On 17 July 2007, TAM Airlines Flight 3054 careens off runway 35L at Brazil's Congonhas Airport, crashes at high speed into a warehouse adjacent to a filling station and explodes. A total of 199 people on board the aircraft and on the ground are killed. Incorrect engine throttle settings upon landing caused one engine to reverse thrust while the other increased power, resulting in the loss of control.

On 16 August 2005, West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 stalls while cruising and crashes in rural Venezuela during a severe thunderstorm. Investigations revealed there were no faults with the engines. Pilot error led to the stall which was misinterpreted by the crew members, who took no recovery action until it was too late.

On 12 December 1985, Arrow Air Flight 1285, carrying troops of the US Army's 101st Airborne Division, stalls and crashes just seconds after taking off from Gander International Airport in Canada, killing all 256 people on board. The cause of the crash remains disputed.

Die weltbekannte Fußballmannschaft Manchester United fliegt von Jugoslawien zurück in die Heimat. Nach einem Tankstop in München setzt die Maschine zum Start an. Just in dem Moment, an dem die Geschwindigkeit zum Abheben erreicht werden sollte, wird die Maschine langsamer, bleibt auf dem Boden und rast in ein nahegelegenes Haus samt Schuppen, in dem Kraftstoff verwahrt wird. 23 Menschen, darunter sieben Manchester-Spieler verlieren bei dem Unglück ihr Leben.

On 9 October 2002, Northwest Airlines Flight 85 is cruising above the Bering Sea, when the lower rudder segment suddenly deflects to the left. The pilots divert the aircraft to a successful emergency landing at Anchorage, Alaska, by using engine thrust for control. The incident was attributed to a fatigue failure of the rudder hydraulic control module, resulting in part of the module's metal casing breaking off.

On 22 December 1999, Korean Air Cargo Flight 8509, en route from London Stansted Airport to Milan, Italy, crashes into a field about 55 seconds after taking off, killing all four crew members on board. The causes of the crash were the captain following the indications of a malfunctioning attitude indicator and lack of communication amongst the crew members.

On 25 September 1978, Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) Flight 182 collides with a light aircraft while approaching Lindbergh Field and crashes in a residential area in San Diego. All 137 people on both aircraft and seven people on the ground die.

On 11 July 1991, Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 is taking off from Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport with 247 Nigerian Hajj pilgrims and 14 crew members on board. A tire bursts during the takeoff, starting a fire on the landing gear. The crew is unaware of the fire and retracts the gear after takeoff; and the fire spreads. Encountering problems, the crew then tries to return the aircraft to the airport, but it breaks up during flight and crashes about three kilometres from the runway.

On 7 December 1987, Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771, on a flight to San Francisco, crashes at the speed of sound on a mountainside in rural San Luis Obispo County, California. All 43 people on board are killed. Investigators found that passenger David Burke, a former USAir employee, took a gun on board the aircraft and shot the pilots in a murder-suicide plot to kill his former supervisor (who was also a passenger on board) after being fired from his job days earlier. USAir was in the process of merging with PSA at the time of the crash.

On 24 May 1988, TACA Airlines Flight 110, a near-new Boeing 737, flies through a thunderstorm and suffers a dual engine flameout. The captain, Carlos Dardano, manages to make a successful deadstick landing on a narrow grass levee in the Michoud area of eastern New Orleans.

On 8 October 2001, Scandinavian Airlines Flight 686, carrying 110 people bound for Copenhagen, Denmark, is taking off at Milan's Linate Airport in thick fog. On the runway, it collides with an Air Evex business jet carrying four people bound for Paris, France. The airliner suffers major damage and crashes into a building shortly afterwards. All 114 people on board the two aircraft are killed, along with four on the ground. The crew of the business jet had made a wrong turn while taxiing in the fog and inadvertently taxied onto the runway.

On 19 July 1989, the tail-mounted number two engine of United Airlines Flight 232 explodes, causing serious damage to the aircraft's hydraulic systems and leaving the flight controls unusable. By varying engine thrust, the pilots manage to crash-land the aircraft at the Sioux Gateway Airport in Iowa, saving the lives of 185 of the 296 people on board. The investigation traced the engine failure to a fatigue crack in the front fan disk which had developed from a defect introduced before the disk was even made, when the original titanium ingot used to make it was formed.