Accidents and incidents in aviation

Citing the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, an aviation accident is defined 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 aviation incident is defined as an occurrence other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft, which affects or could affect the safety of operations. Other countries adopt a similar approach, although there are minor variations, such as to the extent of aviation-related operations on the ground covered, as well as with respect to the thresholds beyond which an injury is considered serious or the damage – substantial.

Capt. Christopher Stricklin ejected from his USAF Thunderbirds aircraft at an air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, on September 14th 2003. Stricklin was not injured.

History

"Flying is not inherently dangerous, but to an even greater extent than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of carelessness, incapacity, or neglect" - anon. quotation familiar to all aviators.

Since the birth of flight, aircraft have crashed, often with serious consequences. This is due to the unforgiving nature of flight, where a relatively insubstantial medium, air, supports a significant mass. Should this support fail, there is limited opportunity for a good outcome. Because of this, aircraft design is concerned to minimise the chance of failure, and pilots are trained with safety a primary consideration. Despite this, accidents still occur, though statistically flying is nowadays an extremely safe form of transportation. In fact, the relative rarity of incidents, coupled with the often dramatic outcome, is one reason why they still make headline news.

Many early attempts at flight ended in failure when a design raised to a height for a launching would fail to generate enough lift and crash to the ground. Some of the earliest aviation pioneers lost their lives testing aircraft they built. See Early flying machines.

Otto Lilienthal died after a failure of one of his gliders. On his 2500th flight (August 10, 1896), a gust of wind broke the wing of his glider, causing him to fall from a height of roughly 56 ft (17 m), fracturing his spine. He died the next day, with his last words being reported as Opfer müssen gebracht werden! ("sacrifices must be made"). Percy Pilcher was another promising aviation pioneer. Pilcher died testing The Hawk (September 20, 1899). Just as with Lilienthal, promising designs and ideas for a motorized planes were lost with his death. Some other early attempts experienced rough landings, such as Richard Pearse who is generally accepted to have crash landed (survived) a motorized aircraft in some bushes, unable to gain altitude after launching from it from some height.

The Wright Flyer nearly crashed on the day of its historic flight, sustaining some damage when landing. Thomas Selfridge became the first person killed in a powered airplane on September 17, 1908 when Wilbur crashed his two-passenger plane during military tests at Fort Myer in Virginia.

The Tenerife disaster which killed almost 600 people is often regarded as the worst-ever accident in Aviation history. If the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks in New York and Washington are regarded as aviation disasters, rather than as acts of terrorism or warfare, then they account for about 2800 lives, significantly more than the Tenerife disaster.

Two incidents of note have happened in Puerto Rico: On December 31,1972, baseball player Roberto Clemente, his helpers and crew died when the DC-3 they rented for a relief flight to Nicaragua crashed off the Atlantic coast, shortly after take-off from Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, then known as Isla Verde International Airport. Neither their bodies nor the wreckage of the plane have been recovered so far. In 1985, an American Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10 ran off the runway at the same airport, ending up in a lake. No one, however, was injured in the 1985 incident.

Legend has it that many planes (as well as ships) have been lost in the Bermuda Triangle. The triangle covers the area between San Juan, Puerto Rico, Miami and Bermuda. Some say that the planes were taken hostage, others say they were taken away by aliens. What actually happened to the planes and ships that lost contact while navigating this area remains a mystery.

World boxing champion Rocky Marciano was killed in 1969, when a plane he was piloting crashed. In 1979, New York Yankees catcher Thurman Munson also died in the crash of a plane he was flying. In 1993, two top NASCAR drivers were killed in separate aviation accidents. First, defending series champion Alan Kulwicki was killed when the plane in which he was a passenger crashed while he was on his way to a race. Later, Davey Allison died from injuries suffered in a helicopter crash during a race weekend. In 1999, a private jet that was carrying golf star Payne Stewart crashed in South Dakota with no survivors; it is believed that all on board died from lack of oxygen (hypoxia) when the plane gradually lost cabin pressure early in the flight, while the plane was on autopilot.

Commercial airliner accidents

Lists of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners are available sorted:

Accidents and incidents in aviation

History

Commercial airliner accidents

See also: