When you fly on an airliner, which part of the flight carries the highest risk, the take-off or the landing?

Answer 1

I would think that more accidents occur on take off than on landing (even though landing may be a more difficult task for the pilot). Check out the stats on page 3 of the below publication.

Answer 2

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In general, I would say landing. Because..

Mechanically, the aircraft is push to it's limit the most when it is at take off. Also, if there had been any mechanical weaknesses that were not detected on preflight tests and maintenance routines, things can go wrong as soon as you start rather than later. Once an aircraft gets into a critical speed it has no turning back even if it hasn't left the ground yet, as the speed is too high and most runways are too short to stop on time before running off into certain disaster on the ground.

How ever, an accident survey of 2,147 aircraft accidents from 1950 through 2004 determined the causes to be as follows:

45%: Pilot error
33%: Undetermined or missing in the record
13%: Mechanical failure
7%: Weather
5%: Sabotage (bombs, hijackings, shoot-downs)
4%: Other human error (air traffic controller error, improper loading of aircraft, improper maintenance, fuel contamination, language miscommunication etc.)
1%: Other cause
(The survey excluded military, private, and charter aircraft.)


So statistically there seem to be more likelihood of an air crash happening by pilot error than mechanical failure. Therefore, if speaking in general, we should focus on what stage a pilot is more likely to make an error.

As a simulator pilot I can tell that landing is the hardest part of the flight to master if done manually. Even with automation, there are very narrow margins to work with and a failure can be critical.

Just before landing, aircraft fly dangerously close to terrain (terrain and airplanes don’t mix well while flying), dangerously close to stall speed (the speed if flying slower than which the plane either becomes uncontrollable or simply falls down) and with very little margin for missing the alignment.

A more specific study by The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association confirms this by showing there have been more accidents during landings than while take offs.

However the same also indicates that the overall fatalities are slightly higher on take off crashes. (This could be due to higher fuel quantities and speeds usually involved in the take offs compared to landings)

These are all general statistics and don't really apply for individual flights. Anything is possible. Once, one of the most reputed Airlines in the world with a good track record - Singapore Airlines - had an incident where a (Malaysian) pilot took off from the wrong runway (in Taiwan) and crashed into an excavator that was digging in the middle of it!


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Answer 3

Landing

Answer 4

Both of them. The main reason being that the aircraft is closer to the ground and in case of engine problems or the likes it cannot recover quickly nor glide, the vast majority of aircraft accidents and incidents happen on take-off and landing.

Answer 5

Landing is the most difficult part of the flight for the pilots.... also more dangerous.

Answer 6

i would think that they both carry about the same risks, however takeoff to me is the scariest considering that the plane is carrying a full load of aviation fuel, which on landing is mostly used up. The risk factor of explosion to me is higher when you think about the fuel its carrying

Answer 7

I try to avoid the Landing

Answer 8

both!most airplane accidents happen during take off and landing.

Answer 9

both are dangerous...most of the rest of the flight is autopilot barring some unforeseen maneuver