An ex-commercial pilot has highlighted the possible main causes behind the growing number of aviation tragedies

At least 240 people were killed when an Air India plane crashed Thursday into a medical school shortly after takeoff. It was the latest in a long list of aviation disasters this year. One passenger survived the crash but everyone else aboard the Boeing 787 was killed.

Deadliest Air Crashes of all time in India. From the 1996 mid-air collision over Charkhi Dadri which killed 349 people, to the 1978 crash into the Arabian Sea of the Air India flight killing all 213 onboard,

Here is a list of the deadliest plane disasters in the 21st century, excluding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks: On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.