On 25 January 2010, at 00:41:30 UTC, Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 409, a Boeing 737-800, on its way from Beirut to Addis Abeba, crashed just after take-off from Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, into the Mediterranean Sea about 5 NM South West of Beirut International Airport. All 90 persons on board were killed in the accident. The investigation concluded that the probable causes of the accident were pilot errors due to loss of situational awareness. Ethiopian Airlines refutes this conclusion. Other factors that could have lead to probable causes are the increased workload and stress levels that have most likely led to the captain reaching a situation of loss of situational awareness similar to a subtle incapacitation and the F/O failure to recognize it or to intervene accordingly. Ethiopian Airlines refutes the investigation. According to the airline the final report was biased, lacking evidence, incomplete and did not present the full account of the accident.

On February 12, 2009, about 2217 eastern standard time, Colgan Air, Flight 3407, a Bombardier DHC-8-400, on approach to Buffalo-Niagara International Airport, crashed into a residence in Clarence Center, New York, 5 nautical miles northeast of the airport. The 2 pilots, 2 flight attendants, and 45 passengers aboard the airplane were killed, one person on the ground was killed, and the airplane was destroyed. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of this accident was a pilot's error.

On March 10, 2019, at 05:38 UTC, Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, Boeing 737-8 (MAX), ET-AVJ, took off as a scheduled international flight, from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport bound to Nairobi, Kenya. It departed Addis Ababa with 157 persons on board: 2 flight crew (a Captain and a First Officer), 5 cabin crew and one IFSO, 149 regular passengers. The take-off roll and lift-off was normal, including normal values of left and right angle-of-attack (AOA). Shortly after liftoff, the left Angle of Attack sensor recorded value became erroneous and the left stick shaker activated and remained active until near the end of the recording. In addition, the airspeed and altitude values from the left air data system began deviating from the corresponding right side values. The left and right recorded AOA values began deviating. At 5:40:22, the second automatic nose-down trim activated. Following nose-down trim activation GPWS DON'T SINK sounded for 3 seconds and "PULL UP" also displayed on PFD for 3 seconds. The Captain was unable to maintain the flight path and requested to return back to the departure airport. At 05:43:21, an automatic nose-down trim activated for about 5 s. The stabilizer moved from 2.3 to 1 unit. The rate of climb decreased followed by a descent in 3 s after the automatic trim activation. The descent rate and the airspeed continued increasing. Computed airspeed values reached 500kt, pitch and descent rate values were greater than 33,000 ft/min. Finally; both recorders stopped recording at around 05: 44 the Aircraft impacted terrain 28 NM South East of Addis Ababa near Ejere. All 157 persons on board: 2 flight crew, 5 cabin crew and one IFSO, and 149 regular passengers were fatally injured. The crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 was, after the crash of Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018, the second crash of a Boeing 737 MAX 8 within a period of 4 months.

On 20 August 2008, Spanair flight JKK5022, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 departed Madrid Barajas Airport on its way to Gran Canaria Airport.During take-off the aircraft crashed, due to pilot errors, near the end of runway 36L, killing 154 of the 172 people on board.

On May 11, 1996, at 1413:42 eastern daylight time, a Douglas DC-9-32 crashed into the Everglades about 10 minutes after takeoff from Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida. The airplane was being operated by ValuJet Airlines, Inc., as flight 592 and was on its way to Atlanta, Georgia. Both pilots, the three flight attendants, and all 105 passengers were killed. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the accident, was a fire in the airplane's cargo compartment that was initiated by the actuation of one or more oxygen generators being improperly carried as cargo.

On 25 December 2003, Union des Transport A riens de Guin e Flight GIH 141, a Boeing 727-223, on a flight from Conakry (Guinea) to Kufra (Libya), Beirut (Lebanon) and Dubai (United Arab Emirates) stopped over at Cotonou, Republic of Benin. During takeoff the overloaded airplane, was not able to climb properly and struck an airport building on the extended runway centerline, and crashed onto the beach and ended up in the ocean, killing 151 of the 163 people on board. The cause of the accident was the difficulty for the flight crew to rotate with an overloaded airplane with an unknown center of gravity. This in combination with the facts that the operator of the airline lacked any competence regarding organization and regulatory documentation, which made it impossible to correctly load and check the loading of the airplane, and the inadequacy of the supervision exercised by the Guinean civil aviation authorities in the context of safety oversight.

During takeoff from runway 02 at Tamanrasset Aguenar aerodrome in Southern Algeria, on Thursday 6 March 2003, the left engine of a Boeing 737-200 from Air Algerie suffered a contained burst. The airplane swung to the left. The Captain took over the controls. The airplane lost speed progressively, stalled and crashed, with the landing gear still extended, about one thousand six hundred and forty-five meters from the takeoff point, to the left of the runway extended centerline. The crew of six and 96 of the 97 passengers were killed in the accident. The accident was caused by the loss of an engine during a critical phase of flight, the non-retraction of the landing gear after the engine failure, and the Captain, the PNF, taking over control of the airplane before having clearly identified the problem.