Boeing 757 safety record
The 757's accident rate is well under half the average for jets, over more than forty years of flying.
A record well below the average for jets
Boeing's annual accident summary measures this as fatal hull losses per million departures — how many times in a million flights an aircraft of the type was destroyed in an accident that killed someone. Across the worldwide jet fleet Boeing tracks, since 1959, the figure is 0.52. The 757 stands at 0.21, well under half of that. Boeing's count covers accidents, not hijackings.
Its deadliest accidents were in the mid-1990s: one after an airspeed sensor was probably blocked while the aircraft sat on the ground and the crew did not recover from the stall that followed, one after a navigation error on the approach to Cali. Cali is a large part of why airliners now carry terrain-warning systems that look ahead of the aircraft.
The 757 in numbers
The wings are meant to bend
The 757's wings flex in bumpy air like every airliner's: the tip rises and falls as the wing absorbs a gust instead of passing all of it into the cabin. It's built to bend far further than anything the weather can ask of it.
The 757 is powerful for its size, which is why it climbs so steeply after takeoff — a feeling some passengers notice and wonder about. That steep climb is spare performance, not strain. In bumpy air it behaves like the mid-sized jet it is: more motion than a big widebody, less than a regional jet.
Six across in economy
Like the 737, the 757 seats six across in economy, three either side of a single aisle, in the same cabin width. The drawing fits those six seats and the aisle into the published width, so the seats come out exactly as wide as a 737's.
What's different is the length: a long single-aisle cabin means a long walk to the back and a slower boarding. The seat itself is the same squeeze.
How big it really is
The 757 has the same fuselage width as a 737, but stretched much longer, which is why it looks so slender next to other airliners. Its wingspan is modest for its length.
Tap any other airliner to lay it over the 757 at exactly the same scale.
The 757 in white, the 777 outlined in gold. Same scale, same metre.
Boeing 757 questions
How safe is the 757?
The 757's accident rate is well under half the average for jets, over more than forty years of flying. Every figure on this page is sourced — the list is at the bottom.
Is the Boeing 757 still being built?
No. Production ended years ago, but airlines have kept large numbers flying because it can do jobs few other aircraft can, such as long thin routes and short, demanding runways. Age alone isn't a safety concern: maintenance runs on flight hours and cycles under a regulated programme.
Why does the 757 climb so steeply?
It has a lot of engine thrust for its weight. That surplus lets it climb at a steep angle after takeoff, which feels dramatic from inside but is simply the aircraft using performance it has to spare.
Is the 757 a narrow-body?
Yes. It has a single aisle and six seats across, the same cabin width as a 737, just much longer.
Every other airliner
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page is from the manufacturer, the certifying authority or the published accident record.
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