How many plane crashes in the US each year

1. What “how many crashes” actually means: accident vs. incident vs. fatal crash

Public discussion often conflates “crash,” “accident,” and “incident,” but federal data differentiate them: the NTSB and media explain that an accident is an event causing serious injury, death, or substantial aircraft damage, whereas occurrences or incidents are abnormal events that don’t meet that threshold ^[3]; therefore counts reported by safety agencies focus on accidents and may exclude many non‑destructive occurrences ^{[3] [2]}.

2. The headline numbers — total civil aviation accidents per year

Federal and safety-industry compilations show more than 1,100 U.S. civil aviation accidents annually over the past decade, with preliminary data listing 1,216 accidents in 2023 and 1,277 in 2022 ^[1], and NTSB statistical tables covering 2004–2023 providing year-by-year breakdowns across carrier types ^[2]. Independent press analysis of NTSB carrier data also notes long-term averages for specific operator categories, underscoring that the “1,100+” figure represents the broad set of U.S.-registered civilian operations, not just large commercial airliners ^[4].

3. Where those accidents happen — general aviation vs. commercial operators

Most of the annual accidents occur in general aviation—private pilots, small airplanes, and non-scheduled operations—while Part 121 air carriers (major airlines) account for a small fraction of total accidents; press analysis and NTSB summaries show that air‑carrier events average about 27 occurrences per year in the past decade, and commercial passenger-carrying accidents are rare compared with the volume of flights ^{[3] [5]}. Industry summaries corroborate that commercial operations have much lower accident rates per flight hour than the general aviation fleet ^{[6] [7]}.

4. Fatal accidents and fatalities — a different, smaller number

Although total accidents exceed a thousand each year, fatal accidents and deaths are far fewer: fact-checking and industry reports indicate more than 300 aviation fatalities annually across U.S. civil aviation in the past decade ^[4], while IATA’s industry summary frames commercial worldwide averages as only a few fatal commercial accidents per year—about five—producing larger but concentrated fatality totals averaged over multi‑year windows ^[7]. The distinction between many nonfatal accidents (minor crashes, substantial damage without deaths) and the much smaller set of fatal accidents is critical to understanding risk.

5. Trends, context and what the numbers don’t say

Long-term NTSB tables and BTS compilations permit trend analysis back decades and show declining accident rates per flight hour for many categories even as the absolute number of general-aviation events remains in the low‑thousands when aggregated globally and nationally ^{[2] [8]}. Media coverage can amplify perceived increases because high-profile carrier events receive heavy attention despite being a small share of accidents; fact-checkers caution that a cluster of newsworthy events does not necessarily indicate an abnormal rise in the underlying accident rate ^[4].

6. Limits of available reporting and where to look next

The NTSB’s statistical reviews and monthly indexes provide the authoritative, granular tables for calendar-year totals and operator categories ^{[2] [9]}, while injury‑safety organizations publish preliminary yearly counts ^[1]; some commercial aggregators compile complementary datasets but may restrict access ^[10]. This reporting answers “how many” for documented civil aviation accidents in the U.S. but does not by itself explain causes, distribution by aircraft type, or per‑flight risk without consulting the NTSB and BTS tables cited above ^{[2] [8]}.