List of aircraft accidents and incidents resulting in at least 50 fatalities
This article lists aircraft accidents and incidents which resulted in at least 50 fatalities in a single occurrence 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 with either a commercial or military passenger or cargo flight.
There have been 552 such incidents, including terrorist or other attacks. Of these, 204 have involved at least 100 fatalities, 34 have had at least 200 fatalities, 8 have had at least 300 fatalities, and 4 have had at least 500 fatalities. Between 1923 and the present, these incidents have accounted for 58,144 fatalities across all seven continents and the three largest oceans.
History
Five years after the pioneering flight of the Wright brothers on 17 December 1903, 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, on 17 September 1908. Eugène Lefebvre was the first pilot killed in a powered airplane in 1909, while the first fatal mid-air collision occurred on 19 June 1912, near Douai, France, killing the pilot of each aircraft. 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.The first aviation incident to result in more than 50 fatalities did not involve an airplane. On 21 December 1923, the Dixmude, a rigid airship of the French Navy, was reportedly struck by lightning and crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, off Sicily, Italy. All 52 crew and passengers were killed. Nearly 10 years later, the, also a rigid airship, encountered severe weather and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, off Barnegat Light, New Jersey, killing 73 of those on board. It was another 5 years before a fixed-wing aircraft incident claimed more than 50 fatalities. On 24 July 1938, a Curtiss Hawk II crashed into spectator stands in the Santa Ana air show disaster. 52 spectators were killed on the ground in addition to the pilot of the airplane. One month later on 24 August 1938, the Japan mid-air collision in Tokyo claimed 53 lives on the ground in addition to the 5 crew members aboard both planes. The first rotorcraft incident to result in more than 50 fatalities was the 1977 crash of a Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion in Israel, which killed 54 people.
The greatest number of fatalities involving one aircraft occurred in 1985 when 520 people died in the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123. The most fatalities in any aviation accident in history occurred during 1977 in the Tenerife airport disaster when 583 people were killed when two Boeing 747s collided on a runway. The greatest number of fatalities from a midair collision occurred at the Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, to the west of New Delhi, India on 12 November 1996 when a Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747-100B en route from Delhi to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, collided with Kazakhstan Airlines Ilyushin Il-76 en route from Chimkent, Kazakhstan to Delhi, killing all 349 people aboard both the airplanes. The 11 September 2001 coordinated attack of the World Trade Center claimed not only 157 passengers and crew, but an additional 2,606 victims. 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 on-board fatalities and an additional 1,173 ground or non-commercial aircraft collision deaths. The Boeing analysis suggests a decrease of commercial aviation accident fatality rates toward the end of the study period.
Inclusion criteria
Criteria for inclusion require at least 50 fatalities in a single occurrence 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 with either a commercial or military passenger or cargo flight.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. 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.
Table key
| Column | Abbreviation | Definition |
| Deaths | Tot | Total |
| Deaths | C | Crew |
| Deaths | P | Passenger |
| Deaths | G | Ground |
| Deaths | N | Notes |
| Deaths | † | No survivors |
| Deaths | 1* | Sole survivor |
| T abv. for Type | COM | Commercial |
| T abv. for Type | MIL | Military |
| T abv. for Type | INB | Bombing |
| T abv. for Type | INH | Hijacking |
| T abv. for Type | EXG | Attacked using ground-based weapons |
| T abv. for Type | EXS | Attacked by other aircraft |
| Column | Abbreviation | Definition |
| Location | < 20 km | |
| Location | "off" | < 20 km |
| Location | "near" | 20 km to 50 km |
| Location | "area of" | > 50 km |
| Phase | STD | Standing |
| Phase | TXI | Taxi |
| Phase | TOF | Take off |
| Phase | ICL | Initial climb |
| Phase | ENR | En route |
| Phase | MNV | Maneuvering |
| Phase | APR | Approach |
| Phase | LDG | Landing |
| Phase | UNK | Unknown |
| Airport | *** | Active or decommissioned military bases; closed/reassigned civil airports |
Table
Deaths
- Total : The total number of fatalities associated with the accident or incident.
- Crew : The number of crew fatalities.
- Passenger : The number of passenger fatalities.
- Ground : The number of ground fatalities.
- Notes : The presence of a cross denotes that all passengers and crew were killed. The presence of a one with an asterisk indicates the accident or incident had a sole survivor.
Type
Accidents and related incidents
- "COM": Commercial aircraft
- "MIL": Military aircraft
Attacks and related incidents
- "INB": Internal attack involving a pre-planned bomb.
- "INH": Internal attack to commandeer of aircraft. Use of weapons for this purpose is coded in this category.
- "EXG": External attack originating on the ground.
- "EXS": External attack originating in the sky.
Location
- none: No descriptor appears before the location name. The site was within 20 km of the location.
- "off": Used only for those aquatic crash sites within 20 km of the location.
- "near": The site was approximately 20 km to 50 km from the location.
- "area of": The crash site was over 50 km from the location provided.
Phases of flight
The phases of flight are those defined by the joint Commercial Aviation SafetyTeam/ICAO Common Taxonomy Team.
- Standing : Prior to pushback/taxi, after gate arrival, or stationary and parked.
- Taxi : Moving under own power, prior to takeoff or after landing.
- Take off : Initiation of takeoff power, pulling back on controls, through to 10 m altitude.
- Initial climb : End of TOF to the first of: initial prescribed power reduction, 300 m altitude, or VFR pattern.
- En route : End of ICL, through descent, to initial approach or 300 m above runway elevation.
- Maneuvering : Only for low altitude flight or aerobatics.
- Approach : From IAF or 300 m elevation to landing flare.
- Landing : Landing flare through to exit from runway.
- Unknown : Unable to determine phase of flight.
Airports and distance
Summary
Since 1923, spanning all seven continents and the three largest oceans, there have been 552 high fatality aircraft accidents, incidents, and attacks involving 586 aircraft resulting in 58,144 fatalities. By type, accidents/incidents account for 510 occurrences, 544 aircraft, and 50,752 fatalities. Attacks account for 41 incidents, 43 aircraft, and 7,289 fatalities.Descriptive statistics
A brief review of the descriptive statistics of fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and lighter-than-air aircraft accidents and incidents since 1923 suggests the following:- by type, the two main categories of occurrences were accidents and related incidents and attacks on aircraft. Sub-groupings of the first category include commercial and military. Sub-groupings of the second category include internal attacks with a bomb, internal attacks with hijacking, external attacks from the ground, and external attacks from the sky.
- by fatality rate , 382 of occurrences had a 100% FR; note the high selection bias of this statistic, since incidents with less than 50 fatalities, likely to have low FR, are excluded by definition.
- by phase of flight, the highest number of occurrences took place while en route.
- by decade, 1964–73 had the greatest number of occurrences and pre-1944 the least. The highest number of fatalities occurred during 1994–2003 and the lowest pre-1944.
- by location, the continents of Asia and Antarctica had the highest and lowest number of occurrences respectively. The United States, followed by the former Soviet Union accounted for nearly one-quarter of all high fatality crashes. Aircraft impacted the water in 64 occurrences.
| Continent | No. | Pct. |
| Africa | 67 | 12.2% |
| Antarctica | 1 | 0.2% |
| Asia | 188 | 33.9% |
| Australia/Oceania | 6 | 1.1% |
| Europe | 134 | 24.4% |
| North America | 89 | 16.2% |
| South America | 57 | 10.4% |
| Other | 9 | 1.6% |
| Phase | No. | Pct. |
| Standing | 2 | 0.4% |
| Taxi | 3 | 0.5% |
| Takeoff | 25 | 4.5% |
| Initial climb | 53 | 9.4% |
| En route | 252 | 45.4% |
| Maneuvering | 3 | 0.5% |
| Approach | 188 | 33.7% |
| Landing | 23 | 4.1% |
| Unknown | 8 | 1.4% |
| Decade | Occ. | Pct. | Fat. | Pct. |
| pre 1944 | 6 | 1.1% | 426 | 0.7% |
| 1944–1953 | 24 | 4.4% | 1427 | 2.5% |
| 1954–1963 | 63 | 11.5% | 4712 | 8.2% |
| 1964–1973 | 117 | 21.4% | 10145 | 17.6% |
| 1974–1983 | 97 | 17.7% | 10709 | 18.6% |
| 1984–1993 | 91 | 16.6% | 10136 | 17.5% |
| 1994–2003 | 89 | 16.2% | 12800 | 22.1% |
| 2004–2013 | 41 | 7.5% | 4637 | 8.0% |
| 2014–2023 | 23 | 3.8% | 3049 | 4.8% |