Boeing 737-100/200

The original Boeing 737, the -100 and -200, was the aircraft that made the 737 the world's most common airliner, and its record reflects its age and the places it ended up. Up to 7 October 2026 it has had 71 fatal events, 46 of which count, in about 43 million passenger flights. Most crashes after 1990 involved small or weak operators flying old airframes in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Today only a few dozen remain.

What the original 737 is

The 737-100 first flew in 1967 and entered service with Lufthansa in 1968; only 30 were built. The longer 737-200, launched by United, entered service later that year and became the standard short-haul jet of the 1970s and 80s, with about 115 seats. 1,144 were built, the later ones as the 737-200 Advanced. Both have Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines tucked under the wing, cable-and-hydraulic flight controls and an analogue cockpit. The 1980s 737 Classic replaced it.

Gravel strips and the far north

Unusually for a jet, the 737-200 could be fitted with a gravel runway kit. Airlines in Alaska and the Canadian Arctic, including Alaska Airlines, First Air and Canadian North, flew -200 combis carrying cargo in front and passengers behind into unpaved strips for decades. A few still fly charters there. That environment shows up in the record: on 20 August 2011, a First Air 737-210C built in 1975 flew into a hill on approach to Resolute Bay in drizzle and low cloud, after turning onto final 600 feet above the glideslope. 12 of 15 died.

The fatal record

Many of the counted crashes changed how the industry works:

• 13 January 1982, Air Florida 90, Washington: took off with ice on the wings and false engine readings, stalled and hit a bridge over the Potomac. 74 of 79 on board died, plus 4 on the bridge.
• 22 August 1985, British Airtours 328, Manchester: an engine failed on take-off and fire spread into the cabin. 55 of 137 died, most from smoke. The inquiry led to floor-level lighting, wider access to overwing exits and fire-blocking seats.
• 28 April 1988, Aloha 243: fuselage fatigue on a high-cycle aircraft; 1 of 95 died.
• 3 March 1991, United 585, Colorado Springs: a rudder power control unit jammed and the aircraft rolled into the ground. All 25 died. The same flaw was later found in a 737-300 crash, and Boeing redesigned the rudder system.

After 1995 the pattern shifts to operators. ADC Airlines in Nigeria (2006, 96 dead) and Bhoja Air in Pakistan (2012, all 127) flew into windshear near thunderstorms. Mandala Airlines in Indonesia took off without flaps in 2005, killing 100 on board and 49 on the ground. Kam Air hit a mountain near Kabul in snow in 2005 (105 dead). The last counted crash was on 18 May 2018, when a 39-year-old 737-201 leased by Cubana from Mexico's Global Air stalled after take-off from Havana with a wrong weight and balance calculation; 112 of 113 died.

The other 25 fatal events do not count: 17 acts of unlawful interference, including the 1983 Gulf Air bombing and the 1985 EgyptAir hijacking at Malta, plus military, cargo, ferry and training flights. Our methodology explains why.

The aircraft or the operators?

Mostly the operators, and age. United 585 and Aloha 243 were real airframe problems, both fixed fleet-wide. Most later crashes came from crews flying into weather, setting up the aircraft wrongly, or companies with weak oversight. A 1960s cockpit without modern terrain and windshear alerting gives less protection against those errors than a 737 NG.

How to tell if you are on one

Flight trackers show B731 or B732. The engines are long and slim, hung close under the wing, with no bulky round nacelles. If you are booked on one with a small charter operator, look at the airline's record first.