Accidents and incidents in aviation

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An aviation accident is an incident on board an aircraft causing injury or death to one or more persons. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board definition of an aviation accident is as follows:

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 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 is considered substantial.

Contents

History

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"Flying is not inherently dangerous, but to an even greater extent than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of carelessness, incapacity, or neglect" Anon.

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 with minimizing 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. Nevertheless, while the odds of actually getting caught in a plane crash are nowadays distinctly low compared to other means of transportation, the chances of not surviving such a desaster are notably higher.

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

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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 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 Orville Wright crashed after propeller failure of his one-passenger plane during military tests at Fort Myer in Virginia.

Causes

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An accident survey [1] of 2,147 airplane accidents from 1950 through 2004 determined the causes to be as follows:

  • 37%: Pilot error
  • 33%: Undetermined or missing in the record
  • 13%: Mechanical failure
  • 7%: Weather
  • 5%: Sabotage (bombs, hijackings, shoot-downs)
  • 4%: Other human error (air traffic controller error, improper loading of aircraft, improper maintenance, fuel contamination, language miscommunication etc.)
  • 1%: Other cause

The survey excluded military, private, and charter aircraft.

Safety

Aviation safety has come a long way in over one hundred years of implementation. In modern times, two major aircraft manufacturers still co-exist: Boeing of the United States of America and Airbus of Europe. Both have placed huge emphasis on the use of aviation safety equipment, now a billion-dollar industry in its own right, and made safety a major selling point -- realizing that a poor safety record in the aviation industry is a threat to corporate survival. Some major safety devices now required in commercial aircraft involve:

  • Evacuation slides - aid rapid passenger exit from an aircraft in an emergency situation.
  • Advanced avionics - Computerized auto-recovery and alert systems.
  • Turbine Engine durability improvements
  • Landing gear that can be lowered and raised even after loss of power and hydraulics.

The NTSB

Image:Ntsb seal.gif In the United States, many civil aviation incidents have been investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board. When investigating an aviation disaster, NTSB investigators piece together evidence from the crash and determine the likely cause(s). Some accidents the NTSB has reported include:

Date Location Operator Make/Model Fatal Surviving
01/13/82 Washington, D.C. Air Florida Boeing 737-222 70 4
01/23/82 Boston, MA World Airways McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 2 198
07/09/82 New Orleans, LA Pan American World Airways Boeing 727-235 137 0
11/08/82 Honolulu, HI Pan American World Airways Boeing 747-100 1 274
01/09/83 Brainerd, MN Republic Airlines Convair 580-11-A 1 29
10/11/83 Pinckneyville, IL Air Illinois Hawker Siddeley HS-748-2A 7 0
01/01/85 La Paz, Bolivia Eastern Air Lines Boeing 727-225 21 0
01/21/85 Reno, NV Galaxy Airlines Lockheed 188C 64 1
08/02/85 Dallas/FT Worth, TX Delta Airlines Lockheed L-1011-385-1 126 26
09/06/85 Milwaukee, WI Midwest Express Airlines Douglas DC-9-14 27 0
12/12/85 Gander, Newfoundland Arrow Airways Douglas DC-8-63 248 0
02/04/86 Near Athens, Greece Trans World Airlines Boeing 727-231 4 110
02/14/87 Durango, MX Ports OF Call Boeing 707-323B 1 125
08/16/87 Romulus, MI Northwest Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 148 1
11/15/87 Denver, CO Continental Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14 25 52
12/07/87 San Luis Obispo, CA Pacific Southwest Airlines British Aerospace Bae-146-200 38 0
08/31/88 Dallas/FT Worth, TX Delta Airlines Boeing 727-232 12 89
12/21/88 Lockerbie, Scotland Pan American World Airways Boeing 747-121 243 0
02/08/89 Santamaria, Azores Independent Air Boeing 707 137 0
02/24/89 Honolulu, HI United Airlines Boeing 747-122 9 328
07/19/89 Sioux City, IA United Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 110 175
09/20/89 Flushing, NY USAir Boeing 737-400 2 55
12/27/89 Miami, FL Eastern Air Lines Boeing 727-225B 1 46
10/03/90 Cape Canaveral, FL Eastern Air Lines McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 1 90
12/03/90 Romulus, MI Northwest Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14 7 33
02/01/91 Los Angeles, CA Usair Boeing 737-300 20 63
03/03/91 Colorado Spgs, CO United Airlines Boeing 737-291 20 0
03/22/92 Flushing, NY Usair Fokker 28-4000 25 22
07/02/94 Charlotte, NC Usair Douglas DC-9-30 37 20
09/08/94 Aliquippa, PA Usair Boeing B-737-300 127 0
10/31/94 Roselawn, IN American Eagle Atr-72-212 64 0
12/20/95 Cali, Colombia American Airlines Boeing B-757 152 4
05/11/96 Miami, FL Valujet Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9 105 0
07/06/96 Pensacola, FL Delta Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-88 2 140
07/17/96 Moriches, NY Trans World Airlines Boeing 747 212 0
08/02/97 Lima, Peru Continental Airlines Boeing 757-200 1 141
12/28/97 Pacific Ocean United Airlines Boeing 747 1 373
06/01/99 Little Rock, AR American Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-80 10 129
01/31/00 Point Mugu, CA Alaska Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-83 83 0
09/11/01 New York City, NY American Airlines Boeing 767-200 81 0
09/11/01 New York City, NY United Airlines Boeing 767-200 56 0
09/11/01 Arlington, VA American Airlines Boeing 757-200 58 0
09/11/01 Shanksville, PA United Airlines Boeing 757 37 0
11/12/01 Belle Harbor, NY American Airlines AirBus Industrie A300-600 251 0
01/08/03 Charlotte, NC US Airways Express Beech 1900 19 0
10/19/04 Kirksville, MO Corporate Airlines British Aerospace Jetstream 32 13 2

Well-known aviation incidents

Helicopter crashes

Iraq war

Main article: List of Coalition aircraft crashes in Iraq

  • August 12, 2005 - AH-64 Apache crashes near Kirkuk, injuring the two pilots.
  • May 31, 2005 - An Italian AB-412 helicopter crashes near Nasiriyah, killing the four soldiers on board.
  • December 15, 2004 - A helicopter crashes near Karbala after it suffers engine failure; 3 Polish soldiers are killed and 4 injured.
  • September 8, 2004 - Helicopter crashes 20 miles south of Fallujah; all 4 crew members survive.
  • April 7, 2004 - US helicopter crashes near Baquba.
  • March 21, 2003 - 4 Marines killed as helicopter crashes.

Picture Gallery

Pictures of some famous air disasters:

Trans World Airlines - Flight 800

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Pan American Airways - Flight 103

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Pan American Airways - Flight 1736 / KLM Royal Dutch Airlines - Flight 4805

Image:Tenerife Disaster Collision aftermath 27 March 1977.png Image:Tenerife collision.jpg

To see the extended picture gallery go to: Air Disasters Picture Gallery

See also

Lists of commercial airliner accidents

Lists of military aircraft accidents

Specific events

Air safety

Other

External links


Lists of Aircraft | Aircraft manufacturers | Aircraft engines | Aircraft engine manufacturers

Airports | Airlines | Air forces | Aircraft weapons | Missiles | Timeline of aviation

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