Finnair accidents and incidents

Finnair Flight 915 (AY915) was a scheduled flight by Finnair from Tokyo, Japan, over the North Pole to Helsinki, Finland, on 23 December 1987. In 2014, Finnish media reported a claim by two of the flight's pilots that the Soviet Union had fired a missile at the aircraft, which exploded less than 30 seconds before impact. The allegations came out only in September 2014, when Helsingin Sanomat, the leading Finnish daily newspaper, published an extensive article on the matter. The Finnish Broadcasting Corporation YLE reported on the article on the internet the same day.

Aero Flight 311, often referred to as the Kvevlax air disaster, was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by Aero O/Y (now Finnair) between Kronoby and Vaasa in Finland. The aircraft, a Douglas DC-3, crashed in the municipality Kvevlax (Finnish: Koivulahti), nowadays part of Korsholm (Finnish: Mustasaari) on 3 January 1961, killing all twenty-five people on board. The disaster remains the deadliest aviation accident in Finnish history. The investigation revealed that both pilots were intoxicated and should not have been flying.

Kaleva was a civilian Junkers Ju 52 passenger airplane belonging to the Finnish carrier Aero O/Y. On 14 June 1940, as Flight 1631 from Tallinn in Estonia to Helsinki in Finland, it was shot down over the Gulf of Finland by two combat aircraft of the Soviet military and downed near the Estonian island of Keri, killing all nine on board. The incident occurred during the Interim Peace between the Soviet Union and Finland, and at the outset of the Soviet occupation of Estonia. Kaleva was the second civilian passenger airplane ever to be attacked midair, and the first airliner in history to be shot down in flight, by hostile aircraft.

Aero Flight 217 was a domestic passenger flight from Helsinki, Finland, to Mariehamn in the autonomous territory of Åland, operated by the Finnish flag carrier Aero O/Y (now Finnair). On 8 November 1963, the aircraft serving the flight crashed in poor visibility while attempting to land on a non-precision approach at Mariehamn Airport in the municipality of Jomala, resulting in the deaths of 22 people out of 25 on board. The crash remains the second deadliest aviation accident in Finland, the first being Aero Flight 311 almost two years earlier.

Finnair Flight 405 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Oulu and Helsinki, Finland, that was hijacked on 30 September 1978. The Finnair operated Sud Aviation Caravelle with 44 passengers and 5 crew aboard was hijacked by an unemployed home building contractor. After forcing the pilot to fly to Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Helsinki, the hijacker received his ransom demands and released his hostages. He was arrested at his home the following day.