15 Celebs Who Were Involved In Plane Accidents
We've watched way too many episodes of Air Crash Investigation to fully trust the world of aviation and aeronautical travel. And, if you're anything like us you've probs white-knuckled your way through a session or two of turbulence at 30,000+ feet and lived (praise the aerial gods) to tell the tale.
The same can't be said for a number of the celebrities on our list. Thankfully, not all of them have perished, but the survivors have harrowing tales to tell.
From Harrison Ford and Mark Wahlberg's close calls to Aaliyah's untimely death and JFK Jr's doomed flight, the following celebs have endured overloaded fuselages, technical failures, mid-air mishaps and take-off catastrophes.
While some accidents occurred on commercial aircraft, a large percentage involved personal jets and light planes or helicopters.
Despite significant upgrades to air travel in recent decades, unforseen accidents still occur. As we'll see, being rich and famous has a lot of perks, but immortality isn't one of them.
A note from your captain: The seatbelt sign has been turned on. Please buckle up and return your seat to the upright position as we round up the top 15 celebrities - including sports stars and Hollywood heavyweights, pop divas and politicians - who were involved in plane accidents!
15 Sandra Bullock's Freezing Runway Crash
Sandra Bullock has starred in almost 50 films, one of which was called Crash. In 2000, she was involved in a real-life crash when the plane she was in careened off the runway during landing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Wyoming gets very cold during the winter months. While the crash was less dramatic than the film (no passengers or crew was injured), we're sure Sandy would have been shaken up when the plane's nose gear broke away and landed in a heavy snow bank just off the runway. Bullock's bae at the time, Bob Schneider, was also on board and declined medical assistance after the event.
The incident took place at 1.35am aboard a twin engine Hawker 1000, a plane known to ferry high-profile guests across the world. It may have one less big name fan now!
14 Bono's Terrifying Mid-Air Crisis In 2014
Superstar, and voice of a generation, Bono is most famous for his role as front man of mega group, U2. Less well known is the terrifying mid-air crisis he survived in 2014. Accompanied by four friends, the singer was travelling in a private jet (Learjet 60 D-CGEO) from Dublin to Berlin. Bono's band-mate's (Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen and The Edge) were not on board, but Gerd Mueller, the German minister of Economic Cooperation & Development, was.
The plane's tailgate and rear door were ripped off half way through the two-hour flight while cruising over the German coast. Thanks to a quick-thinking pilot the plane landed in Berlin before Bono and his entourage were injured, and were free to fulfil their duties at the Bambi International Music awards.
13 Patrick Swayze's Drunken Crash-Landing
We all knew Patrick Swayze could dance, but did you know he could fly a plane? Turns out he could, kind of. Evidence suggests Swayze's dance skills far outshone his flying skills. In 2000, he flew and then crash-landed his blue and white 1978 twin Cessna 414A. The 80s heart-throb and Dirty Dancing star was found three miles from the nearest airport with blood-shot eyes and a case of beer on board, struggling to speak coherently.
He denied wrongdoing and blamed pressurization problems for the crash landing in Presscott Arizona. However, he was seen removing alcohol from the plane after the crash before disappearing for nine hours and then lying about the sequence of events to law enforcement officers. Sorry Swayze; we're not buying it, and Baby isn't happy!
12 DJ AM Passed Away A Year After A Disastrous Crash
He dated Mandy Moore, was engaged to Nicole Ritchie, and lived the high life (literally) of a superstar DJ. But things began to spiral downwards in 2008 when Adam Goldstein, better known by his stage name DJ AM, survived a disastrous crash that killed four and left him with severe injuries. He was touring with Travis Barker of blink-182 fame as part of the musical duo's TRV$DJAM project when the accident took place.
Goldstein sustained serious burns and despite making a fully physical recovery he struggled mentally in the months after the accident. On August 28, 2009, he died of a suspected drug overdose in his New York apartment. A crack pipe and other drug paraphernalia were found surrounding DJ AMs body.
11 Travis Barker's Miraculous Survival
Travis Barker was on the TRV$DJAM tour with friend and collab partner DJ AM in 2008 when their learned crash-landed on the Columbia runway in South Carolina, killing four people. After the fiery crash, Barker and AM climbed onto the planes wing before sliding to safety. The Barker was 32 at the time.
After escaping, the musicians made repeated pleas for their friends and crew trapped aboard the plane, but rescue teams were not able to save them. The deceased included two of Barker's assistants (Charles Still, 25 and Chris Barker, 29), pilot Sarah Lemmon, 31 and co-pilot James bland (52).
The blink-182 drummer recuperated in hospital for eleven weeks before he was deemed fit for discharge.
10 Ashton Kutcher & Demi Moore's Emergency Landing
What happens in Vegas… ends up on Twitter!
Back in 2009 few power couples yielded more power than Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore (coming in second to Brangelina).
Even fewer power couples were in planes accidents. But that is exactly what happened when their plane was forced to land near Las Vegas. The screen siren and Punk'd funny man were set to appear at the Palms Hotel and Casino to promote Kutcher's film, Spread.
Thankfully, the loved-up pair was unharmed and used the situation for social media fodder. On his Twitter account, Kutcher said: "My plane just had to do an emergency landing. Engine over heated. Fire engines everywhere good times."
Moore added her two cents when she later Tweeted: “Yep, it is always an adventure in Vegas emergency landing and all.”
9 Aaliyah's Tragic Fatal Accident
Aaliyah Dana Haughton, also known as the Princess of R&B, rose to fame at the tender age of 14. Her debut album was aptly titled, Age Ain't Nothing But a Number, and it went Platinum in no time. Her talent was so immense that by the time she was 17 the songstress had released her third studio album One in a Million. She also dabbled in acting, with starring roles in films like Queen of the Damned and Romeo Must Die.
With the world at her feet, nobody expected the tragedy that befell her in 2001. She was flying home from the Bahamas after filming the music video for her song "Rock the Boat", when the Cessna 402B crashed and killed everybody on board, including Aaliyah and the seven others.
Her parents have since taken legal action against the aircraft operators for negligence. It's believed the plane was heavily overloaded and the pilot had alcohol and cocaine in his system.
8 JFK Jr.'s Devastating Destiny
Like many of the Kennedy men (think JFK and Bobby), JFK Jr. died young in dramatic circumstances. In fact, conspiracy theorists believe the family is cursed.
It's hard to believe 18 years have passed since JFK Jr. and his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, died in a 1999 plane crash. Carolyn's sister, Lauren Bessette, was also travelling with the couple.
JFK Jr., or John-John, was in a jovial mood on that fateful night of July 16, 1999. He was excited to attend his cousin, Rory's, wedding in Martha's Vineyard, and even more thrilled to be back in full health. The tall, dark, and handsome Kennedy had only recently recovered from a paragliding accident and broken ankle. So, with the plaster off, he decided to fly to the ceremony. Unfortunately, the plane went down over the Atlantic and there were no survivors.
7 Barack Obama's Scary Mishap In 2008
Former POTUS Barack Obama almost missed the top job when he was caught up in an aviation emergency while on the campaign trail on 7 July 2008.
While making his way to Charlotte Douglas International Airport, his plane made an emergency landing in St. Louis (Lambert-St. Louis International Airport). Fifty others were on board, including Secret Service personnel, journalists, campaign staff and flight crew.
Control problems were blamed for the mishap, which saw the McDonnell Douglas MD-81 deploy its evacuation slide inside the tail cone of the plane just after takeoff in Chicago, without the captain or crew's knowledge.
Thankfully, the plane landed safely, nobody was injured and Obama was free to continue his ultimately successful campaign to Presidency.
6 Seth MacFarlane Cheated Death Thanks To His Hangover
You may know him as the cherub-faced creator and Family Guy, Ted, and other irreverent pop culture hits you wouldn't want the kids to see (or maybe you would, we're not judging!). But the entertainment landscape would look a lot different if MacFarlane had boarded his scheduled flight on 9/11 that crashed into one of New York's Twin Towers.
He can thank a boozy night the previous evening for missing the doomed flight.
In an interview with Piers Morgan he said:
"I got to the counter. And I said, yes, I'm booked on Flight 11. And the woman behind the counter said, you know, you're too late. They just closed the gate. And I said, all right. Well, you know, I'll take the 11:00. Went into the lounge, fell asleep, woke up about 45 minutes later to a commotion, and the first plane had hit. And sat there and watched the second plane hit. And they announced what flight it was. And I turned to the guy next to me and said, 'my God, that was the flight I was supposed to be on. I was late. I missed it.'"
5 Mark Wahlberg's Spontaneous Decision To Go To A Music Festival
Mark Wahlberg is a loveable guy, a former underwear model and a cheesy 90s rapper drooled over by women around the world. But he lost a few (perhaps even a lot) of fans in 2006 when he made controversial remarks in an interview with Men's Journal magazine. The comments were made in reference to his near-miss on 9/11. Wahlberg was due to fly on American Airlines flight 11, which collided with the World Trade Centre, but ended up on an earlier flight to Canada after a last minute decision to attend a film festival in Toronto.
“If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn't have went down like it did. There would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, 'OK, we're going to land somewhere safely, don't worry.'”
4 Brazilian Football Team's Horrendous Fate
The November 28, 2016 crash that killed most of the Chapocoense soccer team devastated football fans all around the globe.
Press and team officials accompanied the Brazilian team as they journeyed to Medellin, Colombia, for a highly publicized play-off game.
Original reports and evidence collected from the black boxes suggested the plane ran out of fuel before it could land safely and human error was to blame, making this unavoidable accident all the more tragic.
The plane had been flying for almost four-and-a-half hours when air traffic controllers at Medellin forced the aircraft to enter a holding pattern. They were kept in the air so another plane (with a fuel leak) could land. Despite requested pleas to be given clearance for landing, the LaMia flight went into total electric failure and went down. The lack of explosion on impact suggests the plane was almost completely empty of fuel.
In all, 71 passengers and crew were fatally wounded.
3 James Horner Died Doing His Passion
You may not be familiar with the name James Horner, but you will be familiar with his spectacular body of work. The composer worked in showbiz for years, creating the music for films such as Braveheart, Apollo 13 and Avatar.
Nominated for 10 Academy Awards, the two-time Oscar winner most famously composed the score for Titanic in 1997 and created "My Heart Will Go On" for Celine Dion.
In addition to his love of music, Horner's hobby was flying. At the age of 61, he died when the plane he was piloting crashed in California.
Horner's devastated assistant posted this comment on Facebook: "We have lost an amazing person with a huge heart, and unbelievable talent. He died doing what he loved. Thank you for all your support and love and see you down the road. Love Sylvia."
2 Miranda Lambert Made The Best Of A Bad Scenario
Country music star Amanda Lambert was on her way to the 2014 ACM Awards in Las Vegas when her private jet made an emergency landing in Clarksburg, West Virginia (North Central West Virginia Airport). The singing starlet was up for 5 awards on the night, and was set to perform one of her big hits, but she didn't let the incident spoil her night.
The plane lost pressure and was grounded. So, what's a girl to do while waiting for her private jet to be fixed (the problems of the rich and famous are ridiculous)? Chill with firemen and post it on Insta, naturally! "Our plane had an emergency landing in Clarksburg WV. But don't worry, we found platinum fire suits. Yes! #platinum"
1 Harrison Ford Has Had 2 Near Death Experiences In Flight
Harrison Ford nabs our top spot for two reasons. Firstly, he's survived not one, but two, crashes, and secondly, he was flying the plane on both occasions.
His latest near-death experience occurred in March 2015. The silver-screen veteran plunged a vintage WWII fighter plane into a Californian golf course (FYI - no golfers - or caddies - were injured as a result of this crash). Ford was taken to hospital with minor cuts and bruises, but was otherwise unscathed.
His first foray into the world of unsuccessful air travel occurred back in 1999, when the helicopter he was piloting came down in Los Angeles. The Top Gun wannabe is said to have been performing auto rotations in an attempt to nail the manoeuvre. Thankfully, Ford and his passenger were unharmed.