List of aircraft accidents and incidents resulting in at least 50 fatalities

This article lists aircraft accidents and incidents which resulted in at least 50 fatalities in a single occurrence involving commercial passenger and cargo flights, military passenger and cargo flights, or general aviation flights that have been involved in a ground or mid-air collision with either a commercial or military passenger or cargo flight.

There have been 540 such incidents, including terrorist or other attacks. Of these, 196 have involved at least 100 fatalities, 33 have had at least 200 fatalities, 8 have had at least 300 fatalities, and 4 incidents have had over 500 fatalities. Between 1923 (the first year an aircraft accident or incident exceeded 50 fatalities) and the present day, these incidents have involved 573 aircraft across all seven continents and the three largest oceans, and have accounted for 56,708 fatalities.

Five years after the pioneering flight of the Wright brothers on 17 December 1903,Thomas Selfridge became the first fatality of powered flight while flying as a passenger with Orville Wright during a demonstration of the Wright Model A at Fort Myer, Virginia, on 17 September 1908.Eugène Lefebvre was the first pilot killed in a power airplane in 1909, while the first fatal mid-air collision occurred on 19 June 1912, near Douai, France, killing the pilot of each aircraft. Since the deaths of these early aviation pioneers, the scale of fatal aircraft accidents has grown parallel to the size and capacity of airplanes (the highest capacity passenger aircraft currently flying is the Airbus A380 which can carry up to 853 passengers).

The first aviation incident to result in over 50 fatalities did not involve an airplane. On 21 December 1923, the Dixmude, a rigid airship of the French Navy, was reportedly struck by lightning and crashed into the Mediterranean, off Sicily, Italy. All 52 crew and passengers were killed. Nearly 10 years later, the USS Akron, also a rigid airship, encountered severe weather and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, off Barnegat Light, New Jersey, killing 73 of those on board. It was another 5 years before a fixed-wing aircraft incident claimed over 50 fatalities. On 24 July 1938, A Curtiss Hawk II crashed into spectator stands in the Santa Ana air show disaster. 52 spectators were killed on the ground in addition to the pilot of the plane. Exactly one month later on 24 August 1938, the Japan mid-air collision in Tokyo claimed 53 lives on the ground in addition to the 5 crew members on board both planes.

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