Flying is weirdly safe. We all know the statistics—you’re more likely to get struck by lightning while winning the lottery than to go down in a commercial jet—but that doesn't stop your heart from skipping a beat when the wing shakes during a bit of "chop" over the Rockies. When people go looking for a list of aviation incidents, they usually aren't looking for gore. They’re looking for answers. They want to know why things broke and, more importantly, how we made sure they never broke that way again.
Human error. Mechanical failure. Weather.
Most of the time, it's a messy cocktail of all three.
The Anatomy of a Modern List of Aviation Incidents
If you look back at the 1970s, the "Golden Age" of flying was actually kind of a nightmare for safety. Planes were falling out of the sky at an alarming rate compared to today. Why? Because we were still figuring out how high-cycle fatigue affects pressurized aluminum. We were still learning that "Cockpit Resource Management" (CRM) is more important than a captain's ego.
Take the 1977 Tenerife airport disaster. It remains the deadliest accident in aviation history. Two Boeing 747s collided on a foggy runway. It wasn't an engine failure. It wasn't a bomb. It was a series of misunderstandings over the radio and a captain who was in too much of a hurry to take off. This single event fundamentally changed how pilots talk to Air Traffic Control.
They don't say "OK" anymore. They read back specific instructions. Every single entry on a list of aviation incidents has a "blood tax" attached to it—a lesson learned the hard way.
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When Engines Quit: British Airways Flight 009
In 1982, a 747 flew into a cloud of volcanic ash over Indonesia. All four engines flamed out. Imagine the silence. Capt. Eric Moody famously told the passengers, "I trust you are not in too much distress." They glided for nearly 15 minutes before they could get the engines restarted. This incident taught the industry that volcanic ash isn't just "dust"—it’s basically melted glass that chokes turbines. Now, we ground entire continents (remember Iceland in 2010?) because of what Eric Moody’s crew discovered.
The Mystery of MH370 and the Limits of Data
We can't talk about a list of aviation incidents without mentioning Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. It’s the elephant in the room. In an era where you can track your Uber to the exact driveway, we lost a whole wide-body jet. It's been over a decade. This prompted a massive shift in how planes report their position via satellite. We shifted from "tracking once every 30 minutes" to "tracking every minute" in distress situations.
Technology failed us because we assumed we didn't need to watch that closely. We were wrong.
Why We Study the Failures
Airplanes are essentially massive, flying physics experiments.
When an incident happens, the NTSB or the BEA doesn't just look for a scapegoat. They look for the "Swiss Cheese Model." Imagine slices of Swiss cheese lined up. Each hole is a failure. An incident only happens when the holes in every single slice line up perfectly.
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- Slice 1: A sensor is slightly out of calibration.
- Slice 2: The pilot is tired because of a quick turnaround.
- Slice 3: The weather is worse than the briefing suggested.
- Slice 4: The co-pilot is too nervous to speak up.
If you plug just one of those holes, the plane doesn't crash. Modern safety is about making the holes smaller.
The Boeing 737 MAX Saga
This is a more recent addition to any list of aviation incidents. It’s a case study in what happens when corporate pressure meets complex software. The MCAS system was designed to make a new, fuel-efficient plane handle like an old one. But they didn't tell the pilots it was there. Lion Air 610 and Ethiopian Airlines 302 showed that even with all our technology, lack of transparency is fatal.
It led to a two-year global grounding. It cost billions. But more importantly, it forced a reckoning with how software interacts with human intuition.
Small Incidents with Big Consequences
Not every incident involves a crash. Some of the most important entries on a list of aviation incidents are the "near misses" or the "saves."
Remember United 232? In 1989, a DC-10’s tail engine exploded, severing all three hydraulic systems. The pilots had zero control over the wing flaps, the rudder, or the elevators. They flew the plane using only the throttles. It was "impossible" to land, yet they brought it down in Sioux City. Most survived. That incident taught us about "redundant" systems and how even a total failure can be managed with extreme skill.
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Then there’s the "Gimli Glider." 1983. A Boeing 767 ran out of fuel at 41,000 feet because someone confused pounds with kilograms. They glided it onto a racetrack that used to be an Air Force base. Nobody died. The lesson? Check your units. Seriously.
How to Read an Accident Report Like a Pro
If you’re digging through a list of aviation incidents on Wikipedia or the Aviation Safety Network, don't just look at the fatalities.
Look at the "Probable Cause."
- Look for the chain. Accidents are rarely one thing. They are a sequence. If you can identify the moment the chain could have been broken, you understand the safety logic.
- Check the date. Incidents from the 50s and 60s are usually mechanical. Incidents from the 90s and 2000s are usually "Automation Surprise"—where the pilot doesn't know what the computer is doing.
- Read the ADs. Airworthiness Directives are the rules issued after an incident. If you see a plane today that looks different—like the "V-tail" Bonanza having extra bracing—that’s history written in metal.
The truth is, every time you buckle that seatbelt and hear the "ding" of the cabin crew starting their service, you are benefiting from every single tragedy and "almost-tragedy" in history.
We are safer because we are obsessed with our mistakes.
Actionable Steps for the Anxious Traveler
If reading a list of aviation incidents makes you nervous, use that energy to be a more informed passenger. First, always count the rows to your nearest exit; in a smoke-filled cabin, you won't be able to see, but you can feel the seat backs. Second, keep your seatbelt fastened even when the sign is off. Clear-air turbulence is the most common cause of non-fatal injuries in modern aviation, and it gives zero warning. Finally, actually listen to the safety briefing. It’s not for the airline's legal protection—it's because in the rare event of a "water landing," people actually forget how to put on a life vest under pressure. Knowledge is the best sedative for flight anxiety.