Aviation accidents and incidents

An aviation accident is an event during aircraft operation that causes serious injury, death, or destruction; an aviation incident is any operating event that compromises safety but does not progress to an actual accident. Preventing accidents and incidents is the main goal of aviation safety.

The first fatal aviation accident occurred on 10 May 1785, when a hot air balloon crashed in the town of Tullamore, Co. Offaly, Ireland. The town was seriously damaged from the resultant fire that burned down over 130 homes.^[1] The first involving a powered aircraft was the crash of a Wright Model A aircraft at Fort Myer, Virginia, in the United States on September 17, 1908, injuring its co-inventor and pilot, Orville Wright, and killing the passenger, Signal Corps lieutenant Thomas Selfridge.^[2]

^
Byrne, Michael. The Tullamore Balloon Fire – First Air Disaster in History Archived 16 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society website, 9 January 2007 (retrieved 7 July 2011), which in turn cites:
- Faulkner's Dublin Journal, 14 May 1785, and
- Finn's Leinster Journal.
^ "A Visual Timeline of What Inspired the Wright Brothers – First Fatal Airplane Crash in 1885". thoughtco.com. Archived from the original on April 18, 2019. Retrieved July 6, 2017.

[1] Byrne, Michael. The Tullamore Balloon Fire – First Air Disaster in History Archived 16 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society website, 9 January 2007 (retrieved 7 July 2011), which in turn cites:
Faulkner's Dublin Journal, 14 May 1785, and

Finn's Leinster Journal.

[2] Faulkner's Dublin Journal, 14 May 1785, and

[3] Finn's Leinster Journal.

[2] "A Visual Timeline of What Inspired the Wright Brothers – First Fatal Airplane Crash in 1885". thoughtco.com. Archived from the original on April 18, 2019. Retrieved July 6, 2017.

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