List of deadliest aircraft accidents and incidents
{{Short description|List of aircraft incidents}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{featured list}}
File:Image collage of some of the deadliest aviation disasters since 2001.jpg
This article lists the deadliest aircraft accidents and incidents involving commercial passenger and cargo flights, military passenger and cargo flights, or general aviation flights that have been involved in a ground or mid-air collision.
As of {{TODAY}}, 206 accidents and incidents have resulted in at least 100 fatalities, 34 at least 200 fatalities, eight at least 300 fatalities, and four at least 500 fatalities.
History
On the 17 September 1908, nearly five years after the pioneering flight of the Wright brothers on the 17 December 1903,{{cite web |title=A Brief History of the FAA |publisher=Federal Aviation Administration |url=http://www.faa.gov/about/history/brief_history |access-date=8 June 2013 |archive-date=1 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601215415/http://www.faa.gov/about/history/brief_history/ |url-status=live }} Thomas Selfridge became the first fatality of powered flight while flying as a passenger with Orville Wright during a demonstration of the Wright Model A at Fort Myer, Virginia.{{cite web |url=http://lancasteronline.com/blogs/flashbacklancaster/2008/09/17/fatal-plane-crash-1908 |title=Fatal plane crash, 1908 |date=17 September 2008 |publisher=Flashback Lancaster |access-date=8 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005131939/http://lancasteronline.com/blogs/flashbacklancaster/2008/09/17/fatal-plane-crash-1908/ |archive-date=5 October 2013 |df=dmy-all}} On 7 September 1909, Eugène Lefebvre was the first to be killed while piloting a powered airplane, while the first fatal mid-air collision occurred on 19 June 1912, near Douai, France, killing the pilot of each aircraft.{{cite book |last=Chisholm |first=Hugh |title=The Britannica Year Book |url=https://archive.org/details/britannicayearb01chisgoog |access-date=21 March 2014 |year=1913 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Company, Limited |page=[https://archive.org/details/britannicayearb01chisgoog/page/n83 29]}} Since the deaths of these early aviation pioneers, the scale of fatal aircraft accidents has increased in proportion to the size and capacity of airplanes.{{Cn|date=February 2025}}
The greatest number of passenger fatalities involving one airline in a single calendar year occurred in 2014 with Malaysia Airlines, with 537 people dead (presumably - with the wreckage unrecovered, the death toll is not entirely confirmed) in two tragedies: disappearance of Flight 370 on 8 March and the shootdown of Flight 17 on 17 July. When including ground fatalities, American Airlines holds this distinction, with the 2001 crashes of Flight 11 and Flight 77 on 11 September, and Flight 587 on 12 November, with a combined total of approximately 2,000 deaths, including 416 people on the three aircraft.{{cite web |title=Aviation Safety Network Safety Database |website=Aviation Safety Network |url=http://aviation-safety.net/database |access-date=4 June 2013 |archive-date=4 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804013049/http://aviation-safety.net/database/ |url-status=live }} The deliberate crashes of the aforementioned American Airlines Flight 11, as well as United Airlines Flight 175 at the World Trade Center, and the subsequent collapse of both towers on 11 September 2001 caused 2,606 ground fatalities in addition to the deaths of the 157 people on board both flights, making it the deadliest aviation disaster in history.{{cite web |url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20010911-0 |title=ASN Accident Description (American Airlines-11) |date=11 September 2001 |website=aviation-safety.net |publisher=Aviation Safety Network |access-date=22 June 2013 |archive-date=17 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110217075500/http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20010911-0 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20010911-1 |title=ASN Accident Description (United Airlines-175) |date=11 September 2001 |website=aviation-safety.net |publisher=Aviation Safety Network |access-date=22 June 2013 |archive-date=6 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606104749/http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20010911-1 |url-status=live }}
The most fatalities in any aviation accident in history occurred at Tenerife North–Ciudad de La Laguna Airport (then Los Rodeos Airport) in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, on 27 March 1977, when a KLM Boeing 747-206B and a Pan Am Boeing 747-121 collided on a runway, killing 583 people.{{cite web |url=http://libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/ntsb/miscellaneous-reports/Tenerife.pdf |title=Joint Report K.L.M.-P.A.A. 12.7.1978 |date=16 November 1978 |website=libraryonline.erau.edu |publisher=Minasterio de Transportes Y Comunicaciones |access-date=28 June 2013 |archive-date=15 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615144633/http://libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/ntsb/miscellaneous-reports/Tenerife.pdf |url-status=live }} The largest number of fatalities from the accidental crash of a single aircraft occurred on 12 August 1985, when Japan Air Lines Flight 123, a Boeing 747SR-46 en route from Tokyo to Osaka, crashed at Mount Takamagahara in Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520 people.{{Cite web|last=Ranter|first=Harro|date=|title=ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 747SR-46 JA8119 Ueno|url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19850812-1|access-date=11 December 2023|website=aviation-safety.net|publisher=Aviation Safety Network|archive-date=10 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510004708/https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19850812-1|url-status=live}} The greatest number of fatalities from a mid-air collision occurred to the west of New Delhi, India, on 12 November 1996, when a Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747-168B en route from Delhi to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, collided with a Kazakhstan Airlines Ilyushin Il-76TD en route from Shymkent, Kazakhstan, to Delhi, killing all 349 people aboard both aircraft.{{cite web|title= India air safety profile|work= Aviation Safety Network|url= http://aviation-safety.net/database/country/country.php?id=VT|access-date= 11 December 2023|archive-date= 27 May 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140527115537/http://aviation-safety.net/database/country/country.php?id=VT|url-status= live}}
In 2012, Boeing released a study of worldwide commercial jet airplane accidents between 1959 and 2011, reporting 1,798 accidents, 603 categorized as fatal, which accounted for 29,025 onboard fatalities and an additional 1,173 ground or noncommercial aircraft collision deaths.{{cite web |url=http://www.boeing.com/news/techissues/pdf/statsum.pdf |title=Statistical summary of commercial jet airplane accidents (1959–2011) |year=2012 |website=boeing.com |publisher=Boeing |access-date=8 June 2013 |archive-date=15 September 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030915090234/http://www.boeing.com/news/techissues/pdf/statsum.pdf |url-status=live }} The Boeing analysis suggests a decrease of commercial aviation accident fatality rates toward the end of the study period.{{Cite web |title=statsum.pdf |url=https://www.boeing.com/content/dam/boeing/boeingdotcom/company/about_bca/pdf/statsum.pdf |access-date=25 February 2025 |website=www.boeing.com}}
Definitions
The US Code of Federal Regulations defines an accident as "an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight and all such persons have disembarked, and in which any person suffers death or serious injury, or in which the aircraft receives substantial damage;" an incident as "an occurrence other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft, which affects or could affect the safety of operations;" and a fatal injury as one which results in death within 30 days of the accident.{{cite web |url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2012-title49-vol7/pdf/CFR-2012-title49-vol7-subtitleB-chapVIII.pdf |title=Code of Federal Regulations (Title 49-Transportation) |year=2012 |page=626 |website=gpo.gov |publisher=Government Printing Office |access-date=3 June 2013 |archive-date=7 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181007040401/https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2012-title49-vol7/pdf/CFR-2012-title49-vol7-subtitleB-chapVIII.pdf |url-status=live }} The definitions of accident, incident, and fatality in the Code of Federal Regulations, and used by the FAA and NTSB, are generally consistent with those found in the ICAO Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13.{{cite journal |url=http://www.caa.govt.nz/ICAO/ICAO_Compliance.htm |title=International Standards and Recommended Practices |year=2001 |website=caa.govt.nz |publisher=International Civil Aviation Organization |access-date=9 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308215032/https://www.caa.govt.nz/ICAO/ICAO_Compliance.htm |archive-date=8 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}
Table key
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
| class="wikitable"
|+Table key (deaths, type) |
| scope="col"|Column
!scope="col"|Abbreviation !scope="col"|Definition |
|---|
| rowspan="8"|Deaths
|scope="row"|Tot |Total |
| scope="row"|C
|Crew |
| scope="row"|P
|Passenger |
| scope="row"|G
|Ground |
| scope="row"|N
|Notes |
| scope="row"|‡
|Was previously the deadliest incident |
| scope="row"|†
|No survivors |
| scope="row"|1* |
| rowspan="6"|T abv. for Type |scope="row"|COM |Commercial (accident/incident) |
| scope="row"|MIL
|Military (accident/incident) |
| scope="row"|INB
|Bombing |
| scope="row"|INH
|Hijacking |
| scope="row"|EXG
|Attacked using ground-based weapons |
| scope="row"|EXS
|Attacked by other aircraft |
{{col-break}}
| class="wikitable"
|+Table key (location, phase of flight) |
| scope="col"|Column
!scope="col"|Abbreviation !scope="col"|Definition |
|---|
| rowspan="4" |Location
|scope="row"|(none) |< 20 km (12.5 mi) |
| scope="row"| "off"
|< 20 km (12.5 mi) (water impact) |
| scope="row"| "near"
|20 km (12.5 mi) to 50 km (31 mi) |
| scope="row"| "area of"
|> 50 km (31 mi) |
| rowspan="9"|Phase
|scope="row"|STD |Standing |
| scope="row"|TXI
|Taxi |
| scope="row"|TOF
|Take off |
| scope="row"|ICL
|Initial climb |
| scope="row"|ENR
|En route |
| scope="row"|MNV
|Maneuvering |
| scope="row"|APR
|Approach |
| scope="row"|LDG
|Landing |
| scope="row"|UNK
|Unknown |
| rowspan="1"|Airport
|scope="row"|*** |Active or decommissioned military bases; closed/reassigned civil airports |
{{col-end}}
Table
Notes regarding table data columns
=Deaths=
- Total (Tot): The total number of fatalities associated with the accident or incident.
- Crew (C): The number of crew fatalities.
- Passenger (P): The number of passenger fatalities.
- Ground (G): The number of ground (non-flying) fatalities.
- Notes (N): The presence of a cross (†) denotes that all passengers and crew were killed. The presence of a one with an asterisk (1*) indicates the accident or incident had a sole survivor.
=Type=
Occurrences have been coded to allow for identification and sorting by group membership (accidents and related incidents versus attacks).
=Location=
To provide some indication of the distance between the site and the nearest location, the following three descriptors are applied:
- none: No descriptor appears before the location name. The site was within 20 km (12.5 mi) of the location.
- "off": Used only for those aquatic crash sites within 20 km (12.5 mi) of the location.
- "near": The site was approximately 20 km to 50 km (12.5 mi to 31 mi) from the location.
- "area of": The crash site was over 50 km (31 mi) from the location provided.
The names of occurrence locations are based on their present-day names.
=Phases of flight=
The phases of flight are those defined by the joint Commercial Aviation Safety
Team/ICAO Common Taxonomy Team.{{cite web |url=http://www.intlaviationstandards.org/Documents/PhaseofFlightDefinitions.pdf |title=Phase of Flight Definitions |year=2013 |website=www.intlaviationstandards.org |publisher=International Aviation Standards |access-date=27 May 2013}}
- Standing (STD): Prior to pushback/taxi, after gate arrival, or stationary and parked.
- Taxi (TXI): Moving under own power, prior to takeoff or after landing.
- Take off (TOF): Initiation of takeoff power, pulling back on controls, through to 10 m (35 ft) altitude.
- Initial climb (ICL): End of TOF to the first of: initial prescribed power reduction, 300 m (1000 ft) altitude, or VFR pattern.
- En route (ENR): End of ICL, through descent, to initial approach (IFR) or 300 m (1000 ft) above runway elevation (VFR).
- Maneuvering (MNV): Only for low altitude flight (observation, photography) or aerobatics.
- Approach (APR): From IAF or 300 m (1000 ft) elevation to landing flare.
- Landing (LDG): Landing flare through to exit from runway.
- Unknown (UNK): Unable to determine phase of flight.
=Airports and distance=
Airports associated with occurrences at all phases of flight (except ENR) are represented by their three-letter IATA airport code. In some cases, no IATA code is reported/assigned in which case the four-letter ICAO code is used. In rare instances (e.g., active or decommissioned military bases or closed airports whose civil codes have been reassigned), no codes exist. These airports are represented with three asterisks "***" in place of letters. Distance from the point of impact to the airport runway is provided for occurrences during the initial climb (ICL) and approach (APR) phases. On occasion, distance is provided for occurrences during takeoff (TOF) and landing (LDG) if the aircraft impacted within the aerodrome, but not on the runway.
See also
Notes
All accident and incident references to the Aviation Safety Network database are sub-pages of their main website, [https://asn.flightsafety.org/ https://asn.flightsafety.org].
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References
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=Books=
- {{cite book |last=Francillon |first=Rene J. |title=McDonnell Douglas Aircraft since 1920: Volume II |year=1990 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Maryland |isbn=1-55750-550-0}}
- {{cite book |last1=Gero |first1=David |year=2006 |title=Aviation Disasters: The World's Major Civil Airliner Crashes Since 1950 |publisher=J.H. Haynes & Co. Ltd. |location=London |edition=4th |isbn=0-7509-3146-9}}
- {{cite book |last1=Gordon |first1=Yefim |last2=Komissarov |first2=Dmitriy |last3=Komissarov |first3=Sergey |title=OKB Yakovlev: A History of the Design Bureau and Its Aircraft |year=2005 |publisher=Midland Publishing |location=England |isbn=1-85780-203-9}}
- {{cite book |last=Grant |first=R.G. |title=Flight: The Complete History |year=2007 |publisher=DK Publishing |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7566-1902-2}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |last1=Gordon |first1=Yefim |last2=Komissarov |first2=Dmitriy |title=OKB Sukhoi: A History of the Design Bureau and Its Aircraft |year=2010 |publisher=Midland Publishing |location=England |isbn=978-1-85780-314-3}}
- {{cite book |last=Haine |first=Edgar |title=Disaster in the Air |year=2000 |publisher=Cornwall Books |location=Cranbury, New Jersey |isbn=0-8453-4777-2}}
- {{cite book |last=Kane |first=Robert |title=Air Transportation |year=2012 |publisher=Kendall Hunt Publishing Company |isbn=978-1-4652-0687-9}}
{{Lists of aviation accidents and incidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aircraft accidents and incidents resulting in at least 50 fatalities}}