Wire strikes

Aircraft that hit wires, poles or towers. A single cable seen against the ground or the sky is very hard to spot, and the aircraft that work low - agricultural aircraft, helicopters, pilots following rivers and valleys - are the ones most exposed.

Each era of NTSB data codes a wire strike differently - as an accident type before 1982, as the object hit in an in-flight collision from 1982 to 2007, and in the findings since - and all three are gathered here. The helicopter records have their own collection, Helicopter wire strikes.

More collections

• Shot down Airliners and military aircraft brought down by missiles, fighters and anti-aircraft fire.
• Running on empty Fuel exhaustion and fuel starvation: engines that stopped with the tanks dry, or with fuel that couldn't reach them.
• Into the cloud: VFR flight into instrument conditions Pilots flying by sight who continued into cloud or darkness. Few of these end well.
• Fire and explosion Fires and explosions before any impact: engines, cabins, cargo holds, wiring and fuel.