List of people who died in plane crashes
This is a list of well-known people who have died in aviation-related tragedies. This list does not include the approximately three thousand people who died in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, nor the millions who have died from aerial bombardment during war.
This list is sectioned by occupation. For a list of aviation-related deaths by type of aircraft see a separate list of famous deaths by aircraft misadventure.
The year after the names of persons is the year of the aviation-related death. Within each section, people are listed in alphabetical order.
Aviation
- Bessie Coleman (1892-1926), first African-American woman pilot
- Jessica Dubroff, young pilot
- Amelia Earhart, 1937
- Eugene Ely, 1911
- Guy Gibson, World War II pilot
- Amy Johnson, British pilot
- Juan de la Cierva, inventor of the autogyro, on a fixed-wing plane.
- Edward O'Hare, World War II pilot
- Harriet Quimby (1875-1912), first licensed female pilot in the United States
- Yamamoto Isoroku, 1943, Admiral who planned Pearl Harbor attack
See also: List of space disasters
Entertainment
- Aaliyah, 2001, actor and singer
- The Big Bopper, 1959, singer
- Guido Cantelli, orchestral conductor
- Buddy Clark, singer
- Patsy Cline, 1963, country music singer
- Jim Croce, 1973, singer
- Marcel Dadi, 1996, French musician on TWA Flight 800
- John Denver, 1997, singer
- Cassie Gaines, 1977, musician, Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Steve Gaines, 1977, musician, Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Carlos Gardel, 1935, Argentinian singer
- William Gardner Knight, actor
- Bill Graham, rock impresario
- Keith Green, 1982, contemporary Christian musician
- Buddy Holly, 1959, singer
- Leslie Howard, 1943, actor
- Pedro Infante, Mexican singer
- Anna Jantar, 1980, Polish singer
- Carole Lombard, 1942, actress
- Glenn Miller, 1944, Big Band leader
- Grace Moore, opera singer
- Vic Morrow, actor
- Audie Murphy, 1971, actor
- Ricky Nelson, 1985, actor and singer
- Otis Redding, 1967, singer
- Lionel Poilane, French baker and entrepreneur
- Jim Reeves, country music singer
- Stan Rogers, Canadian singer
- Will Rogers, 1935, actor, humorist, singer
- Kyu Sakamoto, 1985, Japanese singer
- Larry Shue, playwright
- Graham "Shirley" Strahan, 2001, singer, Skyhooks
- Frank Tallman III, stuntman
- Melanie Thornton, singer
- Mike Todd, producer
- Ritchie Valens, 1959, singer
- Ronnie VanZant, 1977, member of Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Stevie Ray Vaughan, 1990, guitarist and singer
Politicians
- Abdul Salam Arif, 1966, president of Iraq
- GM Balayogi, 2002, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, India
- René Barrientos, 1969, president of Bolivia
- Džemal Bijedić, 1977, premier of Yugoslavia
- Barthelemy Boganda, 1959, president of the Central African Republic
- Hale Boggs, 1972, U.S. Congressman
- Subhash Chandra Bose, 1945, leader of the Indian Congress
- Ahmed Ould Bouceif, 1979, prime minister of Mauritania
- Ron Brown, 1996, United States Secretary of Commerce with over 30 others in Croatia
- Mel Carnahan, 2000, governor of Missouri
- Igor Farkhutdinov, 2003, Russian politician, governor of Sakhalin
- Sanjay Gandhi, 1980, son of Indira Gandhi
- Dag Hammarskjöld, 1961, Secretary-General of the United Nations
- Juvenal Habyarimana, 1994, president of Rwanda
- Alexander Lebed, 2002, Russian politician, governor of Krasnoyarsk
- Ernest Lundeen, Senator from Minnesota
- Samora Machel, 1986, president of Mozambique
- Ramon Magsaysay, 1957, president of the Philippines
- Larry McDonald, U.S. Congressman, 1983, aboard Korean Air Flight KAL-007
- Carlos Menem Jr., 1995, first son of former Argentine president Carlos Menem.
- George S. Mickelson, 1993, governor of South Dakota
- Edward Moss, 1964, aide of senator Ted Kennedy, who was also injured during accident
- Cyprien Ntaryamira, 1994, president of Burundi
- Joel Rakotomalala, 1976, prime minister of Madagascar
- Jaime Roldós, 1981, president of Ecuador
- Francisco Sá Carneiro, 1980, prime minister of Portugal
- Madhavrao Scindia, 2001, Indian politician
- Wladyslaw Sikorski, 1943, Polish prime minister
- Omar Torrijos, 1981, Panamanian dictator
- John Tower, 1991, former Senator from Texas
- Boris Trajkovski, 2004, president of the Republic of Macedonia
- Paul Wellstone, 2002, Senator from Minnesota
- Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, 1988, Pakistani president
Royalty
Sports
- Davey Allison, 1993, NASCAR driver
- Marcel Cerdan, 1949, French world boxing champion
- Roberto Clemente, 1972, Puerto Rico baseball player
- Hansie Cronje, 2002, disgraced South African cricketer
- Carlos Cruz, 1970, Dominican world boxing champion
- Graham Hill, 1975, motor racing driver
- Nile Kinnick, 1943, American football player
- Alan Kulwicki, 1993, NASCAR driver
- Tony Lema, 1966, champion golfer
- Twenty-three players, staff and associates of Manchester United football club, 1958
- Marshall University football team, 1970
- Rocky Marciano, 1969, former world boxing champion
- Thurman Munson, 1979, baseball player
- Ten people associated with Oklahoma State University men's basketball team (including two players), 2001
- Rafael Osuna, Mexican tennis player
- Most members of the Puerto Rican national women's volleyball team (on the same flight as Carlos Cruz)
- Payne Stewart, 1999, champion golfer
- Entire A.C. Torino soccer team, 1949
- Nick Vanos, (1987) NBA player, Phoenix Suns
- Entire US 1961 figure skating team
- All members of the 1980 United States Olympic boxing team, except for Bobby Czyz, Marvis Frazier and Lee Roy Murphy on the same flight of Anna Jantar.
- Entire Zambian national football team, 1993
- Knute Rockne, 1937, Notre Dame football coach
Others
- Caroline Bessette Kennedy, 1999, wife of John F. Kennedy Jr.
- John F. Kennedy, Jr., 1999, son of John F. Kennedy
- Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., 1944, older brother of John F. Kennedy
- Kathleen Agnes Kennedy Cavendish, 1948, younger sister of John F. Kennedy
- Lauren Bessette, 1999, sister of Caroline and sister in law of John Jr.
