Accidents and the age of the aircraft
Of the cases in the NTSB's record from 2016 to 2026 where the aircraft's year of manufacture is known, 48% involved an aircraft forty years old or more; 57% of the manned fleet is that old. Age on its own does not make an aircraft dangerous; what matters is maintenance, and older aircraft also fly less, which these counts do not weigh.
48%
of cases involved an aircraft 40 or older
57% of the fleet is 40 or older
over 50
age band with the most cases
47 years
median age of the fleet
Age of the aircraft at the time
0 to 5 years1,3896 to 1088111 to 202,13221 to 301,10931 to 401,33741 to 502,558Over 503,669Not recorded563
The table (8 rows)
| Age at the time | Cases | Fatal | Share fatal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to 5 years | 1,389 | 203 | 15% |
| 6 to 10 | 881 | 150 | 17% |
| 11 to 20 | 2,132 | 378 | 18% |
| 21 to 30 | 1,109 | 199 | 18% |
| 31 to 40 | 1,337 | 248 | 19% |
| 41 to 50 | 2,558 | 410 | 16% |
| Over 50 | 3,669 | 511 | 14% |
| Not recorded | 563 | 106 | 19% |
Decade the aircraft was built
Compare with the fleet's own decades on the fleet page: the 1960s and 1970s built the most aircraft and so appear most here.
The table (12 rows)
| Built in the | Cases | Fatal | Share fatal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1910s | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| 1920s | 9 | 1 | 11% |
| 1930s | 43 | 6 | 14% |
| 1940s | 861 | 110 | 13% |
| 1950s | 919 | 94 | 10% |
| 1960s | 1,794 | 293 | 16% |
| 1970s | 2,733 | 454 | 17% |
| 1980s | 1,137 | 200 | 18% |
| 1990s | 1,055 | 186 | 18% |
| 2000s | 2,226 | 387 | 17% |
| 2010s | 1,723 | 283 | 16% |
| 2020s | 573 | 85 | 15% |
Where the numbers come from
- NTSB aviation accident database, records to 2026-09-30
- FAA register for the fleet's ages, data of 2026-10-05
Computed once a night by this site from the public files named above; nothing here identifies a person. All analytics pages.