The following is a list of aircraft accidents and incidents which have resulted in fatalities on the ground. Aircraft crashes with a high number of ground fatalities typically occur in areas where there are large congregations of people, such as buildings, marketplaces, neighborhoods, and sporting events. As of 21 August 2026, 76 accidents and incidents have resulted in at least twelve ground fatalities, sixteen at least 50 ground fatalities, and six over 100 ground fatalities.
History The first ground fatalities from an aircraft crash occurred on 21 July 1919, when the Wingfoot Air Express crash took place. The airship crashed into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, Illinois, killing three of the five occupants of the aircraft, in addition to ten people on the ground. The first electric aircraft crash to result in ground fatalities was on 18 May 1935, when a Maxim Gorky was involved in a mid-air collision over Moscow, Russia, killing a total of 45 people, including nine on the ground. Just over three years later, on 24 July 1938, the Santa Ana air show disaster took place in Bogotá, Colombia, killing the pilot plus 52 people on the ground. Since then, several other crashes have resulted in a higher number of ground fatalities, most recently the Sknyliv air show disaster near Lviv, Ukraine, on 27 July 2002, which is the deadliest air show accident in history, killing 77 people on the ground. The deliberate crashes of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 into the World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks in 2001 constitute, by a large margin, the deadliest aircraft disaster by number of victims on the ground, with a total of approximately 2,600 ground fatalities attributed to the two crashes and subsequent collapse of 1 World Trade Center and 2 World Trade Center. In addition, the most ground fatalities associated with the accidental crash of an aircraft occurred on 8 January 1996, when an Antonov An-32 crashed into a crowded market in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, resulting in the deaths of at least 249 people on the ground.
Table key
Table
See also
List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft List of accidents and incidents involving general aviation Lists of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft List of deadliest aircraft accidents and incidents
Notes
References
Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings - Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells, Kent, United Kingdom: Air-Britain (Historians) Litd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
External links Plane Crash Database ASN Aviation Safety Database