What percent of airplane accidents occur during landing?

• A. 53%
• B. 8.5%
• C. 8.3%
• D. 60%

Answer: (A)

Landing is the riskiest phase for many aviation accidents because it happens at low altitude with high workload: you’re managing descent, speed, alignment with the runway, flap and gear configurations, and possible weather issues, all with little margin for error. When something goes wrong, there’s less time to recover before touchdown, so the consequences tend to be more severe. Safety data consistently show that a little over half of all airplane accidents occur during landing, which is why the figure around 53% is used to describe this phase. This understanding also explains why pilots are trained to maintain a stabilized approach, monitor weather and airspeed closely, and be prepared to perform a go-around if the approach isn’t stable. The other options don’t fit because they either understate the risk during landing or imply an unrealistically high share of accidents in that phase.