Engine Failure and Power Loss
30,588 occurrences · 3,227 fatal · 14,435 fatalities · 1948–2026
What it is
Engine failure accidents involve a partial or total loss of power from one or more engines in flight, ranging from a single-engine piston aircraft losing its only power source to a multi-engine airliner losing thrust on one engine. The outcome depends heavily on aircraft type: a well-trained crew in a multi-engine aircraft can usually continue flying and land safely, while a single-engine aircraft becomes an unpowered glider the moment its engine stops.
Why it happens
Causes range from mechanical wear and component fatigue to fuel contamination, improper leaning or mixture management, carburetor icing, and foreign-object damage such as bird ingestion. In piston engines, poor maintenance or incorrect operating technique are common contributors; in turbine engines, failures are rarer and are more often traced to a specific manufacturing or maintenance defect than to routine wear.
How the industry defends against it
Modern turbine engines are certified to standards that assume an engine can fail and require the aircraft and crew to handle it safely, which is the basis for twin-engine airliners flying long overwater routes under ETOPS (extended-range twin-engine operations) rules. Full-authority digital engine control (FADEC) reduces pilot-induced errors in engine management, and scheduled overhaul programs plus continuous engine health monitoring catch developing faults before they cause an in-flight failure.
What this means for passengers
Commercial airliners are designed and certified around the assumption that an engine can fail, with crews drilled specifically on single-engine operation, and modern turbine engines fail in flight far less often than the piston engines common in general aviation. Many of the accidents recorded here involve smaller aircraft with a single engine and no equivalent margin if that engine loses power.
Aircraft families
- Boeing 73753
- Boeing 74752
- Airbus A32039
- Boeing 72734
- McDonnell Douglas DC-927
- Boeing 77725
- Lockheed C-130 Hercules24
- Boeing 70721
- Boeing 76719
- Airbus A33016
Countries
- United States22,709
- Brazil527
- United Kingdom507
- South Africa286
- Canada254
- France227
- Chile212
- Mexico152
- Colombia135
- Switzerland132
Notable investigated accidents
- 1987-05-09 — Il-62, LOT Polish Airlines - Polskie Linie Lotnicze (183 fatalities)
- 2009-07-15 — иранская авиакомпания Caspian Airlines (168 fatalities)
- 2012-06-03 — Dana Air (159 fatalities)
- 1992-09-26 — Nigerian Air Force (159 fatalities)
- 2012-06-03 — Boeing MD-83, Dana Air (153 fatalities)
- 2015-06-30 — Indonesian Air Force - TNI-AU Tentara Nasional Indonesia - Angkatan Udara (139 fatalities)
- 1953-06-18 — United States Air Force - USAF (since 1947) (129 fatalities)
- 2003-07-08 — Sudan Airways (116 fatalities)
- 1989-07-19 — United Airlines (111 fatalities)
- 1984-12-23 — Aeroflot - Russian International Airlines (110 fatalities)
- 1974-04-27 — Aeroflot - Russian International Airlines (109 fatalities)
- 1988-01-18 — China Southwest Airlines (108 fatalities)
Counts are derived from official investigation records; one accident may involve several causes, and older or foreign records can be incomplete. This page explains patterns — it is not a safety ranking.