US aviation accident trends

Every accident the NTSB has investigated in the US since 2008: how many, what went wrong, and when in the flight it happened. Most are private flights in small aircraft; airline accidents are rare.

Accidents by year

What goes wrong in fatal accidents

When in the flight

Latest cases

Source: NTSB aviation accident database, 2008 to September 2026, refreshed from the NTSB's public download. These are counts, not rates: the NTSB data does not include how many hours were flown, so a bigger number can mean more flying, not more danger. "What goes wrong" is the NTSB's defining event for each accident. Fatal and causes cover the last 10 years. See accidents on the map under Hazards, Accidents.