Aircraft crash videos

Two aviation accidents share a common root cause: the aircraft experienced a bounce upon landing, prompting the pilot to initiate a go-around maneuver. However, in both cases, the aircraft subsequently stalled and crashed.

In the first incident, on August 1st 2023, a Cessna 152 was engaged in a training flight departing from Jean Lesage International Airport in Quebec City, Canada. With only the pilot aboard, upon landing, the aircraft bounced on the runway surface. In an attempt to regain control, the pilot increased throttle, causing the aircraft to become airborne again..As it climbed, the left wing stalled, leading to a crash. The pilot sustained injuries.

The second incident involved a Cirrus SR22T conducting touch-and-go maneuvers at Duxford Airfield, England, with only the pilot aboard, on March 26th 2024. During one such maneuver, the aircraft bounced twice upon touchdown. The pilot initiated a go-around, but the left wing stalled, resulting in a fatal crash. Additionally, the CAPS (Cirrus Airframe Parachute System) rocket was activated due to impact forces.

A stall occurs when the aircraft's angle of attack becomes excessively high, leading to an abrupt loss of lift and consequently, a rapid descent in altitude. If the aircraft is just a few meters above the ground when this occurs, a crash is almost inevitable. Stalls are more prone to happen at low speeds, particularly when the pilot pitches the aircraft upward in an endeavor to climb. This scenario precisely describes the circumstances of both these accidents.

On September 11, 2021, a memorable aviation incident unfolded at G. Paolucci Aerodrome, Italy, involving a Cessna 172 and a Piper Cub. The pilots of these recreational aircraft experienced a thrilling moment as they narrowly avoided a mid-air collision. The video footage captured by an onboard camera offers invaluable lessons.

In this breathtaking sequence, you'll be right in the heart of the action as the two planes come dangerously close to each other. The pilots' quick and impressive reactions highlight their expertise and composure in a critical situation.

This video serves as a crucial reminder for all pilots: remain constantly vigilant and carefully scan your surroundings when approaching an aerodrome.

Witness the moment when this remarkable plane strikes a fierce battle with towering trees during takeoff. On a fateful day, the Antonov 2 takes off from a serene grass strip in Vårgårda, Sweden, only to encounter a terrifying mishap. The pilot and four passengers miraculously survive the crash, emerging with only minor injuries. This happened on July 8th 2023.

Imbil, Queensland, Australia - June 13th 2022 - The pilot was flying home after purchasing this Jabiru UL-450, when the engine cut off. The plane performed an emergency landing in a field and flipped over. The pilot escaped uninjured.

On landing at Courchevel, in the French Alps, the Piper PA46 touches down on runway 22 more than half over the high slope portion. The pilot braked hard, but the plane skidded on the runway and the aeroplane hits a mound of snow situated at the runway 04 threshold. The accident happened on February 8th 2019. 5 occupants were onboard, and 4 received minor injuries.

Following a loss of engine power, the Wittman W-10 Tailwind force landed to roadway terrain, south Auckland, New Zealand. The tiny plane came to rest upside down on a road. The pilot walked away with moderate injuries and was taken to hospital.
An investigation by the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand into the June crash found it was the first time the pilot had taken the microlight to the sky since it had been made airworthy.

On April 20, 2012, this Beech C90A took off from Jundiaí airport, Brazil, for a pre re-deliver test flight after maintenance work. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot declared an emergency and requested to land immediately. Soon after, the pilot cancelled the emergency condition, stating that he had solved the problem. The pilot decided to land anyway, using the normal runway landing pattern. But while the aircraft was on its final turn before final approach, the right wing stalled and the plane rolled and violently impacted the ground about 180 meters from the runway threshold, and exploded. The pilot has been killed.

In a small Texas airport where a private road runs feet from the edge of the runway, the inevIn a Texas airfield, a private road runs feet from the edge of the runway. A Cessna 172 was approaching for a landing. The SUV driver failed to notice the aircraft was about to cross its path, and the plane crashed into the SUV. Amazingly, no one was seriously hurt.

The glider nosedived into the ground in Poland, near Żernica, after the pilot accidentally clipped a tree. Both the pilot and the passenger received non-life-threatening injuries.
The glider was a PZL-Bielsko. The accident occurred on April 30th 2018. The pilot was performing acrobatics on a glider not admitted to aerobatics due to the year of production of the glider (over 25 years). Also, the pilot performed acrobatics at a very low height (below the height of 1000 ft (300 m)). He tried to make a 180° turn to the landing pad at a too low altitude and speed when the wing clipped a tree.

This Cessna 172 had to made an emergency landing in a Connecticut (USA) parking lot further to an engine failure. A tree saved the life of the pilot. He escaped with only minor injuries.

The Grumman G-73 Mallard amphibian was about to fly a display during the City of Perth Australia Day Skyworks 2017 event, on January 26th 2017. A holding pattern was flown at an altitude of approximately 1600 feet, waiting to fly the display. During a left turn, the aircraft stalled and collided with the water. The pilot and passenger were fatally injured.

The Jabiru J200 microlight was forced on Mahurangi Beach (New Zealand) further to an engine failure. The plane was repaired on ground, and the pilot attempted to takeoff from the beach. Taking off from a beach requires accelerating on a hard sand: preferred takeoff strip is close to the water, where the sand is compact and wet. But this pilot took off too close from the sea, got caught by a wave, and crashed.

November 2nd 2013 - Superior, WI, USA – Midair collision between two aircraft carrying 9 skydivers and 2 pilots. The collision has been captured by the skydivers’s helmet cameras.
The in-trail aircraft, a Cessna 185, encountered wake turbulence from the lead aircraft, the Cessna 182, which caused a midair collision and subsequent inflight breakup of the lead aircraft. The lead aircraft was destroyed and the Cessna 185 landed safely having sustained damages to the propeller and to the wing. All the 11 people onboard survived. The pilot of the in-trail Cessna 182 received minor injuries.

Crash view from inside the cockpit - Shortly after takeoff from Bruce Meadows Airport, Idaho, USA, the aircraft, a Stinson 108-3 carrying 4 people, impacted trees then terrain, coming to rest inverted. The pilot received serious injuries. One passenger received minor injuries and two passengers were not injured.
The cause of the accident is the pilot’s inadequate preflight planning and decision to takeoff at a density altitude outside of the airplane’s takeoff performance envelope (high altitude airport on a warm day), with a tailwind, and near the airplane’s maximum gross weight, which resulted in the airplane’s inability to climb and clear trees.

A bird crashed through the plane’s windshield. The pilot was not injured and managed to land the plane a few minutes later.

This Beechcraft B200 Super King Air operated by Mýflug Air crashed near Akureyri Airport, Iceland, on August 5th 2013. The medic and one of the pilots were killed. The other pilot received minor injuries.
The air ambulance plane had transported a patient to Reykjavik, Iceland and was returning to Akureyri. The flight had to hold to the west of the airport, because another plane was taking off. While in a left hand turn, the airplane lost height. The left wing touched the ground and the airplane broke up while impacting terrain at Hlíðarfjall Road, northwest of the Airport. A post-impact fire erupted.

Lot of luck for this pilot who wrongly assessed its take off distance. The Stinson 108-3 registered in British Columbia Canada narrowly escapes the grab of trees.
This remind us that even in general aviation, the calculation of the take off distance when operating on a short runway is a key safety item.

This is what may happen if your plane is parked on ground without being tied, while there are strong wind gusts.
This footage is captured by an airport surveillance camera.

The floatplane (a de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver) was in an otherwise normal takeoff from Lake Hood in Anchorage, Alaska on 7 June 2009 when it encountered a right quartering tailwind gust that lifted up the right wing and float. The airplane veered to the left toward a steep bank, and the pilot was unable to correct the deviation. The airplane lifted off, but the float collided with the top of the bank. The airplane cart wheeled about 160 degrees to the left before coming to rest on its right side. It sustained substantial damage to the wings, fuselage, and floats. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures.
The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the accident was the pilot's failure to maintain directional control during takeoff.
Fortunately, the pilot and three passengers were not injured. Also fortunate was the fact that the photographer lived to film another day.

The Ski-fitted Cessna 172 flipped and crashed while trying to takeoff from a Canadian airstrip covered with snow.

The landing gear of this Beechcraft KingAir was unable to go down: the crew had to perform an emergency belly landing. The maneuver has been performed perfectly, and nobody was injured.

Sparkling arrival of a Beechcraft KingAir after the nose wheel separated on roll-out.

This ultralight aircraft developed engines problems seconds after takeoff. The plane crashed in into trees. The pilot has been seriously injured.

Midair collision between a biplane and a large-scale radio-controlled model. The mishap occurred at an airport in Brighton, Colorado, USA. The RC pilots were using an airport runway for their activities, and the model involved in the collision was hovering on prop thrust when the biplane made a low-level pass over the field, then struck the model. The RC plane was destroyed, and the biplane has received minor damages.

08th August 2009 – A Piper PA-32R-300 airplane, operated by a private pilot, and a Eurocopter AS350 BA helicopter, operated by Liberty Helicopters, collided in midair over the Hudson River near Hoboken, New Jersey. The airplane flight was a personal flight, 3 people were onboard. The helicopter flight was a local sightseeing flight, carrying 5 people. All the 9 people have been killed.

08th June 2010 – Arlington (Washington D.C. – USA) - The Boeing Stearman B75N1 biplane crashed at Reagan National Airport.
The two-seater touched down the runway and briefly rolled before nosing over. Both pilot and reporter onboard were uninjured. The accident bent and curled two of the propeller's blades, and it damaged the plane's tail, rudder, vertical stabilizer, right wing and part of the engine.
The plane was part of an aerial demonstration to promote "Legends of Flight", a movie making its debut in Washington.

This Bellanca Viking suffers an engine failure. The pilot try to ditch in the water, but the plane stalls a few meters above the surface and violently hit the water. People onboard were injured, but survived.

Video of a Beechcraft Bonanza's near-death terrain encounter. The plane encountered sudden IMC conditions, and missed to crash into a mountain. This shows what not to do!

On former aircraft without engine starter, hand prop was usual. This video shows how dangerous it is.
After having installed the passenger onboard, the pilot removed the chocks and hand-proped its plane. The engine power increased rapidly. Right wheel brake was functioning, but left wheel brake was released, so the plane started to turn right alone. The passenger, who had never been onboard an aircraft, was paralysed with fear. The pilot couldn’t stop its plane. The aircraft finally collided into two parked airplanes. The pilot and the passenger were seriously injured.

June 26th, 2009 – Old Rhinebeck aerodrome, USA – The pilot of this biplane totally screws up a takeoff winding up in a swamp giving two passengers more than they bargained for. Although no one was injured, the plane was destroyed.

Cockpit movie about a single engine airplane in approach to an airstrip, with a near mid-air collision. The pilot reacted quicky: he pitched its plane up and increased throttle, thus avoiding the collision.

This is the video of a Cessna L-19E single-engine light plane that crashed high in the Rockies of Colorado on Aug. 10th, 1984. Both the pilot and the passenger were killed. The wreckage was found 3 years later. Inside the wreckage, investigators discovered a camera that has entirely recorded the accident.
The problem was that the pilot was flying into what can be clearly seen as gradually ever-ascending terrain altitude, and quickly exceeded the airplane’s effective “service ceiling” – the point at which a plane cannot maintain at least a minimum safe rate of climb – He made a moderately steep turn to the right (in excess of 45 to 50 degrees angle of bank) in an attempt to turn around quickly. The plane lost considerable lift and initially stalls twice; then on the 3rd stall (with the stall warning horn blaring in the background), it entered into a spin and flips upside down and the plane, flipping over on it’s back, plunges straight down through the trees.
This video is being submitted by John Youngs for the purpose of showing new, fledgling private pilots the dangers of flying into high-density altitude situations without careful pre-flight planning and/or flight training into areas of mountainous terrain, along with the obvious lessons to be learned from this tragedy.

In 1993, at Shoreham Airport, uk, a twin Engine plane with 4 persons aboard is forced to land with the starboard wheel not locked down. The pilot completes a text book emergency landing after circling for 45 minutes to burn up fuel.

On August 17, 1999, a Beech Hawker BH 125-600A was forced to land with the landing gear retracted at McCarran Field, Las Vegas, Nevada. The airline transport pilot, copilot, and six passengers were not injured. The airplane sustained substantial damage.

USA, Wisconsin - July 22nd 2007 - This T-6 Warbird flying to an aviation show developed engine troubles and had to make an emergency landing on a Wisconsin highway. A police dashboard camera caught the scene. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

This is the kind of stupid accident that might happen to every pilot. This Cessna 182 landed with the gear up, simply because the pilot forgot to put it down. No one was hurt, but the propeller got bent up pretty bad along with the belly of the plane. The accident took place at Charles W. Baker Airport, USA, on January 2007.

This amazing video shows an aircraft colliding with the cable of a glider tow-plane, and then deploying an all-aircraft parachute made by Ballistic Recovery Systems. The accident happened in France, near Gap.

May 15, 2005, in Atlantic City, NJ , USA - This Cessna 525A skids off the runway and ends in a lake. Everybody onboard escapes the plane without major injury. You won’t believe what happens next…
Investigators concluded that the pilot touched down too far beyond the runway threshold, on a short runway, with a tailwind of approximately 10 knots. The plane had almost no chance to stop before the end of the runway.

This Cessna T 210M developed landing gear problems. The pilot has to land the plane with the gear retracted. The scene happened at Midden-Zeeland airport, Netherlands.

This modified version of the de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou which had undergone conversion to turbine power was being tested on 27 August 1992. The gust-lock system had not been fully disengaged ahead of the flight. The rudder and aileron locks were also fully engaged. Once airborne, the aircraft was uncontrollable and crashed, killing all onboard.

The landing of this big Grumman Goose ended in a spectacular accident.
The plane was supposed to land on a river at Tamarindo (Costa Rica) for a sequence of the movie "Endless Summer II". After landing, the right pontoon caught the water, and jerked the aircraft to the right. Overcorrecting, the pilot put the left float into the water, and the aircraft swerved to that side. He applied full take-off power to get the aircraft back into the air, but it careered from the river onto the beach, where it ground-looped and came to a stop. No one was injured.

Nice video showing a Piper PA-18 Super Cub landing on a narrow area along a river. The landing area is so small that the plane has first to land on water before stopping on ground.

Emergency landing of a Cessna A185F on 06 March 2005 – During takeoff for a parachutist dropping flight, the low sun impaired the pilot’s ability to see forward. Just before lifting off, the left main gear struck an obstruction to the left of the runway, causing the left main landing gear to be torn from the aircraft structure. After successfully dropping the parachutists, the pilot flew around to burn off fuel, and then made an emergency landing at Barton Airfield, with the emergency services in attendance. The pilot was uninjured.

The nose landing gear of this small twin engine plane cannot be extended. The pilot has to proceed to an emergency landing. The landing is quite violent, but the occupants escape without injury.

On August 12th 2006, Cory Lidle’s small plane (a Cirrus SR20) crashed into a high rise in New York after it missed a 180° turn, killing both pilots onboard. This video is shot by a Coast guard camera a half mile away from the crash scene. The fireball and a plume of smoke are visible at the top right area of the screen.

This accident happened in Columbia. The Cessna 182 took off overloaded. The plane barely climbed, but had not enough speed and crashed into a building a few seconds later.
The plane was operated by an organization that helps people with medical assistance on remote places of Colombia (Patrulla Aérea Colombiana). There were 4 people on board: The pilot and chief of medical staff, another physician, a little boy recently operated, and the mother of the boy. All were killed in the accident.

This video shows 3 crash-landing: 2 of them are planes approaching too fast, bouncing on the runway, stalling and hitting hardly the ground. The last one is a landing with a roll angle a bit too high.
People onboard escaped without major injuries, but planes were badly damaged.

The right main landing gear of this Piper PA-28R arrow is stuck, and won’t come down. The plane has to land and is running low on fuel. A dangerous but innovative solution is finally found.

The aircraft has been hand started, with nobody inside. The propeller gained power, and the aircraft went out of control. It ran away to the crowd of spectator and mowed down a young girl. Fortunately, she sustained only minor injuries on her face. Nobody else was hurt.

This Cessna 207 crash occurred in July 2003, in Anchorage. The pilot incorrectly positioned the fuel tank selector valve to a nearly empty tank, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel starvation, and subsequent emergency landing at an off-airport site (on a baseball field).
During touchdown, the airplane collided with objects and cart wheeled to the left. Injury: 1 Serious, 1 Minor, 2 Uninjured.

This hydroplane lands on a lake with the wheels down. Resistance caused by the contact between the wheel and the water put the aircraft up side down. The pilot was able to go out of the plane.

During this demonstration, the forces applied to the aircraft (Pitts) structure were too high, and broke the wing.

On January 11th 2005, this Cessna 172 crashed in Orlando (Florida), there were two passengers on board, an instructor and student. After a complete engine failure, the instructor decided to land in a golf course. The instructor overshot the approach. They were just about to touch down and came into contact with power lines. The instructor was killed upon impact. The student was unconscious, and fully recovered later.
Investigations showed that an oil leak resulted in total loss of engine power due to oil exhaustion.