National Transportation Safety Board

Uber test SUV killed a Tempe pedestrian after never classifying her as a person

An Uber Advanced Technologies Group test vehicle in autonomous mode struck and killed pedestrian Elaine Herzberg in Tempe, Arizona on 18 March 2018 after its software detected her 5.6 seconds ahead but never classified her as a person and withheld emergency braking.

A blocked pitot tube fed false airspeed to a Boeing 757 autopilot, the crew never recovered from the stall that followed, and all 189 aboard Birgenair Flight 301 died

All 189 aboard Birgenair 301 died in 1996 when a blocked pitot tube fed the 757's autopilot a false rising airspeed and it pitched the nose steadily upward off Puerto Plata; the crew, confused by conflicting warnings, pulled thrust, raised the nose further and did not respond to the stall warning.

One letter, two beacons: American Airlines Flight 965's rushed approach ends on a mountain near Cali

American Airlines Flight 965 crashed near Cali in 1995, killing 159, after a crew entry of "R" for the Rozo beacon called up a beacon near Bogota, the autopilot turned the jet off its approach course, and the crew kept descending while trying to regain the approach without knowing where they were.

Crew fights the autopilot's go-around trim on approach to Nagoya; China Airlines Flight 140 stalls, killing 264

China Airlines Flight 140, an Airbus A300-600R, stalled and crashed at Nagoya Airport on 26 April 1994, killing 264 of 271 aboard, after the autopilot's go-around trim ran the stabilizer full nose-up against the pilot's manual nose-down inputs.

China Airlines 006: a 747 autopilot masked a developing loss of control while the captain, fixed on a failed engine, stopped watching his instruments

In 1985 a China Airlines 747SP's autopilot compensated for a failed engine until its roll authority ran out; the captain, fixed on the engine rather than his instruments, took over at 64 degrees of bank and the jet rolled inverted, falling over 30,000 feet. Two of 274 aboard were seriously hurt.

Eastern Air Lines Flight 401: a single chime was the only warning the L-1011 was descending, and 101 people died

Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, a Lockheed L-1011, descended unnoticed into the Florida Everglades on 29 December 1972, killing 101 of the 176 people aboard, after the autopilot stopped holding 2,000 feet with no alert that the mode had changed while the crew worked on a burned-out landing-gear light.