August 8, 2009 at approximately 12 noon, local time, a small aircraft clipped a helicopter from behind in a mid-air collision over the Hudson River. 9 people are presumed dead including 5 Italian tourists and pilot on a sightseeing tour in the helicopter, and 3 on board the plane.
A Merpati Airlines plane crashed just after 10am local time on August 2, 2009. There were no known survivors among the 13 passengers and 3 crew members on board. The weather was reported to have been clear conditions.
Aria Air flight 1525 crashed killing at least 17 people on board, and at least 20 injured. 153 people were on board. The plane crashed at approximately 6:10 pm on July 24, during landing in the Iranian city of Mashhad.
In the late morning of Wednesday, July 15, Caspian Airlines flight 7908 crashed killing all 168 people including 153 passengers and 15 crew members on board.
Early into June 30, 2009 a Yemeni jet with 153 people on board (142 passengers and 11 crew) crashed into the Indian Ocean as it tried to land during very poor weather on the island country of Comoros. It's been reported that rescuers were successful in rescuing a 14 year old girl from the sea.
An Air France flight en route to Paris from Brazil went missing after experiencing thunderstorms and turbulence somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean in the late evening of May 31.
A Turkish Airlines flight crashed in a farmer's field near Amsterdam's Schiphol airport during its descent on Wednesday, February 25 at approximately 10:40am local time.
An ongoing list of airline crashes which had fatalities in 2009.
Planecrashinfo has taken the statistics for 20 years - from 1989 through 2008 and looked at the major airlines in the world, and assessed their accident rates.
Late on Thursday, February 12, 2009 a Continental Airlines Connection flight (operated by Colgan Air) crashed near the end of its route between Newark, New Jersey and Buffalo-Niagara. All on board, and one person on the ground died.
US Airways aircraft crashed over water on Thursday, January 15, 2009 with over 150 passengers and crew aboard. The plane hit a flock of geese, causing irreparable damage to the plane. The aircraft was flying over New York's Hudson River, and somehow the pilot managed to land the plane - intact - in the water.
Atlasjet, a low cost airline based in Turkey and popular with European holiday-makers, has suffered a fatal crash, killing all on board.
Low cost airline One-Two-Go had one of its planes crash as it tried to land in Phuket. Having flown on this Thai airline, it seemed like there were at least as many tourists on board its flights as Thai nationals.
Kenya Airways, KQ 507, went missing on Saturday, May 5, 2007 after sending out a distress signal. 114 were on board including 105 passengers from over 20 countries and 9 crew. The flight took off in poor weather.
The airline involved is Garuda Indonesia.
The same week as a deadly ferry sinking that left hundreds of people dead off the coast of Indonesia, a flight went missing over this archipelago nation.
Travel on African airlines has long been maligned for questionable safety standards. The crash in Nigeria highlights this again.
September 29th - a mid-air collision between a small aircraft, and a larger, commercial airliner occurs somewhere over the Amazon.
The flight, Sibir Airlines Flight 778, flew from Moscow and crashed on landing at Irkutsk Airport when it slid off the runway and hit a building.
Two planes crashed into each other thousands of feet above the Swiss and German borders.
The Aviation Safety Network has extensive coverage of airline accidents, fatalities and safety records. Really thorough, if not entirely reassuring.
BAAA/ACRO maintains a current list of accidents. All types of airplanes are included, not just commercial airlines. They keep a log of fatalities for the year thus far.
This site is a compelling read. Be forewarned, there are some graphic images that may be rather disturbing.
Skyrage compiles articles related to air rage, and maintains archives from 1994 to the present day.
The U.S. State Department provides a complete list of travel warnings. A travel essential for planning a safe trip.
