Top 10 Famous People Who Survived Plane Crashes

We start with someone who’s had not one but two serious scares. In 2009, Ashton Kutcher was travelling with then wife Demi Moore following a Las Vegas movie premiere, when their airplane’s engine overheated and it was forced into an emergency landing. The pair were unhurt, and relayed the news to fans over Twitter. It wasn’t Kutcher’s first bad experience on a plane. Six years earlier he was flying with castmates Wilmer Valderrama and Danny Masterson from “That 70s Show” when their cabin lost pressure. Oxygen masks dropped, but Kutcher had to administer CPR to Masterson, whose mask wasn’t working.

In June 2000, Patrick Swayze crash landed his private plane down a gravel street in Prescott Valley, Arizona. Upon landing, Swayze cited pressurization problems to the Federal Aviation Administration. But controversy clung to the case when it was reported that there’d been alcohol on board. Three men were charged for lying to police about witnessing the incident, after it was revealed that they’d helped Swayze remove wine and beer from the plane, before taking him to a motel. Although the craft was heavily damaged, the incident spawned no injuries and no charges for Swayze.

Ben Cauley’s career as trumpeter with The Bar-Kays was only just beginning when disaster struck. On December 10th, 1967, while touring with singer Otis Redding the group's plane crashed into Lake Monona, near Madison, Wisconsin. Cauley managed to survive, but he was the only one to do so. Ironically, Cauley owed his survival to the fact that he’d unbuckled his safety belt, which allowed him to float to the surface. He was pulled from the water by a police boat some 20 minutes later, suffering from hypothermia. He would relive the accident in nightmares until his death in 2015.

In late 2000, a plane with Sandra Bullock on board skidded off the runway and into a snowbank shortly after landing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The actress was traveling with two crew members and her then-boyfriend, musician Bob Schneider. The plane received heavy damage but fortunately, no one was injured. The incident was reminiscent of a scenario Bullock experienced the year before in the 1999 film “Forces of Nature”. In the movie, she and Ben Affleck strike up a romance following a botched take-off. It was coming down which caused problems in real life, but a scary coincidence all the same.

In the days before he flew on Air Force One, the future Commander in Chief had cause for concern on a Chicago runway. After landing in January 2008 during his Presidential campaign, the wingtip of his plane clipped the wingtip of another grounded aircraft. Fortunately, no one was injured. He had a closer call in July however, this time after taking off from Chicago. The pilot of the plane announced that he had limited control over the aircraft’s pitch, and the plane was diverted to St. Louis. Fortunately, the pilot regained control, and the plane landed without further incident. Obama laughed off the incident, telling reporters "Just thought we'd spice things up a little bit today.”

Howard Hughes is one of the most famous names in aviation history, but he was also involved in two major crashes. The first, in 1943, saw Hughes’ Sikorsky S-43 plummet into Lake Mead, outside Las Vegas, which killed two of his passengers. Hughes’ second major crash saw him smash into a residential area of Beverly Hills while flying an XF-11 Air Force prototype in 1946. He suffered a long list of injuries this time, including a collapsed lung, crushed collarbone, and broken ribs. A pivotal moment in Hughes’ highly unconventional life, it left him with chronic pain for the rest of his days.

Bono made international headlines in November 2014, after a scare during a flight from Dublin to Berlin. The U2 frontman and four friends were approaching the end of their journey when a tailgate door broke off their plane – but thankfully only their bags were thrown out. Ever the rock star, Bono didn’t let the incident phase him however; he met with a German Special Representative to talk about the Ebola crisis hours later, and performed at an awards ceremony the following evening. The show must go on... with or without your luggage.

A founding member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allen Collins had the musical world at his feet in the mid-70s. But the band’s heyday was cut short on October 20th 1977, when the plane they were on ran out of fuel and crashed in a Mississippi forest. The impact killed three band members, including frontman Ronnie Van Zant, as well as an assistant road manager and both pilots - but Collins survived with a busted right arm and two broken vertebrae. Lynyrd Skynyrd would reform in 1987, but Collins’ involvement was limited due to a car crash the previous year, which had left him paralysed from the waist down.

Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker was one of six people on board a chartered flight in September 2008, and one of two survivors. Following a tire blow out, the Learjet crashed during a take-off attempt, which killed both pilots and two passengers, but somehow spared Barker and Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein. They were taken from the scene with second and third degree burns. Barker spent over 11 weeks in hospital in immense pain, undergoing numerous surgeries and skin grafts, but eventually recovered and returned to drumming again. Sadly, Goldstein died of an overdose in August the following year.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

P. Diddy
His Private Jet Was Struck by Lightning in 2005 & Made an Emergency LandingAfter Being Struck by Lightning

John McCain
Survived Several Crashes & Was Shot Down Over North Vietnam

Ed Robertson
In 2008 the Barenaked Ladies Singer’s Private Plane Crashed into Trees in Ontario

Known for his on screen piloting skills, Harrison Ford is also an actual licensed pilot. Unfortunately, Ford's piloting record has more in common with Indy than Han. In 1999, he crashed a helicopter in California, damaging the aircraft but escaping unscathed. He wasn’t so lucky in 2015, when he crashed a vintage World War II plane onto a golf course, breaking his ankle and pelvis. He made headlines again for risky landings in 2017 and 2020, too close for comfort to other planes - for which he apologized. On the up side, he’s also used his Bell 407 helicopter to rescue a hiker and a Boy Scout, so maybe the karma evens out there ...