The Polaris Award is the highest decoration associated with civil aviation, awarded by the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations (IFALPA) to airline crews in recognition for acts of exceptional airmanship, heroic action or a combination of these two attributes. In extraordinary cases, passengers may also obtain this award for their heroism. The awards are presented every year at IFALPA's annual conference.

Past awards

1983	Mr D W Usher	Mr M E Windsor		Air Florida Flight 90 Air Florida Flight 90 Air Florida Flight 90 was a scheduled U.S. domestic passenger flight from Washington National Airport in Arlington County, Virginia, to Fort Lauderdale – Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with a stopover at Tampa International Airport in Tampa, Florida...	Rescue helicopter crew
1984	Captain D S Cameron	FO C Quimet		Air Canada Flight 797 Air Canada Flight 797 Air Canada Flight 797 was a scheduled trans-border flight that flew on a Dallas/Fort Worth-Toronto-Montreal route. On , the aircraft developed an in-flight fire behind the washroom that spread between the outer skin and the inner decor panels, filling the plane with toxic smoke...	Cabin fire
1985	Captain J Gibson	FO G Lintner	FE G Laurin	Reeve Aleutian Airways Reeve Aleutian Airways Reeve Aleutian Airways was an airline headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. It ceased operations on December 5, 2000.-Founding:...	L188 Electra propeller loss, and flight controls jammed
1986	Captain H Galal	Mr E Mounib		EgyptAir Flight 648 EgyptAir Flight 648 EgyptAir Flight 648 was a Boeing 737-200 airliner, registered SU-AYH, hijacked on November 23, 1985 by the terrorist organization Abu Nidal. The subsequent raid on the aircraft by Egyptian troops resulted in dozens of deaths, making the hijacking of Flight 648 one of the deadliest such incidents in...	Hijack
1987	Captain M Takahamo	FO Y Sasaki	FE H Fukuda	JAL 123	Decompression, total control failure
1989	Captain R L Schornstheimer	FO M L Tompkins		Aloha Airlines Flight 243 Aloha Airlines Flight 243 Aloha Airlines Flight 243 was a scheduled Aloha Airlines flight between Hilo and Honolulu in Hawaii. On April 28, 1988, a Boeing 737-200 serving the flight suffered extensive damage after an explosive decompression in flight, but was able to land safely at Kahului Airport on Maui. The only...	Explosive decompression
1990	Captain A C Haynes	FO W Records	FE D Dvorak, Captain D Fitch	United Airlines Flight 232 United Airlines Flight 232 United Airlines Flight 232 was a scheduled flight from Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado, to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, with continuing service to Philadelphia International Airport...	Uncontained engine failure, total hydraulics and control failure
1991	Captain A Grischenko			Chernobyl disaster Chernobyl disaster The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...	Helicopter pilot who hovered over the reactor to allow cement to be dropped onto it
1992	Captain G Rasmussen	FO U Cedermark		Scandinavian Airlines Flight 751 Scandinavian Airlines Flight 751 Scandinavian Airlines Flight 751 was a regularly scheduled Scandinavian Airlines flight from Stockholm, Sweden to Copenhagen, Denmark and Warsaw, Poland that crashed on 27 December 1991. The McDonnell Douglas MD-81 was piloted by Danish captain Stefan G. Rasmussen and Swedish first officer Ulf...	Dual engine failure after take off
	FO A Atchinson			British Airways Flight 5390 British Airways Flight 5390 British Airways Flight 5390 was a British Airways flight between Birmingham Airport in England and Málaga, Spain. On 10 June 1990 an improperly installed panel of the windscreen failed, blowing the plane's captain, Tim Lancaster, halfway out of the aircraft, with his body firmly pressed against the...	Windscreen failure
	Captain W C Query	FO Q E Haynes			Mid-air collision
1993	Captain C Justiniano				Hijack, two successful forced landings
1996	Captain A Faria e Mello				Paraplegic, wheelchair pilot
	Captain B Dhellemme	FO J Borderie	FE A Bossuat	Air France Flight 8969 Air France Flight 8969 Air France Flight 8969 was an Air France flight that was hijacked on 24 December 1994 by the Armed Islamic Group at Algiers, where they killed three passengers, with the intention to crash it on the Eiffel tower in Paris. When the aircraft reached Marseille, the GIGN, an intervention group of the...	Hijack
1998	Captain L Abate	Mr M Mekuria		Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961, a Boeing 767-260ER, was hijacked on , en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi on a Bombay–Addis Ababa–Nairobi–Brazzaville–Lagos–Abidjan service, by three Ethiopians seeking political asylum in Australia. The plane crash-landed in the Indian Ocean near Comoros due to fuel...	Hijack, ditching
1999	Captain U Khan	FO M F Querishi			Hijack
2000	Captain N Nagashima	FO Ka Koga		All Nippon Airways Flight 61 All Nippon Airways Flight 61 On July 23, 1999, an All Nippon Airways Boeing 747-481D with 503 passengers, including 14 children and 14 crew members on board, took off from Tokyo International Airport in Ota, Tokyo, Japan and was en route to New Chitose Airport in Chitose, Japan, near Sapporo when it was hijacked by Yuji...	Hijack
	Captain J Yamauchi
	Captain T Higuchi
	Captain H Takagi
	Captain H Nishikata
	Captain Y Iwai	Mr D Sugama
2001	Captain W Hagan	FO R Webb	FO P Watson	British Airways British Airways British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...	BA 2069, attempted hijack
2002	Flight crews of United Airlines 93 and 175			United Airlines Flight 93 United Airlines Flight 93 United Airlines Flight 93 was United Airlines' scheduled morning transcontinental flight across the United States from Newark International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco International Airport in California. On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the Boeing 757–222 aircraft operating the...	United Airlines Flight 175 United Airlines Flight 175 United Airlines Flight 175 was United Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental flight, from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California...
	Flight crews of American Airlines 11 and 77			American Airlines Flight 11 American Airlines Flight 11 American Airlines Flight 11 was American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental flight from Logan International Airport, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles International Airport, in Los Angeles, California...	American Airlines Flight 77 American Airlines Flight 77 American Airlines Flight 77 was American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental flight, from Washington Dulles International Airport, in Dulles, Virginia to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California...
2005	Captain E Gennotte	FO S Michielsen	FE M Rofail	2003 Baghdad DHL attempted shootdown incident	Loss of all hydraulics and controls
	Captain I Lyngmo	FO K M Andresen		Kato Air	Lightning strike, elevator control failure
	Captain S M Lian	FO K M Andresen	Mr Odd Eriksen Odd Eriksen Odd Eriksen is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. In addition to his political career he gained national fame after stopping an Algerian hijacker from crashing a Kato Air-flight in 2004.-Career:... , Mr T Frantzen	Kato Air	Attempted hijack
	Captain L Kurka	FO M Turk		Austrian Airlines Austrian Airlines Austrian Airlines is the flag carrier airline of Austria, headquartered in Office Park 2 on the grounds of Vienna International Airport in Schwechat, Wien-Umgebung and a subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Together with regional subsidiary Tyrolean Airways and charter arm Lauda Air, it operates...	Fokker 70 dual engine failure
2008	Captain T Arnold			Nationwide Airlines Nationwide Airlines Nationwide Airlines was an airline based in Lanseria, South Africa. It operated scheduled domestic and international services. Its main base was OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg....	Engine separated from aircraft
2009	Captain D McMillan	FO R Haverfield		Eagle Airways Flight 2279 Eagle Airways Flight 2279 Eagle Airways Flight 2279 was a commuter flight operated by Air National on behalf of Eagle Airways, a regional carrier division of Air New Zealand...	Attempted hijack
2010	Captain J Bartels	FO B Werninghaus	SO P Tabac	Qantas Flight 30 Qantas Flight 30 Qantas Flight 30 was a Qantas Boeing 747-438, construction number 25067, registered in Australia as VH-OJK. QF30 was a scheduled flight from London Heathrow Airport to Melbourne Airport with a stopover in Hong Kong International Airport on 25 July 2008. The flight was interrupted when an oxygen...	Oxygen bottle explosion, rapid depressurisation
2011	Captain R de Crespigny	FO M Hicks	SO M Johnson, Captain H Wubben, Captain D Evans	Qantas Flight 32 Qantas Flight 32 Qantas Flight 32 was a Qantas passenger flight that on 4 November 2010 suffered an uncontained engine failure and was forced to make an emergency landing at Singapore Changi Airport. The failure was the first of its kind for the four-engined Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger aircraft...	Uncontained engine failure