Most airline accidents happen in the first and last minutes of a flight

Airline accidents are rare, but their risk is not spread evenly across a trip. Takeoff, initial climb, approach and landing compress changing speed, altitude, configuration and traffic into relatively short periods. Industry data consistently place a majority of commercial-aircraft accidents in those beginning and ending phases rather than in level cruise.

The familiar shorthand about the first and last minutes should not be read as a countdown that applies identically to every flight. Safety organizations classify phases by aircraft operation, not by a universal minute mark. The underlying pattern is still clear: the terminal portions of a flight demand more changes and leave less time and altitude for recovery.

Approach and landing account for more than half

The International Air Transport Association’s runway-safety program reports that approach and landing represented 61 percent of commercial-aircraft accidents in its 2012–2016 dataset. Unstable approaches were identified as a factor in 16 percent of accidents during that period. Those figures cover industry-defined accidents, not every delay, maintenance problem or minor onboard injury.

IATA describes runway excursion as the most common accident category reported annually and says approach and landing accounted for 61 percent of the cited accidents. Adding takeoff and initial climb reinforces the conclusion that most accidents cluster at the opening and closing ends of a normal airline flight.

Configuration changes raise the workload

During takeoff, engines produce high thrust, the aircraft accelerates from a stop and the crew must decide quickly whether a problem calls for stopping or continuing. After liftoff, landing gear and flaps are retracted, speed and pitch change, and the aircraft enters a departure path among terrain, weather and other traffic.

The sequence reverses during arrival, with added constraints. Crews descend, slow the aircraft, extend flaps and landing gear, follow air traffic control instructions and align with a specific runway. Wind, visibility, runway condition and traffic can change the margins. A stable approach requires the aircraft to meet defined speed, path and configuration criteria by a set point; otherwise a go-around is the safer response.

Cruise occupies time but has larger margins

A typical 90-minute flight spends most of its time in cruise, yet cruise usually involves fewer rapid configuration changes and far more altitude. A problem at cruising height can be serious, but crews often have more time to diagnose it, coordinate with controllers and select a diversion airport. Systems are also designed with redundancy for failures that may occur en route.

Boeing’s 2024 statistical summary found that cruise represented 57 percent of estimated flight time but 10 percent of fatal accidents among the worldwide commercial jet fleet from 2015 through 2024. Landing occupied about 1 percent of flight time and represented 37 percent of fatal accidents. Those figures address fatal accidents specifically, but they illustrate the sharp difference in exposure.

Runway events dominate recent accident types

IATA’s 2025 safety report counted 51 accidents among 38.7 million commercial flights, an all-accident rate of 1.32 per million flights. Tail strikes, landing-gear events, runway excursions and ground damage were the most common types. The report’s definition covers commercial passenger and cargo operations with aircraft above a specified weight and substantial damage or qualifying injury.

The same report noted eight fatal accidents and 394 onboard fatalities in 2025. A single year can swing because the underlying number of accidents is so small, so multi-year rates better describe the trend. Long-term fatal accident rates have fallen markedly even as departures increased.

Training targets the compressed decision windows

Airlines use recurrent simulator sessions to practice rejected takeoffs, engine failures, wind shear, unstable approaches and go-arounds. Standard operating procedures divide tasks between pilots and specify callouts so a crew can recognize a deviation early. Airport surface controls, runway-safety areas, collision-warning systems and improved weather information address hazards beyond the cockpit.

Many defenses are deliberately layered. A stabilized-approach policy may prevent a rushed landing; terrain and traffic alerts can catch a developing conflict; flight attendants prepare the cabin for the phases when abrupt deceleration is most plausible. Accident investigations feed new findings into training, design and regulation.

A concentration of risk, not a reason for alarm

The statistical concentration does not make takeoff or landing likely to end badly. With tens of millions of commercial flights and only dozens of qualifying accidents worldwide in a year, the absolute risk remains very low. The pattern instead guides where limited safety attention can have the greatest effect.

“First and last minutes” is a plain-language summary of operational phases, not a precise boundary. Takeoff, climb, approach and landing expose aircraft to more transitions close to the ground, while cruise offers time and altitude. Modern aviation safety has improved by treating those short, demanding periods as predictable problems that can be designed, trained and managed.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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