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.

Of cases involved an aircraft 40 or older: 48% (57% of the fleet is 40 or older)
Age band with the most cases: over 50
Median age of the fleet: 47 years

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

Every bar and number opens the cases behind it.

0 to 5 years1,3956 to 1089011 to 202,15621 to 301,12331 to 401,34541 to 502,582Over 503,708Not recorded546

The table (8 rows)

Age at the time	Cases	Fatal	Share fatal
0 to 5 years	1395	204	15%
6 to 10	890	152	17%
11 to 20	2156	381	18%
21 to 30	1123	202	18%
31 to 40	1345	252	19%
41 to 50	2582	411	16%
Over 50	3708	517	14%
Not recorded	546	96	18%

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	45	6	13%
1940s	867	111	13%
1950s	927	95	10%
1960s	1807	295	16%
1970s	2757	457	17%
1980s	1149	202	18%
1990s	1063	189	18%
2000s	2253	390	17%
2010s	1741	286	16%
2020s	579	87	15%

Where the numbers come from

NTSB aviation accident database, records to 2026-10-28
FAA register for the fleet's ages, data of 2026-11-03

Computed once a night by this site from the public files named above; nothing here identifies a person. All analytics pages.