World Aviation Accidents
In the United States, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) compiles data on aviation flight hours, accidents and fatalities for commercial and general aviation, which is private transport and recreational flying.
World Aviation Losses
There were 38.7 million flights taken in 2025, up from 37.9 million in 2024 and above the five-year average of 34.5 million flights, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The global all-accident rate (measured in accidents per one million flights) decreased to 1.32, down from 1.42 in 2024. The global all-accident rate includes substantial damage and hull loss accidents of aircraft built anywhere in the world and is the most comprehensive accident rate calculated by IATA. A hull loss is an accident in which the aircraft is destroyed or substantially damaged and is not subsequently repaired.
World Aviation Accidents, 2021-2025 (1)
|
Accidents |
|
| Year |
Total |
Fatal |
Fatalities |
Accident rate (2) |
| 2021 |
30 |
7 |
121 |
1.20 |
| 2022 |
43 |
8 |
158 |
1.34 |
| 2023 |
42 |
1 |
72 |
1.09 |
| 2024 |
54 |
7 |
244 |
1.42 |
| 2025 |
51 |
8 |
394 |
1.32 |
(1) Accidents are defined as events involving either 1) boarded, commercial, turbine-powered aircraft of a specified maximum weight that require major repair; or 2) fatalities related to the exposure to aircraft.
Source: International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Top 10 Deadliest World Aviation Crashes
| Rank |
Date |
Location |
Operator |
Fatalities |
| 1 |
Mar. 27, 1977 |
Tenerife, Spain |
Pan Am, KLM |
583 |
| 2 |
Aug. 12, 1985 |
Mt. Osutaka, Japan |
JAL |
520 |
| 3 |
Mar. 3, 1974 |
Ermenonville, France |
Turkish Airlines |
346 |
| 4 |
Jun. 23, 1985 |
Atlantic Ocean |
Air India |
329 |
| 5 |
Nov. 12, 1996 |
New Delhi, India |
Saudi Arabian Airlines,
Kazakhstan Airlines |
312 |
| 6 |
Aug. 19, 1980 |
Riyahd, Saudi Arabia |
Saudi Arabian Airlines |
301 |
| 7 |
Jul. 17, 2014 |
Shakhtarsk, Ukraine |
Malaysia Airlines |
298 |
| 7 |
Jan. 8, 1996 |
Kinshasa-Ndolo, Democratic Republic
of Congo |
African Air |
298 |
| 8 |
Jul. 3, 1988 |
Persian Gulf, Iran |
Iran Air |
290 |
| 9 |
Feb. 19, 2003 |
Kerman, Iran |
Islamic Revoluntionary
Guard Corps |
275 |
| 10 |
May 25, 1979 |
Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
American Airlines |
273 |
Source: Copyright B3A – Ronan HUBERT – Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives.
Drones
Drones are unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) that are remotely controlled and include small hobbyist models and commercial and military aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) tracks the number of commercial and recreational drones registered and the number of pilots certified and provides information drone safety.
