TIMELINE: Major plane crashes in past three years

(Reuters) - An Air France plane flying from Brazil to Paris has gone missing over the Atlantic Ocean with 228 people on board and French officials fear a disaster has occurred.

Here are details of some recent major plane crashes.

August 22, 2006 - A Russian Tu-154 operated by Pulkovo Airlines crashes 30 miles north of the east Ukrainian town of Donetsk, killing all 170 passengers and crew.

September 29 - One hundred and fifty-four people are killed when a Boeing 737-800 operated by low-cost Gol airline crashes in the Amazon rain forest.

October 29 - A Boeing 737 operated by domestic carrier ADC, crashes after take off on a flight from Abuja to Sokoto. Only seven of the 106 people aboard the flight survived. Among the dead was Ibrahim Muhammadu, who as Sultan of Sokoto was the leader of the Muslim community.

January 1, 2007 - An Indonesian Boeing 737-400 operated by budget carrier Adam Air disappeared from radar screens during a flight from Java to Sulawesi islands. Wreckage was located at sea 10 days later. All 102 passengers and crew were killed.

May 5 - All 114 people on board a Kenya AirwaysBoeing 737 are killed after the plane crashed in torrential rain after takeoff from Douala in Cameroon en route to Nairobi.

July 17 - A Brazilian TAM passenger plane crashes into buildings when trying to land in Sao Paulo, killing 199 people aboard and on the ground.

September 16 - One-Two-Go, a budget Thai airliner carrying 123 passengers and several crew crashes on landing at the resort island of Phuket. At least 85 of the 123 passengers were killed and five of the seven crew.

August 20, 2008 - A Spanair MD-82, flying to the Canary Islands with 166 passengers and six crew, crashes on takeoff at Madrid airport killing 154 people. The remaining 18 are seriously injured.

August 24 - A Boeing 737-200 belonging to a private Kyrgyz company Itek-Air, chartered by an Iranian company and bound for Iran, crashes at Bishkek airport. Around 70 people, including members of a local teenage basketball team, died.

May 20, 2009 - An Indonesian C130 military transport plane carrying 110 passengers and crew crashes and bursts into flames 6.5 km (4 miles) from the Iswahyudi air force base in East Java while preparing to land, killing 98 people including two on the ground.

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit;)