As unthinkable as shooting down an airliner is, it has happened before. Among notable cases were an Iranian plane shot down by the U.S. Navy and a South Korean airliner destroyed by a Russian fighter jet.
- Oct. 4, 2001: An errant surface-to-air missile fired by the Ukrainian military during exercises in the Crimea causes the crash of an Air Siberia airliner, killing 78.
- Oct. 20, 1998: Rebels in eastern Congo shoot down a Congo Airlines jet carrying 40 people.
- Sept. 22, 1993: Abkhazian rebels in Georgia shoot down a passenger plane, killing 80. A day earlier, 28 died when a Russian Tu-134 was hit by Abkhazian fire.
- July 3, 1988: U.S. warship Vincennes shoots down an Iranian passenger plane over the Persian Gulf, mistaking it for a warplane, during the war between Iraq and Iran. All 290 people aboard are killed.
- April 10, 1988: Afghan guerrillas shoot down a Soviet-built passenger jet, killing all 29 people aboard.
- Sept. 1, 1983: A Soviet fighter jet shoots down a Korean Airlines passenger jet en route from New York to Seoul, purportedly mistaking the craft for a spy plane west of Sakhalin Island. All 269 people aboard are killed.
- April 20, 1978: An off-course South Korean jetliner carrying 110 people is attacked by a Soviet MiG fighter and is forced to crash land on a frozen lake near Murmansk, killing two passengers.
- Feb. 21, 1973: Libyan Airlines Flight 114 from Tripoli to Cairo goes off course. Israel claims the plane refuses to identify itself and two jets fire at it to force it to land. The aircraft goes out of control and crashes, killing 108 people.
SOURCE: Associated Press