed were stowaways, hijackers, or saboteurs.

1. 21 October 1972; Olympic Airways YS11; near Athens, Greece: The aircraft crashed into the sea during an approach in conditions of reduced visibility. One of the four crew members and 36 of the 49 passengers were killed.

2. 23 November 1976; Olympic Airways YS11; near Kozani, Greece: During approach, the aircraft crashed into a hillside at the 4300 foot (1310 meter) level during a cloudy and rainy weather on a daytime flight. The four crew members and 46 passengers were all killed.

3. 3 August 1989; Olympic Aviation Shorts 330; Samos, Greece: The aircraft into a hillside at the 3960 foot (1210 meter) level during a daylight approach in thick fog. All three crew members and 31 passengers were killed.

4. 4 January 1998; Olympic Airways 747; over Atlantic Ocean:
   Prior to the flight from Athens to New York, a passenger who had asthma and a history of sensitivity to secondhand smoke requested seating in the non-smoking area of the aircraft. Once onboard, the passenger's family discovered that their assigned seats were three rows ahead of the economy class smoking section. This smoking section was not partitioned off from the non-smoking section. Prior to takeoff and during the flight, one of the passenger's family members made three requests of the cabin crew to switch seats, but the cabin crew did not arrange for a switch into one of the 11 available unoccupied seats on the aircraft. Several hours into the flight, the passenger suffered a reaction to the ambient smoke and died.
   
   A U.S. District Court determined that exposure to ambient second-hand smoke was the primary cause of the passenger's death. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a decision made on 24 February 2004, held that this event constituted an accident under Article 17 of the Warsaw Convention, an international treaty that among other things defines an accident as something that is an “unexpected or unusual event or happening that is external to the passenger.” There were 411 passengers on the flight.
   747 fatal passenger events
   U.S. Supreme Court Decision case 02-1348, 24 February 2002
   U.S. Court of Appeals case 00-17509, 12 December 2002

Fatal Events Since 1970 for Olympic Airways
http://airsafe.com/events/airlines/olympic.htm -- Revised: 8 March 2004
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The Conversation at AirSafe.com Podcast

For more information on airline safety and security, check out The Conversation at AirSafe.com, the official podcast of the AirSafe.com Foundation. Below are links to some of the more popular podcasts, and you can also find all of the shows at http://www.airsafe.com/podcasts/castinfo.htm, or subscribe directly with iPodder, iTunes, or a similar program by using the XML file at http://www.airsafe.com/podcast/rss.xml. Show #17 - The Year in Review - 2006 Location (audio): http://www.airsafe.com/podcasts/show17.mp3 Location (video): YouTube Description: A review of the nine most significant airline safety and security events of 2006, including five airliner crashes that killed every passenger. Show #16 - An Update to Things You Should Not Bring On Board Location: http://www.airsafe.com/podcasts/show16.mp3 Description: This conversation provides a basic overview of what items and materials are banned from aircraft, including rules concerning liquids and gels onboard the aircraft. Show #7- How to Make a Successful Air Travel Complaint Location:http://www.airsafe.com/podcasts/show7.mp3 Description:This conversation offers basic advice for making complaints about your air travel experience and how to document a complaint to give you the best chance of getting compensation.