According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), an aircraft accident, more commonly referred to as plane crash, is “an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft in which: a person is fatally or seriously injured; an aircraft sustains damage or structural failure requiring repair; after which the aircraft in question is classified as being missing.”

Thankfully, they are not frequent and tend to rarify, but they have been happening since the early days of aviation until nowadays. EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) reports 2 fatal accidents in 2023 and 77 fatalities, whereas those numbers could reach 2,500 fatalities in a sole year in the past.

1: Fatal accidents and fatalities in aviation per year since 2013. Source: Annual Safety Review 2024, EASA

2: Fatalities in commercial aviation per year since 1970. Source: Annual Safety Review 2024, EASA

Most common causes for crashes are mechanical failure, pilot error, weather-related incidents, bird strikes, air traffic control error or improper maintenance.

Crashes most likely happens during take-off or landing phases, as many exterior factors can interfere with the pilots’ judgement. A striking example is the Tenerife collision, the deadliest crash ever, that happened on the 27th of March 1977. While attempting a take-off in a foggy weather despite the ATC warnings, a KLM Boeing 747 collided into a Panam Boeing 747 that was approaching the runway, which resulted in the death of 583 people.

3: Remains of the two B747 involved in the Tenerife disaster, 1977. Source: Capital.fr

Another more recent example is the crash of a Boeing 737-800 in Korea on December 29th, 2024, when this aircraft collided with a bird and could not get its landing gear out before attempting a landing and hitting a barrier at the end of the runway, costing 179 lives out of 181 people boarding the plane.

4: Remains of the Jeju Air B737 in Muan Airport, Korea, two hours after the crash, 2024. Source: Wikipedia

Most crashes are caused by a succession of several mild incidents which, put together, causes the dramatic outcome: this analysis is metaphorically called the Swiss Cheese model. Take a few Swiss cheese slices with holes in them, it is unlikely that the holes will align, but not impossible: in such case, a tragedy can happen. In aviation, the cheese slices represent the safety and security precautions, and the holes are the diverse factors that can be held accountable for the crash (human error, maintenance, security breaches, electronical or mechanical failures, …). Two prime examples are Air France flight AF447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on the 1st of June, 2009, when the freezing of a Pitot probe – which was a known problem that Airbus, the manufacturer, “resolved” by issuing recommendations for more training - led to piloting mistakes that multiplied as the flying crew could not realise their direction due to how dark it was, until they hit the Atlantic Ocean and killed everyone on board, and Japan Airlines JAL123 flight that used a domestic Boeing 747 that endured a tail strike while landing that was poorly repaired seven years prior to the flight; the rudder broke mid-air on the 12th of August 1985, due to the lack of proper maintenance and disregards of the company’s mechanics to Boeing’s recommendations concerning incidents like tail strikes, causing 520 deaths which makes it the 2nd deadliest crash ever.

5: Japan Airlines B747 mid-air lacking its vertical stabilizer, 1985. Source: Wikipedia

While the Swiss cheese model can describe a majority of aircraft crashes, some events are caused by only one factor that is unpredictable, such as the Lockerbie tragedy. This flight departed London on the 21st of December 1988, and its crash was induced by a bomb in a suitcase that was implanted from Malta and was not double-checked before being loaded up in the luggage deck of the Panam Boeing 747 headed to JFK. Its explosion mid-air, above the Scottish city of Lockerbie where the plane hit the ground, caused a total of 270 fatalities including everyone on board and 11 people on the ground.

6: Remains of the cockpit of the Panam B747 found around Lockerbie, 1988. Source: Wikipedia

On top of being dramatic due to the loss of many lives, crashes also have an economical impact that is not to be neglected. The Lockerbie crash typically decreased the demand for recreational flights especially operated by Panam, which is one of the many reasons of its bankruptcy in 1991. The economics behind this also result in certain planes retirement, such as the Concorde’s after its crash in Paris on the 25th of July 2000 that killed 100 passengers, 9 crew members and 4 people on the ground, or the 1st ever jet engine powered passenger jet, the De Havilland Comet 1, that had many crashes because of structural problems in the design of the wings, in the materials fatigue or in the electronics, which allowed the Boeing 707 to be considered the first of its kind.

7: Air France Concorde catching on fire after taking off, 2003. Source: Actu.fr

Understanding why and how these incidents happen is essential to react properly and avoid more tragedies of this kind, but also to limit the spreading of potential misinformation that can be found in the media. Although they are tragic, crashes allow safety and security breaches to be highlighted and solved as to make sure to limit them the best we can. The victims of every single crash are sorely missed, and their remembrance is as important as ensuring we fly safer every day.