From Data to Destination through an Evidence-Based Approach
The eVENT-S Round-up of Aircraft Occurrences in August of 2025
From Data to Destination the collection of Aircraft Occurrence Data is a foundational element of Continuous Improvement in Aviation Safety. The primary purpose of collecting and analysing data is safety management, ultimately resulting in accident and incident prevention. Proactive and Predictive Safety Management is achieved by the implementation of Corrective and Preventive measures. eVENT-S, L&A Risk Management Systems (RMS)’ incident and accident recording and analysis database categorises occurrences according to Event Description, Type of Aircraft, Flight, Damage, Designator, Operator and Country. These categories also serve as search filters for the database, which currently contains 9800 recorded events. The system recorded 110 aircraft occurrences in August 2025 alone.
When is an Occurrence an Accident or an Incident?
An Accident is generally an occurrence that involves fatalities, serious injuries, or results in the aircraft being substantially damaged or destroyed (written off). An Incident is an occurrence that is not classified as an accident, typically involving events where the aircraft sustained minor or no damage and operations were safely concluded. The 110 recorded Aircraft events of August 2025 can be defined as 36 Accidents and 74 Incidents.
Below, we have a detailed analysis of the August Aircraft events, which is not only fascinating but serves as a strategic indicator for Corrective Action and Mitigation efforts. By noticing trends and patterns, Aviation Safety Professionals can save lives.
21 Engine-Related Problems
This was the most frequently reported issue, covering a wide range of events, including complete engine failures, fire warnings, engine surges, compressor stalls, and other malfunctions. These events often led to flights returning to their departure airport, diverting, or making emergency landings. Engin-related events occurred in Australia, North America (USA), Europe (Netherlands, Portugal, Greece, Italy, UK), Asia (Russia, Japan, China, Taiwan, Indonesia), and the Caribbean/Central America (Panama, Caribbean Netherlands).
15 Crashes and Hard Landings
This category includes aircraft that were destroyed or substantially damaged upon impact with terrain or water, as well as incidents specifically described as a hard landing. The causes varied, with some attributed to Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT), while others occurred under unknown circumstances. This count also includes three hard landings.
11 Animal and Bird Strikes
There were eleven separate incidents involving collisions with wildlife, ranging from major European hubs like Madrid and Paris to small airstrips in Kenya. Most of these were bird strikes that caused damage to parts like the nose radome, wing, or windshield. Other incidents involved an aircraft hitting a dog during takeoff, a deer while landing, and a giraffe on landing.
11 Ground Incidents
These incidents all occurred on the airport surface while aircraft were not in flight. They include collisions between two taxiing aircraft, aircraft striking ground equipment like mobile stairs or a ground power unit, a wing hitting a hangar door during towing, and an engine ingesting an air-conditioning hose at the gate.
7 Landing Gear Issues
This category includes several types of landing gear malfunctions. Landing gear failures happened in North America, Europe, and South America. Multiple aircraft suffered a nose or main gear collapse upon landing or while on the ground. Other incidents involved landing gear being stuck in the retracted position, leading to a gear-up landing, or gear shearing off during a test flight.
6 Runway Excursions
These events involved an aircraft veering off or overrunning the runway. This happened after landing, during takeoff, and during a go-around. In one instance, the excursion led to a collision with a stationary aircraft and a subsequent post-crash fire. Events occurred in the USA, India, Russia and Indonesia.
6 Technical Malfunctions
This is a general category for mechanical issues not related to engines or landing gear. The sources describe incidents such as a significant fuel leak, failure of the braking system, a ruptured tyre on takeoff, a dislodged wing flap, and other unspecified mechanical issues that required a forced landing.
5 Events of the Loss of Cabin Pressure
Five flights experienced issues with their cabin pressurisation systems, which in some cases required an emergency descent and the deployment of passenger oxygen masks. The five events remind us of the crucial importance of having emergency procedures in place.
5 Smoke and Fire Incidents
These incidents involved smoke or fire that was not caused by lithium batteries. This includes multiple reports of smoke in the cabin, traces of smoke found in a baggage compartment, and a helicopter being destroyed by fire on the ground. The majority of fire/smoke incidents occurred on large, wide-body commercial airliners (Airbus and Boeing).
4 Lithium Battery Thermal Runaway Events
There were four separate in-flight incidents where a personal electronic device belonging to a passenger experienced a thermal runaway. These devices included power banks and wireless headsets, and all four events caused smoke in the cabin and forced the flights to divert.
4 Collisions with Wires or Poles
This category includes helicopters that struck powerlines during flight or hit a pole with their rotor blades while landing.
3 Weather-Related Incidents
Three incidents were directly attributed to weather conditions, including two flights that encountered significant turbulence. The third incident involved an aircraft that was forced down by windshear (a downdraft), leading to a forced landing on rocks and causing substantial damage to the aircraft
Strategic mitigation – Data-driven decision making
The pursuit of Safety and Quality excellence in aviation is an inherently continuous and systematic process, demanding an evidence-based approach rooted in robust data analysis. By leveraging comprehensive databases like eVENT-S, organisations and industry stakeholders can transcend simple incident tracking to conduct deep, cross-operator, and event-specific analysis, enabling the creation of more accurate predictive failure models. The effectiveness of this approach is rigorously measured by systematically classifying both reactive and proactive risk data against predefined organisational safety goals. Ultimately, this proactive methodology—identifying and correcting deficiencies, refining existing methods, and integrating new technologies—is essential for mitigating the significant safety implications of even minor deviations, thereby ensuring the sustained operational resilience of the global fleet.
How is your organisation adapting its Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Safety and Quality or maintenance philosophies to mitigate the risks indicated by these August figures?