An aviation accident is defined in the International Civil Aviation Organisation Annex 13. The definition may be summarised as:



An occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight and all such persons have disembarked, in which:
a) a person is fatally or seriously injured
b) the aircraft sustains damage or structural failure; or
c) the aircraft is missing or is completely inaccessible.
An aviation incident is also defined as:



An occurrence other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft, which affects or could affect the safety of operations.
An accident in which the damage to the plane is such that it must be written off, or in which the plane is totally destroyed is often referred to as a hull-loss.