More Famous Disasters Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1980

Inadequate fire protection and highly combustible decorations and furnishings were blamed for the tragic fire that claimed 85 lives and injured over 600 others.

Answer: Hartford

Only five years after opening to the public, the space-frame roof of the Hartford Civic Center collapsed under a load of heavy snow. The collapse occurred hours after the Hartford Whalers finished playing a hockey game, so the building was empty at the time.

The same heavy snow was also blamed for the collapse of the Dome Auditorium at C.W. Post College of Long Island University four days later.

Answer: Kansas City

Kemper Arena in Kansas City won several awards for its unusual design; the roof is supported by an external structure of trusses. But the roof's drainage system could not cope with heavy rains and the high winds that pushed the water around the roof. Like the Hartford collapse, the building was unoccupied at the time. Ironically, an architectural convention had wrapped up in the arena the day before the disaster.

Answer: Amsterdam

An El Al 747 cargo jet took off from Amsterdam's Schipol Airport, bound for Tel Aviv, that fateful night. Fuse pins, safety bolts that keep the engines attached to the wing, failed on one engine on the right wing. When that engine fell away, it also took out the other engine on that wing.

The crash highlighted a safety issue that engineers and the FAA had been researching for over a decade up to that point.

Answer: USS Vincennes

At the time of the shootdown, the Vincennes was engaged in a surface battle with Iranian gunboats in the Strait of Hormuz. The air defense radar crew mistook the Iran Air Airbus A300 passenger jet for an inbound Iranian fighter. As a result, 278 passengers and 12 crew members bound for Dubai were lost.

Answer: Akron

The Navy counted on using giant airships much like seagoing aircraft carriers. This plan, however, was dealt a serious blow as the Akron was lost at sea during a heavy storm. Only four crew members (out of 76) survived the crash. Among those lost were Rear Admiral William Moffett, the chief of the Naval Bureau of Aeronautics, and Commander Frederick Berry, the commander of the Lakehurst Naval Air Station.

Answer: 1956

One of the most notorious sea disasters in American history, the collision claimed forty-three passengers from the Andrea Doria and several crew of the Stockholm. The collision forced a number of changes, including improvements in maritime radar and new design rules for ballast tanks aboard ships.

Answer: McDonnell Douglas DC-10

A titanium alloy rotor disc shattered in the fin-mounted engine of a United Airlines DC-10, damaging both the primary and secondary hydraulic systems. The pilots, maneuvering the aircraft with the remaining two engines, lost the battle to keep the plane level during the landing attempt. One hundred and eleven passengers and one crewmember died in the spectacular crash.

Answer: Charleston

One of the most powerful earthquakes to strike the eastern United States, the Charleston earthquake claimed 60 lives and caused structural damage throughout the Carolinas. The quake was felt as far away as Wisconsin and Cuba.

Answer: Wind shear

Taking off on the second leg of a three-leg journey from Miami to San Diego, the crew of the 727 knew to expect wind shear during their takeoff run from Moisant International Airport in New Orleans. However, the crew encountered a microburst, a rapid downdraft of air, shortly after takeoff. All 153 people on board the aircraft and eight people on the ground were killed.

Answer: Titan II

Used by NASA to boost the two-man Gemini spacecraft to orbit in 1965 and 1966, the Titan II spent most of its life as a weapon, poised to deliver a nine-megaton nuclear warhead to enemy targets up to 9,000 miles away. Unlike its cousins, the Minuteman and the Peacekeeper, which are solid-fuel missiles, Titan II missiles used hypergolic liquid fuels.

The corrosive fuels were responsible for a devasting silo fire at Searcy, Arkansas, which killed 53 men in 1965; suffocating two men and injuring 30 others after a leak occurred in Rock, Kansas, in 1978; and killing one man and severely injuring his partner when an explosion occurred in Damascus, Arkansas, in 1980.

In the Damascus incident, a worker dropped a wrench down the missile's silo, puncturing the missile's skin and setting up the deadly blast some nine hours later.

Answer: Ship collision

The Norweigan ship Imo, on its way to New York to pick up relief supplies for war-torn Belgium, collided with the French ship Mont Blanc, coming in from New York with over 2,000 tons of explosives. The resulting explosion of the Mont Blanc killed over 2,000 people; thousands more were injured, primarily due to flying glass and exposure to the blinding flash.

It is believed that the Halifax explosion was the most powerful single man-made explosion prior to the dropping of the atomic bomb.

Answer: True

Over 1,200 pounds of nitrourea and hydrogen were set off electrically, causing an explosion that tore through the underground levels of the World Trade Center. Despite the extensive blast and smoke damage, the death toll was incredibly low.

Answer: False

Between September 15 and October 15, 1970, the Phillipines were hit with three killer typhoons. Typhoon Georgia was responsible for 300 deaths. Typhoon Sening (October 14) claimed 583 lives, and Typhoon Titang (October 15) killed 526.

Answer: Goldsboro, North Carolina

A Boeing B-52 strategic bomber, carrying two 25-megaton nuclear weapons, crashed just outside Goldsboro, which is home to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. One of the weapons parachuted safely out of the bomb bay. The other was still on board the aircraft when it hit the ground, activating all but one of its safety triggers.

This accident led both the US and the Soviet Union to introduce more stringent controls to avert accidental nuclear explosions.