# Historically, how many passengers have died \_on aircraft\_ but not from crash? (Eg, Southwest 1380) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 21, 2019, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-how-many-passengers-have-died-_on-aircraft_-but-not-from-crash-eg-southwest-1380/843792 "2019-11-21T19:10:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-how-many-passengers-have-died-_on-aircraft_-but-not-from-crash-eg-southwest-1380/843792/1 "2019-11-21T19:10:17Z")
1. Please excuse me, or redirect me, if this has been discussed in its own thread or as part of the threads already posted on last year’s [Southhwest 1380 engine failure and depressurization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Airlines#Accidents_and_incidents), in which a passenger was partially sucked through a broken window and died. I read (cite lost) that the fatality “was the first aboard an airline in nine years.” Which is a weird/interesting stat. I presume this includes natural causes such as heart attacks and the like (as well as people committing hara-kiri, hanging themselves, setting themselves on fire, or lighting a bomb to avoid a droning seatmate). So how many died onboard since the beginning of commercial civilian aircraft? There must be a list, complete with causes of death; I would find one perversely interesting. I think. Leo ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-how-many-passengers-have-died-_on-aircraft_-but-not-from-crash-eg-southwest-1380/843792/2 "2019-11-21T21:14:27Z")
There was the Aloha Air case, where the roof blew off and a flight attendant was sucked out and died. The pilots landed the plane safely, so not a crash. > **[Aloha Airlines Flight 243](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloha_Airlines_Flight_243)** > > Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}20°53.919′N 156°25.827′W / 20.898650°N 156.430450°W / 20.898650; -156.430450 > Aloha Airlines Flight 243 (IATA: AQ243, ICAO: AAH243) was a scheduled Aloha Airlines flight between Hilo and Honolulu in Hawaii. On April 28, 1988, ... ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-how-many-passengers-have-died-_on-aircraft_-but-not-from-crash-eg-southwest-1380/843792/3 "2019-11-21T22:05:06Z")
Here’s a list of deaths caused by turbulence - [Turbulence Accidents That Killed Airline Passengers](http://www.airsafe.com/events/turb.htm) Two of those ended up as crashes, but the other 5 landed safely. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-how-many-passengers-have-died-_on-aircraft_-but-not-from-crash-eg-southwest-1380/843792/4 "2019-11-21T22:25:51Z")
Here’s an old, 1996 Chicago Tribune about in-flight deaths: [https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1996-06-30-9606300406-story.html](https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1996-06-30-9606300406-story.html) that in a nutshell concludes, nobody really knows. And as this 2013 article states: “Technically Speaking, No One Ever Really Dies on a Plane” [https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2013-01-04/american-airline-death-airplane-medical-issues-explained-010413](https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2013-01-04/american-airline-death-airplane-medical-issues-explained-010413) ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-how-many-passengers-have-died-_on-aircraft_-but-not-from-crash-eg-southwest-1380/843792/5 "2019-11-21T23:07:28Z")
As for the death of the passenger on Flight 1380, details are critical (my bold): “The National Transportation Safety Board’s recommendations come after its investigation of Southwest Flight 1380, in April 2018, when a fan blade broke off one of the engines, punctured a three-pane window and sucked a passenger partly out of the plane briefly. **The passenger, who was pulled back inside the aircraft by passengers, died, becoming the first accident-related fatality on a U.S. airline in almost a decade.** ” Source: [[https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/19/ntsb-calls-on-boeing-to-redesign-some-737s-after-deadly-2018-southwest-accident.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/19/ntsb-calls-on-boeing-to-redesign-some-737s-after-deadly-2018-southwest-accident.html)]([https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/19/ntsb-calls-on-boeing-to-redesign-some-737s-after-deadly-2018-southwest](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/19/ntsb-calls-on-boeing-to-redesign-some-737s-after-deadly-2018-southwest) accident.html) So no, deaths other than directly aircraft related aren’t counted. Besides, “Technically Speaking, No One Ever Really Dies on a Plane”. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-how-many-passengers-have-died-_on-aircraft_-but-not-from-crash-eg-southwest-1380/843792/6 "2019-11-22T02:15:29Z")
Well, 6 people died of hypoxia on Payne Stewart’s plane. It flew on autopilot for quite while until it ran out of fuel and crashed. > **[1999 South Dakota Learjet crash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_South_Dakota_Learjet_crash)** > > On October 25, 1999, a chartered Learjet 35 business jet was scheduled to fly from Orlando, Florida, United States to Dallas, Texas, United States. Early in the flight, the aircraft, which was climbing to its assigned altitude on autopilot, lost cabin pressure, and all six on board were incapacitated by hypoxia, a lack of oxygen in the brain and body. The aircraft continued climbing past its assigned altitude, then failed to make the westward turn toward Dallas over North Florida and continued... ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-how-many-passengers-have-died-_on-aircraft_-but-not-from-crash-eg-southwest-1380/843792/7 "2019-11-22T07:56:51Z")
It’s not particularly rare so I don’t think you’d find any stats. The airline I work for had a passenger die inflight recently and a pilot died a year or two back. ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-how-many-passengers-have-died-_on-aircraft_-but-not-from-crash-eg-southwest-1380/843792/8 "2019-11-22T11:40:19Z")
A passenger died from a heart attack last month on a British Airways flight. > **[British Airways passenger dies from heart attack mid flight](https://www.express.co.uk/travel/articles/1195764/british-airways-plane-passenger-dies-heart-attack-london-heathrow-travel-latest)** > > A BRITISH AIRWAYS flight was the scene of a tragedy today after a plane passenger died from a heart attack onboard. The BA aircraft from en route from London Heathrow Airport to Bangkok, Thailand when the man passed away. ---
**Author:** ![mako88sb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@mako88sb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mako88sb)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-how-many-passengers-have-died-_on-aircraft_-but-not-from-crash-eg-southwest-1380/843792/9 "2019-11-22T15:19:18Z")
9 people died when the cargo door ripped off in flight on a 747 bound for Australia but the plane landed safely: [United Airlines Flight 811 - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_811) ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-how-many-passengers-have-died-_on-aircraft_-but-not-from-crash-eg-southwest-1380/843792/10 "2019-11-22T19:25:15Z")
AFIK “crash” is a layman’s term, which I guess is being used here to mean an aircraft impacting terrain. The FAA and NTSB use the terms “incident” and “accident” and those have precise definitions. If the event resulted in a fatality\*, it automatically meets the threshold of an accident regardless of whether or not the plane ultimately landed safely. It their eyes, Southhwest 1380, Aloha 243, and United 811 are all in the same category as Asiana 214, Swissair 111, etc. Since they’re not really categorized differently by the authorities, you’re probably not going to statistics on fatalities on airliners not resulting from a “crash”. \*Or more precisely, a fatality resulting from the aircraft or its operation. Obviously they’re not going to count things like people dying from heart attacks mid-flight, since the fact that it happened on a plane is merely incidental.