Aviation accidents in 1988

1,968 accidents and incidents are recorded in 1988, with 1,464 people killed and 399 seriously injured. 20% of the accidents were fatal.

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Takeaways

• General aviation accounts for 86% of these accidents and 91% of deaths. Airline flights account for 2% of accidents.

Deadliest accidents

1. Avianca Flight 410, Colombia (Mar 17, 1988) · 143 killed
2. Indian Airlines Flight 113, Ahmedabad (Oct 19, 1988) · 133 killed
3. China Southwest Airlines Flight 4146, Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (Jan 18, 1988) · 108 killed
4. Vietnam Airlines Flight 831, Thailand (Sep 9, 1988) · 76 killed
5. Ramstein air show disaster, Ramstein Air Base (Aug 28, 1988) · 70 killed
6. Widerøe Flight 710, Torghatten (May 6, 1988) · 36 killed
7. Ethiopian Airlines Flight 604, Bahir Dar Airport (Sep 15, 1988) · 35 killed
8. Uganda Airlines Flight 775, Italy (Oct 17, 1988) · 33 killed
9. TAT Flight 230, France (Mar 4, 1988) · 23 killed
10. Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 046, Libertador General José de San Martín Airport (Jun 12, 1988) · 22 killed

By type of operation

US states

Countries outside the US

Aircraft makers

Aircraft models

Nearby years

• 1986 · 2,248 accidents
• 1987 · 2,172 accidents
• 1989 · 1,881 accidents
• 1990 · 2,030 accidents

These are counts of recorded accidents, not risk rates: the data has no flight hours, so a place or aircraft near the top mostly reflects how much flying happens there. Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain), plus notable international accidents from Wikidata and Wikipedia. US-heavy; the NTSB only codes phase and cause for accidents from 2008 on, so those tables leave out earlier years.