List of Qantas fatal accidents

While Qantas has never had a fatal jet airliner accident, the Australian national airline suffered losses in its early days before the widespread adoption of jets in civilian aviation.^[1] These were mainly biplanes or flying boats servicing routes in Queensland and New Guinea.^[2] The incidents between 1942 and 1944 were during World War II, when Qantas Empire Airways operated on behalf of the military.^[3] While strictly speaking not accidents, the shootdowns of G-AETZ and G-AEUH are included for completeness. In 2014 and 2023, Qantas was rated the world's safest airline by Airline Ratings.^[4]

Date	Location	Aircraft type	Registration	Description	Total occupants	Fatalities	References
24 March 1927	Tambo, Australia	Airco (later de Havilland) DH.9C	G-AUED	Stalled at low altitude on approach to land. Pilot Alan Douglas Davidson	3	3	[5][6]
4 September 1928	Adelaide Hills, Australia	de Havilland DH.50J	G-AUHI	Following a tour carrying Sir John Salmond, aircraft departed Adelaide piloted by C. W. A. Scott with engineer as passenger; lost control in cloud during attempt to cross the Adelaide Hills and aircraft crashed and caught fire killing the engineer. See C. W. A. Scott's DH.50J Hermes, fatal crash.	2	1	[7]
3 October 1934	Near Winton, Australia	de Havilland DH.50A	VH-UHE	Crashed after in-flight loss of control, possibly stalled at low altitude in dusty low-visibility conditions.	3	3	[8]
15 November 1934	Near Longreach, Australia	de Havilland DH.86	VH-USG	Crashed on its delivery flight from England to Brisbane after in-flight loss of control, probably due to the type's design deficiencies.	4	4	[9][10][11][12][13]
30 January 1942	Timor Sea off Koepang	Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat	G-AEUH	Shot down by Japanese aircraft; ex-Qantas VH-ABD, owned by Imperial Airways and operated by Qantas.	18	13	[3][14][15]
20 February 1942	Brisbane, Australia	de Havilland DH.86	VH-USE	Lost control after take-off in stormy weather, possibly broke up in flight (tail fin found a mile from the crash site).	9	9	[16][17][18][19]
28 February 1942	Between Tjilatjap, Netherlands East Indies and Broome, Australia	Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat	G-AETZ	Nicknamed "Circe" Shot down by Japanese aircraft; owned by Imperial Airways and operated by Qantas.	20	20	[20]
22 April 1943	Gulf of Papua off Port Moresby, Papua	Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat	VH-ADU	Stalled in flare and broke up during emergency landing in open water in poor weather.	31	13	[15][21]
26 November 1943	Port Moresby, Papua	Lockheed C-56B Lodestar	42-68348	Struck hill after take-off; USAAF aircraft operated by Qantas for Allied Directorate of Air Transport.	15	15	[22][23]
11 October 1944	Rose Bay, Sydney, Australia	Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat	VH-ABB	On final approach with one engine shut-down, stalled 3 metres (10 ft) above the water and hull ruptured on impact.	30	2	[15][24][25]
23 March 1946	Indian Ocean	Avro Lancastrian	G-AGLX	Aircraft disappeared between Colombo and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, cause unknown; aircraft owned by BOAC and operated by both airlines on Sydney-London services (BOAC crews operated London-Karachi and Qantas crews Karachi-Sydney).	10	10	[26][27]
16 July 1951	Huon Gulf near Lae, Papua New Guinea	de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover	VH-EBQ	Crashed in sea after centre propeller failure, in heavy rain half a mile from the coast. Cargo of gold doré bars worth £36,000 (A$1.7 million 2022) was never found.	7	7	[28][29]
21 September 1951	11 kilometres (6.8 mi) southeast of Arona in the central highlands of New Guinea	de Havilland DH.84 Dragon	VH-AXL	Crashed in mountainous country, no passengers aboard	1	1	[30]
13 December 1951	Near Mount Hagen, central highlands of New Guinea	de Havilland DH.84 Dragon	VH-URV	Crashed in mountainous country	3	3	[31]

Short S.23 Empire flying boat VH-ABB, which crashed in 1944.

See also

• Qantas Flight 1
• List of accidents and incidents involving airliners by airline