Beyond Kazakhstan: remember passenger planes shot down by missiles

Initially, the act was considered an act of terrorism by the Russian government. The episode took place a month after the September 11 attacks, leading Russian intelligence to believe that it was a targeted attack against civilians. However, later reports showed that the plane was shot down by a missile that missed its original target, and ended up taking the aircraft as a new target.

All 78 occupants of the flight died. Most of the crew were Israelis going to visit relatives in Russia, and their families received 200 thousand dollars for each person killed in the accident.

Plane shot down by the US killed 66 children in 1988

During the Cold War, the US shot down a plane with 290 people, killing everyone on board. The Iranian Airbus A300 was traveling from the city of Bandar Abbas, in Iran, to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, when it was hit by two missiles fired from the American ship USS Vincennes. The aircraft was still over the Persian Gulf, and crashed into the water.

Commercial plane was confused with military fighter, according to the US. Generals on the American ship said they shot down the Airbus because it did not respond to contact attempts — carried out on the military frequency, not picked up by civilian planes. The episode occurred during the war between Iran and Iraq, which the United States supported militarily.