Reflecting this increase in miles flown, preliminary estimates of the total number of accidents involving a U.S. registered civilian aircraft increased from 1,139 in 2020 to 1,225 in 2021. The number of civil aviation deaths increased from 349 in 2020 to 376 in 2021.

Commercial aviation remains the safest form of long-distance travel, with an incredibly low "fatal accident" rate. In 2024, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported only one fatal accident involving a jet aircraft out of 37 million flights. While "hull losses" (accidents where the plane is destroyed) occur slightly more frequently—typically between 5 to 10 incidents per year globally—most of these do not involve fatalities and often occur in cargo or non-commercial operations. For the 2025–2026 period, the "all-accident" rate continues to hover around 0.80 per million flights, meaning you would have to fly every day for over 3,000 years to be involved in a significant accident. The vast majority of these incidents are non-fatal "runway excursions" or "tail strikes." While high-profile incidents occasionally dominate the news, the statistical reality is that commercial airline travel has seen a continuous decade-long trend of safety improvements due to better pilot training and advanced automation.