United Airlines safety record
No passenger or crew member has died in an accident on a United mainline flight since 1997 — almost thirty years. On airlines like United, the chance of a passenger dying in an accident is about 1 in 80 million per flight.
For airlines based in the United States and the other countries in the same safety group, 2018–2022 (MIT study).
Put another way: if you took a flight every single day, you would, on average, fly for about 219,000 years before a fatal accident happened to you.
Almost thirty years without a passenger or crew death on its own flights
The last accident death on a United mainline flight was on 28 December 1997, when flight 826 met severe turbulence over the Pacific and a passenger was killed. Its last crash that was an accident was flight 585 at Colorado Springs in 1991, which the NTSB traced to an uncommanded rudder movement, most likely from a jammed rudder valve.
On 11 September 2001, flights 175 and 93 were hijacked: one was flown into the World Trade Center, and the other crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew fought the hijackers. These were acts of terrorism, not accidents, and are shown apart on the line below.
Flights sold as United Express are flown by regional airlines with their own crews and operating certificates. Colgan Air 3407, which crashed near Buffalo in 2009, flew as Continental Connection before Continental merged into United in 2010. Accidents at airlines it later merged with — Continental — are part of that airline's own record and are not shown here. United carried about 181 million passengers in 2025, regional flights included, and is registered with IATA's operational safety audit (IOSA).
Every fatal accident, on one line
Solid dots are its own flights; hollow ones were flown by a partner or subsidiary under its name; grey rings are hijackings and attacks. Deaths that investigators don't class as accidents (such as trespassers) aren't shown.
- Nov 1996 United Express 5925 (Great Lakes Airlines) · Beechcraft 1900 · Quincy, IllinoisA King Air began its take-off into the landing United Express aircraft; the NTSB found the King Air pilots did not monitor the radio or look for traffic.
- Jan 1994 United Express 6291 (Atlantic Coast Airlines) · BAe Jetstream 41 · near Columbus, OhioThe NTSB found a stall after a poorly flown approach and an improper recovery.
- Dec 1989 United Express 2415 (North Pacific Airlines) · BAe Jetstream 31 · Pasco, WashingtonThe NTSB found the crew continued an unstabilised approach in icing, leading to a stall.
- Sep 2001 UA93 · Boeing 757 · near Shanksville, PennsylvaniaHijacked by terrorists; it crashed after passengers and crew fought the hijackers.
- Sep 2001 UA175 · Boeing 767 · World Trade Center, New YorkHijacked by terrorists and flown into the World Trade Center South Tower.
- Dec 1997 UA826 · Boeing 747 · Pacific OceanA passenger was killed when the aircraft met severe turbulence over the Pacific.
- Mar 1991 UA585 · Boeing 737 · near Colorado SpringsThe NTSB found an uncommanded rudder movement, most likely from a jammed rudder valve, caused a loss of control.
- Jul 1989 UA232 · McDonnell Douglas DC-10 · Sioux City, IowaAn engine fan disk broke apart from an undetected crack and disabled the flight controls, the NTSB found; 111 people died (a 112th died more than 30 days later).
- Feb 1989 UA811 · Boeing 747 · Pacific Ocean near HonoluluA cargo door opened in flight because of a faulty switch and design flaws in the door, the NTSB found.
- Jan 1983 UA2885 (cargo) · Douglas DC-8 · DetroitThe NTSB found the crew did not follow the checklist and missed a mis-set stabiliser trim; it also cited the captain letting an unqualified second officer fly.
- Dec 1978 UA173 · McDonnell Douglas DC-8 · near Portland, OregonRan out of fuel while the captain was absorbed by a landing-gear problem, the NTSB found.
- Dec 1977 UA2860 (cargo) · Douglas DC-8 · near Kaysville, UtahA cargo flight hit mountains after an unclear holding clearance that the crew accepted, the NTSB found.
- Dec 1972 UA553 · Boeing 737 · near Chicago MidwayThe NTSB found the captain did not manage the approach and the airspeed decayed into a stall.
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United Airlines in numbers
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United Airlines safety questions
How safe is United Airlines?
No passenger or crew member has died in an accident on a United mainline flight since 1997 — almost thirty years. On airlines like United, the chance of a passenger dying in an accident is about 1 in 80 million per flight. Every fact on this page is sourced — the list is at the bottom.
What is United Airlines' safety rating?
FlyBud doesn't give airlines a made-up score. What can be checked is the record on this page and whether the airline passes IATA's operational safety audit (IOSA), which United Airlines does.
Has United ever had a plane crash?
Yes. Its last crash that was an accident was flight 585 at Colorado Springs in 1991, and its last accident death on its own flights was a passenger killed in severe turbulence on flight 826 in 1997. Flights 175 and 93 were hijacked on 11 September 2001.
Where these facts come from
Every fact on this page is from the airline's own filings, the official accident investigation or the published accident record.
- United 10-K 2025 Passengers, fleet
- IATA IOSA registry IOSA registration (read 30 Sep 2026)
- Aviation Safety Network Flight 826
- Aviation Safety Network Flight 585
- Aviation Safety Network Colgan Air 3407 (Continental Connection)
- Wikipedia Accidents before 1970 (fallback)
- IATA IOSA registry IOSA registration (checked 30 Sep 2026)
- MIT News / Journal of Air Transport Management (Barnett, 2024) risk per flight 2018–2022
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