List of accidents and incidents involving general aviation

This list of accidents and incidents involving general aviation is grouped by the years in which the accidents or incidents occurred. "General aviation" here includes private as well as corporate aircraft operating under general aviation rules, i.e. not military or scheduled airline flights.

Overall, this is an incomplete listing, but is intended to be a complete listing of those accidents and incidents with Wikipedia articles. For more exhaustive lists, see the Aircraft Crash Record Office or the Aviation Safety Network.

1935

• August 15 - Wiley Post and passenger Will Rogers died in the crash of Post's modified seaplane en route from Fairbanks to Point Barrow, Alaska, while taking off from a lagoon, after landing to ask directions.

1937

• July 2 - Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean en route in their Lockheed Electra 10E to Howland Island during an attempt to circumnavigate the world.

1958

• February 6 – British European Airways Munich air disaster, an Airspeed Ambassador, chartered by the Manchester United F.C., crashed during takeoff from Munich-Riem airport, killing 23 of 44, including eight Manchester United footballers.

1959

• February 3 - A Beechcraft Bonanza carrying musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa, in what has become known as "The Day the Music Died".

1972

• October 16 - A twin-engine Cessna 310 carrying Alaskan House Representative Nick Begich and House majority leader Hale Boggs of Louisiana disappears during a flight from Anchorage to Juneau, Alaska. The plane was flying to a campaign fundraiser for Begich. The aircraft's wreckage was never found, and a 39 day search is called off on November 24. The accident prompts the United States Congress to pass a law mandating emergency locator transmitters in all U.S. civil aircraft.

• December 31 - Baseball player Roberto Clemente dies when his chartered DC-7 crashes into the ocean off the coast of Isla Verde, Puerto Rico, immediately after takeoff. Clemente was attempting to deliver relief supplies to Managua, Nicaragua, after a massive earthquake on December 23.

1973

• September 20 - Musicians Jim Croce and Maury Muehleisen are killed in a Beechcraft E18S due to fly from Natchitoches, Louisiana to Sherman, Texas. The plane collides with a tree at the end of the runway of Natchitoches Regional Airport.

1974

• Fatal= 191/ Date= 12/04/1974 /Location= Maskeliya,Sri Lanka/ Carrier= Martinair Holland /Type= DC8

1979

• August 2 - Cessna 501, N15NY. Thurman Munson, catcher for the New York Yankees, died in a crash of his personal jet while practicing touch-and-go landings at Akron-Canton Regional Airport.

1987

• May 28 - Mathias Rust flew illegally into Soviet airspace in a Cessna 172 and landed in Moscow's Red Square.

1996

• On April 3, 1996 a plane carrying United States Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown crashed, and all on board were killed. See 1996 Croatia USAF CT-43 crash.
• April 11 - Cessna 177B, N35207. Jessica Dubroff, a seven-year-old pilot trainee who was attempting to become the youngest person to fly an airplane across the United States, died when her aircraft crashes after takeoff from Cheyenne Regional Airport in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
• December 24 - A Learjet 35A crashed near Lebanon, New Hampshire which led to the longest missing aircraft search in that state's history, lasting almost three years.

1997

• October 12 - singer-songwriter John Denver was killed when the Long-EZ aircraft he was piloting crashed just off the coast of California at Pacific Grove, shortly after taking off from the Monterey Peninsula Airport.

1999

• October 25 - A Learjet 35 flying between Orlando, Florida and Dallas, Texas crashed after flying for almost four hours and 1,500 miles (2,400 km), until it ran out of fuel. Among the six people on board were golf star Payne Stewart and Bruce Borland.

2002

• January 5 - A Cessna 172 stolen and flown by a teenager crashed into the side of the Bank of America Tower in downtown Tampa, Florida.
• April 18 - A Rockwell Commander A112 crashed into the Pirelli Tower in Milan, Italy.
• July 10 - A Sikorsky H-34 crashed and sank into the Brookville Reservoir in Brookville, Indiana. The pilot Steve Myler and CO-Pilot Joseph Rukazina, both made it out while the Mechanic Michael Jarski lost his life.

2003

• March 5 - at Saint-Forget, France a Socata Rallye MS.892 (registered as F-BLSO) collided midair with a Cessna F150 (registered as F-BSIQ) killing the instructor and student pilot in the latter aircraft. After investigation, the BEA called for obligatory use of transponders in a large zone around Paris.
• July 21 - a South African registered aircraft, carrying 12 passengers and two crew, crashed into Mount Kenya: there were no survivors.
• December 17 - Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne suffered a collapsed landing gear and a runway excursion during a freefall flight prior to its space launches.

2006

• January 2 - A Cessna 206 filled with skydivers crashed into a dam near Ipswich, southwest of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
• March 13 - Television personality Peter Tomarken and his second wife Kathleen are killed when Tomarken's Beechcraft Bonanza A36, N16JR, crashes a few hundred feet off shore in Santa Monica Bay after attempting climb-out from the Santa Monica Airport in California.
• October 11 - A Cirrus SR20 flown by New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and an instructor crashed into the Belaire Apartments in New York City.
• December 10 - A Bell 412SP air ambulance helicopter crashed near Cajon Pass, killing the three member crew.

2007

• July 10 - At approximately 8:40 AM, a Cessna 310 crashed in a Sanford, Florida neighborhood. Two people on board the NASCAR Aviation owned plane from Daytona Beach were killed, along with others on the ground.
• July 27 - Two TV news AS-350 AStar helicopters collided in mid-air over Phoenix, Arizona, killing all four aboard.
• November 16 - Inclement weather caused a BHP Billiton AS350-B2 helicopter, to crash in Angola, killing the helicopter's five passengers.

2008

• March 30 - A privately registered Cessna 501 Citation carrying five people crashes into two homes in Farnborough, Kent, United Kingdom, after taking off from London Biggin Hill Airport. On board are former racing drivers Richard Lloyd and David Leslie.
• May 2 - A chartered South Sudan Air Connection Beechcraft 1900 carrying 2 crew and 19 passengers, including South Sudan defense minister Dominic Dim Deng, crashes near Rumbek, Sudan while en route from Wau to Juba. There are no survivors.
• May 30 – A chartered 12-seater Pilatus PC-6 crashed in central Spain after shedding a wing, killing the pilot and a passenger. Other skydivers escaped.
• September 19 - A Learjet 60 crashed near West Columbia, South Carolina. Travis Barker and DJ AM survive while four others die.
• November 4 - A Learjet 45 carrying Mexican interior secretary Juan Camilo Mourino and 8 others plunged into a Mexico city neighborhood, killing all on board and 7 on the ground.

2009

• 2 January - A Piper Aircraft Cherokee PA-28-140 (G-AWPS) collides with over-head electricity cables at Colwich Junction, Staffordshire, United Kingdom and crashes into waste ground next to the West Coast Main Line between Stafford and Rugby, Warwickshire and the 3 passengers are found dead at the scene. The aircraft is destroyed by fire and causes disruption to mainline train services between Manchester and London for a number of days.
• 4 January - A Sikorsky S-76 Spirit helicopter crashes into a marshy area near Bayou Penchant, Louisiana. The helicopter operated by Petroleum Helicopters, Inc was flying oil workers to a Shell Petroleum Oil Platform in the Gulf of Mexico from Gibson, Louisiana resulting in 8 fatalities and 1 passenger rescued by a United States Coast Guard helicopter.
• 15 January - A Supermarine Spitfire Tr Mark 9 (ZK-WDQ) experiences a heavy landing on the eve of Wings Over Wairarapa Airshow at Hood Aerodrome, Masterton, New Zealand. The aircraft, a two-seat trainer suffered minor damage in the incident including a collapsed undercarriage, ruptured fuel-lines and propeller damage.
• 20 January - An Extra Aircraft EA-300 (VH-NIS) crashes at Temora Airport, New South Wales, Australia. The aircraft landed on the runway and killing the pilot Tom Moon, a former Australian national aerobatics champion.
• 30 January - A Piper Aircraft PA-34 Seneca 200 T (N8047C) travelling from Lake in the Hills, Illinois to Clearwater, Florida crashed on final approach to Tri-State Airport (Milton J. Ferguson Field), Ceredo, West Virginia. The accident occurred in very poor weather and snow showers, the aircraft diverted to the Tri-State Airport due to problems with fuel starvation and crashed in a wooded area 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south-east of the airport resulting in 6 fatalities.
• February 2 - A Cessna 206 (N118ME) flying from La Romana, Dominican Republic to San Juan, Puerto Rico on a private flight crashes into the Atlantic Ocean 1 km from the shore of Quebradillas, Puerto Rico. Local eyewitness describe a small explosion on board the aircraft shortly before the accident resulting in 6 fatalities.
• February 15 - A Bell 205 Helicopter while flying in dense mist and light rain crashes into Polhuín Hill, Chanco, Cauquenes Province, Chile. The accident occurred when the Bell helicopter owned by Flight Services Helicópteros was ferrying local fire-fighters from a Eucalyptus plantation to a forest fire in the Quirihue Sector of the Eighth Region. The wreckage from the accident was scattered over a large area killing the pilot a former Chilean Airforce officer and 12 fire-fighters from the Celulosa Arauco y Constitucion (CELCO) company.
• February 18 - An Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma Helicopter (G-REDU) flying from the heliport at Aberdeen Airport to a BP ETAP Oil Platform located 120 nautical miles (195 km) east of Aberdeen, Scotland is forced to ditch into the North Sea 500m short of its destination. A major maritime rescue operation for the ditched Super Puma owned by Bond Offshore Helicopters was coordinated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency at the Aberdeen HM Coastguard Rescue Centre involving a RAF Sea King from No. 202 Squadron RAF Lossiemouth and a Nimrod from RAF Kinloss. Three of the passengers were rescued by one of a pair of Bond Helicopters involved in the rescue and the remaining 15 passengers successfully rescued by an oil-rig support vessel. A further Super Puma owned by Bond Helicopters is involved in a second North Sea ditching on 1 April 2009.
• 12 March - A Sikorsky S-92A Helicopter (C-GZCH) flying from St. John's International Airport, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada to the offshore SeaRose FPSO in the White Rose oil field was forced to ditch in the North Atlantic Ocean, 30 nautical miles (56 km) east-southeast of Newfoundland. The Sikorsky S-92 owned by Cougar Helicopters issued a mayday after experiencing low oil pressure in the main gear-box and requesting emergency clearance to return to St.John's airport. The aircraft ditched in the North Atlantic approximately 10 minutes after issuing the mayday at 7:58 am ET resulting in 17 fatalities and 1 passenger rescued from the crash site.
• March 22 - A Pilatus PC-12 flying in to Bert Mooney Airport outside Butte, Montana from Oroville, California crashed 500 feet (150 m) short of the runway, around 15:27 local time (21:27 GMT), killing fourteen people.
• April 1 - An Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma (G-REDL) flying from the BP Miller Oil Platform located 168 nautical miles (270 km) north-east from Aberdeen, Scotland to the heliport at Aberdeen Airport crashes into the North Sea 11 nautical miles (20 km) east of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. The Super Puma helicopter owned by Bond Offshore Helicopters made a brief mayday call at 12:54 pm BST and was then seen to crash 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) from a supply vessel resulting in the death of 2 crew and 14 passengers. The cause of the accident was the catastrophic failure of the main rotor gearbox, which caused the main rotor to detach and severed the pylon and tail boom.
• April 17 - PK-LTJ, a Mimika administration owned Pilatus PC-6 flying from Illaga to Mulia, New Guinea, carrying ballots from the April 9 Puncak Jaya general election, crashes in bad weather on Mount Gergaji.[3][4]
• April 25 - A Sécurité Civile Eurocopter EC145 (F-ZBPR) flying in high winds, heavy rain and fog from the heliport at Ponte-Leccia, Haute-Corse to Bastia, Corsica crashes in a nearby mountainous region. During the flight, the pregnant woman that was being transferred to the main hospital in Bastia gave birth, and the crash killed the 2 crew, the attending doctor, mother and newborn child.
• June 5 - At 18:01 UTC (20:01 local time), a Extra 300L crashed during a training flight near the commune of Clinceni, Ilfov County, Romania ten minutes after departure. The aircraft and pilot were due to take part in an aviation meeting the next day at the same aerodrome. The meeting has been cancelled. One person dies, a 24-year-old pilot called Mihai Dobre Tone, at the ground impact. Mihai Dobre Tone was the commander of Clinceni Airfield. The aircraft was prepared for a flight parade for June 6, 2009.
• October 17 - A Victoria Air Inc. Douglas C-47B (RP-C550) flying from Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila, Philippines crashes shortly after take-off. The aircraft was flying to Puerto Princesa City airport in the island of Palawan and was observed by eye-witnesses on the ground to be trailing smoke when the Victoria Air C-47 aircraft crashed into a former bus-station killing 3 crew and 1 passenger.
• October 21 - A Piper Aircraft PA-23-250 Aztec F (N62635) flying from the Summerville Airport, South Carolina to Fort Pierce, Florida crashes shortly after take-off into a heavily wooded area. The Piper aircraft travelling to The Bahamas for an amateur radio enthusiast competition and the aircraft failed to gain height on the initial climb and 4 occupants died in the crash.
• October 22 - A Divi Divi Air Britten-Norman Islander BN-2A (PJ-SUN) flying from the Curaçao-Hato International Airport, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles in the southern Caribbean to Bonaire-Flamingo International Airport ditches in the sea off Bonaire Island which is part of the same Netherlands Antilles island chain. The aircraft suffers engine failure which forces the pilot to ditch in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Little Bonaire island. Due to heavy impact damage the twin-engined Britten-Norman Islander sank almost immediately, although all the 9 passengers were able to successfully evacuate the aircraft and rescued by a small submarine owned by a nearby hotel. The pilot was injured in the crash and the passengers were unable to attempt a rescue due to the aircraft damage and rapid sinking.

2010

• 5 April - A private airplane crashes south of Sæby in Vendsyssel-Thy, Denmark. The plane carried 4 passengers, a couple and their 17 and 24 year old daughters. The parents were killed immediately, and the eldest daughter died from her injuries on Aalborg Hospital.

• 17 July - At around 3:27 PM EDT, an Aerostar Yak-52 with registration number N52MY — a two-person, single-engine aircraft — crashed near a South Portland, Maine shopping plaza, a few hundred feet from the Portland International Jetport (PWM). The plane had just taken off from the Jetport's main runway after making several touch-and-go landings and was apparently trying to return to the Jetport due to a mechanical problem. Both occupants of the plane were killed. There were no injuries on the ground. NTSB investigators say the plane's propeller was not turning at the time of impact. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined. The investigation could take up to a year to complete. The owner and pilot of the plane, Mark Haskell, was an air traffic controller at PWM. The passenger in the plane, Thomas Casagrande, was a certified flight instructor and retired military test pilot who was conducting Haskell's recertification that day.

2011

• 21 June, a Lithuanian chartered Pilatus PC-12 bound for Tivat, Montenegro hit birds shortly after take off from Kaunas, Lithuania. The crew reported back but since no damage could be detected at the moment the plane flew on. But soon the planes hydraulic system and some instruments started to break down and the pilot reported an emergency. The plane landed safe in Poznan, Poland.

Notes

Note A: ^ General aviation operating rules are U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations 14 CFR Part 91 or the international equivalent.