2017 airline safety and security review

2017 is unusual and noteworthy in several ways:

  • There were no passenger fatalities on a jet airliner due to an accident, hijacking, bombing, hijacking, or other deliberate action. The last time there were no jet airliner passenger fatalities in a calendar year was 1959.
  • In the previous 21 years that AirSafe.com has tracked aviation safety and security events, there have been at least one event involving a passenger fatality on a jet airliner in every year, and there had never been even a single 12-month gap between such events. There were none in the 12 months of 2017, and since the last such event was in late May 2016.
  • There was only a single fatality involving the type of airliners which operate under the strictest regulations in the US, Canada, western Europe, Japan, Australia, and other countries with both significant airline traffic and the highest levels of governmental oversight of air transportation.

This review includes important safety or security related occurrences from 2017. There are two types of events in this review, numbered events and significant events. Numbered events must meet the following criteria:

  • There is at least one passenger fatality,
  • The flight was open to the general public, and
  • The aircraft was a large jet or turboprop driven model that is typically used in airline service.

Significant events are those that don't meet the criteria for a numbered event, but would likely be of interest to airline passengers and the aviation safety and security community. These events may include non-fatal airline accidents, events unrelated to an airline flight, hijackings, military actions, criminal activities, or acts of sabotage.

Definitions used by AirSafe.com


    16 January 2017; Turkish Airlines 747-400F; TC-MCL; flight TK6491; Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan: The cargo aircraft was on an international flight from Hong Kong, to Bishkek, Kyrgystan and crashed shortly after an aborted landing attempt. The aircraft struck a residential area about 500 meters from the far end of the runway. At the time, there was freezing fog and limited runway visibility reported at the airport. All four crew members and 35 people on the ground were killed were killed.
    Turkish Airlines crashes
    Boeing 747 plane crashes
    More information on this event

    28 March 2017; Peruvian Airlines; 737-300; OB-2036-P; flight 112; Jauja, Peru: The aircraft was on a scheduled domestic flight from Lima to Jauja, Peru. After touchdown, the airplane apparently veered off the right side of the runway. The rightwing of the aircraft impacted the perimeter fence, which ruptured a fuel tank. The leaking fuel caught fire, and the fuselage was consumed by fire. All nine crew members and 141 passengers were able to evacuate the aircraft, and there were no fatalities.
    More on this event
    Boeing 737 plane crashes

    7 June 2017; Myanmar Air Force; Shaanxi Y-8F-200W; 5820; near Dawei, Myanmar: The aircraft was on an unscheduled domestic flight from Myeik to Yangon, Myanmar. The aircraft crashed in the Andaman Sea while en route to its destination, with the last contact with the aircraft about 20 miles west of Dawei, Myanmar. All 14 crew members and 108 passengers were killed. This was a military aircraft on a non-airline flight and carried military personnel and their families as passengers. The aircraft is a variant of the Soviet Union-designed Antonov An-12 aircraft which was was produced by the Shaanxi Aircraft Corporation in China.

    7 July 2017; Air Canada; Airbus A320-200; C-FKCK; flight 759; San Francisco, CA: The aircraft was on a scheduled international flight from Toronto, Canada and San Francisco, CA. Shortly before midnight, the aircraft was on a visual approach to Runway 28R, but was apparently aligned with the Taxiway C, which parallels Runway 28R. The aircraft continued toward the taxiway and had overflown that taxiway by about 0.25 miles (400 meters) when ATC instructed the aircraft to go around. There were four aircraft lined up on Taxiway C at the time. The landing aircraft passed about 100 feet (30 meters) above the first two aircraft, 200 feet (61 meters) above the third aircraft, and 300 feet (91 meters) above the fourth aircraft. The closest lateral proximity between the landing aircraft and one of the four aircraft on taxiway C was 29 feet (nine meters).
    Air Canada plane crashes
    Airbus A320 plane crashes
    Preliminary incident report and SFO airport diagram

    Daallo A321 explosion

    8 September 2017; Schweizer 269C helicopter; N204HF; Medford, NJ: Singer Troy Gentry, of the music duo Montgomery Gentry, was killed in the crash of a Schweizer 269C during flight at the Flying W Airport in Medford, NJ. Gentry, who was scheduled to perform at a concert at the airport later that day, was on an orientation flight conducted by a commercial helicopter pilot. During the flight, the pilot experienced throttle control issues and executed an autorotation maneuver to land the helicopter. The helicopter struck the ground a high descent rate, killing both Gentry and the pilot were killed by the impact. They were the only occupants of the helicopter.
    More on this event
    Celebrity plane crashes

    12 October 2017; Guicango Embraer EMB-120ER Brasilia; D2-FDO; near Cuílo, Angola: The aircraft was a domestic air ambulance flight transporting a patient from Dundo to Luanda, Angola. About 15 minutes after departure, the crew reported an engine malfunction and fire. The aircraft crashed near the town of Cuílo, killing all three crew members and four passengers, including the patient.

    7 November 2017; ICON A5; N922BA, Clearwater, FL: Former Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy 'Doc' Halladay was killed when his amphibious, light sport aircraft crashed into the water at a steep angle. According the NTSB, earlier in his flight, the aircraft was flying at a low altitude over water, and passed as close as 75 feet from several beach houses. Video footage taken of the airplane before the accident, shows the airplane in a descending left 45 degree banked turn and then maneuvering about 10 ft above the water. A witness to the accident stated, during an interview with an NTSB investigator, that he saw the airplane perform a climb to between 300 and 500 ft on a southerly heading and then turn and descend on an easterly heading about a 45 degree nose-down attitude. The aircraft broke up and sank after hitting the water. Halladay was the sole occupant of the aircraft.
    More on this event
    Preliminary NTSB report
    Celebrity plane crashes

  1. 13 December 2017; West Wind Aviation ATR 42-300; Fond-du-Lac, Canada The aircraft crashed into a wooded area shortly after takeoff on a flight from Fond-du-Lac to Stony Rapids, both in northern Saskatchewan All three crew members survived and one of the 22 passeners died of his injuries two weeks after the crash.
    More on this event
    ATR 42 and ATR 72 plane crashes

    31 December 2017; Sydney Seaplanes de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver; VH-NOO; Jerusalem Bay, Australia: The aircraft, which was on an unscheduled domestic flight from Jerusalem Bay to Rose Bay (Sydney Harbor), Australia, cashed shortly after takeoff. The pilot and five passengers were killed. The passengers included Richard Cousins, the CEO of the Compass Group, two of his sons, his fiancee, and her daughter.

    31 December 2017; Nature Air Cessna 208B Grand Caravan; TI-BEI, near Punta Islita, Costa Rica: The aircraft, which was on an unscheduled domestic flight from Punta Islita to San Jose, Costa Rica crashed shortly after takeoff. Both crew members and all 10 passengers were killed. The passengers were all tourists, including five members of a family from the United States.


Other Years
1996, 1997, 1998, 1999

2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

2010, 2011, 2012, , 2013, 2014
2015, 2016, 2017, 2018

Most recent crashes


Related information
Recent plane crashes
Recent US plane crashes
Plane crashes by airline
Plane crashes by model
Plane crash rates by model

2017 airline safety and security review
http://www.airsafe.com/plane-crash/review-2017.htm -- Revised: 19 February 2018