WThe 1980 Camarate air crash occurred on 4 December 1980 when a small private aircraft carrying Portuguese Prime Minister Francisco de Sá Carneiro and Defense Minister Adelino Amaro da Costa crashed in Camarate, Lisbon, Portugal. Initial investigations concluded the incident was an accident, but later parliamentary investigations found evidence of a bomb beneath the cockpit. After the 15-year statute of limitations took effect, several people came forward confessing involvement.
WOn 4 December 2003, a Polish Mi-8 helicopter operated by the 36th Special Aviation Regiment carrying Poland's Prime Minister Leszek Miller crashed near Piaseczno, just outside Warsaw. The pilot performed an autorotation landing in a forest following the failure of both engines. The helicopter suffered extensive damage and was written off as a total loss, but despite the severity of the crash there were no fatalities. Fourteen of the 15 people on board were injured, including Leszek Miller, who had two of his thoracic vertebrae broken.
WAviation Development Company Airlines (ADC) Flight 53 was a scheduled passenger flight operated by ADC Airlines that crashed on 29 October 2006 shortly after take-off from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Nigeria, at 11:30 am local time. Immediately after takeoff from Abuja, the Boeing 737 contacted the ground, broke up and caught fire in a corn field. The flight carried 100 passengers and 5 crew. Muhammadu Maccido, the Sultan of Sokoto and spiritual leader of Nigeria's Muslims, the sultan's son, Senator Badamasi Maccido, Dr Nnennia Mgbor, the first ever female West African ENT surgeon, and Abdulrahman Shehu Shagari, son of former president Shehu Shagari, were on the passenger list. 96 people were killed and nine people survived, among those the 3 daughters of Ibrahim Idris, governor of Kogi.
WOn the evening of 6 April 1994, the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira, both Hutu, was shot down with surface-to-air missiles as it prepared to land in Kigali, Rwanda. The assassination set in motion the Rwandan genocide, one of the bloodiest events of the late 20th century.
WOn March 17, 1957, a C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft crashed on the slopes of Mount Manunggal on the island of Cebu in the Philippines. The crash killed 25 of the aircraft's 26 occupants, including the incumbent president of the Philippines, Ramon Magsaysay. Several high-ranking Philippine government ministers, military officials, and journalists were also among the dead. The sole survivor was a reporter for the Philippine Herald, Nestor Mata.
WOn 19 October 1986, a Tupolev Tu-134 jetliner belonging to the Mozambican People's Republic carrying President Samora Machel and 43 others from Mbala, Zambia to the Mozambican capital Maputo crashed at Mbuzini, South Africa. Nine passengers and one crew member survived the crash, but President Machel and 33 others died, including ministers and officials of the Mozambican government.
WThe 1981 Panamanian Air Force Twin Otter crash occurred on July 31, 1981, when a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter of the Panamanian Air Force, with identity code FAP-205, crashed at Marta Hill, in the community of Coclesito, in adverse weather conditions while on its final approach to the airport. All seven people on board, including General Omar Torrijos Herrera, who led the country's military dictatorship between 1968 and 1981, were killed.
WThe Smolensk air disaster occurred on 10 April 2010, when a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft of the Polish Air Force crashed near the Russian city of Smolensk, killing all 96 people on board. Among the victims were the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria, the former President of Poland in exile Ryszard Kaczorowski, the chief of the Polish General Staff and other senior Polish military officers, the president of the National Bank of Poland, Polish Government officials, 18 members of the Polish Parliament, senior members of the Polish clergy and relatives of victims of the Katyn massacre. The group was arriving from Warsaw to attend an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the massacre, which took place not far from Smolensk.
WOn 24 January 1974, a Togo Air Force Douglas C-47 Skytrain carrying several notable political figures crashed at an isolated location near the village of Sarakawa in northern Togo. Gnassingbé Eyadéma, the President of Togo, was on board the aircraft, which was flying from Lomé to his native village, Pya. As the C-47 descended for landing, it crashed near Sarakawa. Eyadéma survived, but claimed his French pilot and all three other passengers died.
WThe 1959 Turkish Airlines Gatwick crash occurred on 17 February 1959, near London Gatwick Airport to a Turkish Airlines Vickers Viscount Type 793 on an international charter flight from Esenboğa International Airport in Ankara, Turkey, to London Heathrow Airport United Kingdom, carrying the Turkish prime minister and a party of government officials. The Viscount crashed in a wood 3 miles (4.8 km) from the threshold of Gatwick runway during its final approach to land in extensive fog. Five of the eight crew and nine of the 16 passengers died in the crash. The prime minister was among the ten survivors.