Around The World A Fear Of Flying

In April a U.S. Air Force jet carrying Commerce Secretary Ron Brown crashed into a Croatian mountainside, claiming the lives of 35.

A month later, ValuJet Flight 592 caught fire and plunged into Florida’s Everglades, killing all 110 on board.

In July came the fiery demise of TWA Flight 800 off New York’s Long Island, killing 230. Witnesses on the ground reported seeing a missile, and the FBI launched an international hunt for a terrorist. Yet as the investigation dragged into its sixth month, it seemed possible that the true cause was an unidentified mechanical malfunction.

In late November a hijacked Ethiopian jet slammed into the Indian Ocean, killing 127, after the trio of hijackers refused to heed the pilot’s pleas to land for refueling.

And the deadliest air disaster of the year: the midair collision of a Saudi jumbo jet and Kazak cargo plane outside New Delhi, killing 349. That kind of disaster has been largely eliminated in the United States through the use of air-traffic warning systems. But for jittery travelers everywhere, 1996 still registered as a year of fear.