Flying is not inherently dangerous, but to an even greater extent than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of carelessness, incapacity, or neglect
Since the birth of flight, aircraft have crashed, often with serious consequences. This is due to the unforgiving nature of flight, where a relatively insubstantial medium, air, supports a significant mass. Should this support fail, there is limited opportunity for a good outcome. Because of this, aircraft design is concerned to minimise the chance of failure, and pilots are trained with safety a primary consideration. Despite this, accidents still occur, though statistically flying is nowadays an extremely safe form of transportation. In fact the relative rarity of incidents, coupled with the often dramatic outcome, is one reason why they still make headline news.
Many early attempts at flight ended in failure when a design raised to a height for a launching would fail generate enough lift and crash to the ground. Some the earliest aviation pioneers lost their lives testing aircraft they built. See Early flying machines.
Otto Lilienthal died after a failure of one of his gliders. On his 2500th flight (August 10, 1896), a gust of wind broke the wing of his glider, causing him to fall from a height of roughly 56 ft (17 m), fracturing his spine. He died the next day, with his last words being reported as Opfer müssen gebracht werden! ("sacrifices must be made"). Percy Pilcher was another promising aviation pioneer. Pilcher died testing The Hawk (September 20, 1899). Just as with Lilienthal, promising designs and ideas for a motorized planes were lost with his death. Some other early attempts experienced rough landings, such as Richard Pearse who is generally accepted to have crash landed (survived) a motorized aircraft in some bushes, unable to gain altitude after launching from it from some height.
The Wright Flyer nearly crashed on the day of its historic flight while being piloted, sustaining some damage when landing. Thomas Selfridge became the first person killed in a powered airplane on September 17, 1908 when Wilbur crashed his two-passenger plane during military tests at Fort Myer in Virginia.
Legend has it that many planes (as well as ships) have been lost in the Bermuda Triangle. The triangle covers the area between San Juan, Puerto Rico, Miami and Bermuda. Some say that the planes were taken hostage, others say they were taken away by aliens. What actually happened to the planes and ships that lost contact while navigating this area remains a mystery.
World boxing champion Rocky Marciano was killed in 1969, when a plane he was piloting crashed. In 1979, New York Yankees catcher Thurman Munson also died in the crash of a plane he was flying. In 1993, two top NASCAR drivers were killed in separate aviation accidents. First, defending series champion Alan Kulwicki was killed when the plane in which he was a passenger crashed while he was on his way to a race. Later, Davey Allison died from injuries suffered in a helicopter crash during a race weekend. In 1999, a private jet that was carrying golf star Payne Stewart crashed in South Dakota with no survivors; it is believed that all on board died from lack of oxygen when the plane suddenly lost cabin pressure early in the flight, while the plane was on autopilot.
