Did you know that roughly 95 percent of aircraft accidents happen within 10 miles of an airport? That statistic from the Federal Aviation Administration means that an airport is the least likely location for an aircraft accident.
Now that you know that statistic, every structural firefighting department should recognize aircraft crashes as a serious potential hazard to which they can respond and for which they should be prepared.
According to the FAA, there are over 19,000 airports, heliports, seaplane bases and other landing facilities in the United States and its territories. The airports we typically think of, large airports with commercial flight service, like LAX and JFK International, account for only 378 of the airports in the U.S.