Smoke, landing gear and engine shutdowns appear in 2026 records, but the raw maintenance reports are not a tally of in-flight emergencies or an airline safety ranking
An analysis of 36,974 FAA Service Difficulty Reports highlights commonly recorded aircraft defects while underscoring that raw report totals are not measures of airline safety.
- Global Work & Travel counted 36,974 FAA Service Difficulty Reports dated from 1 January to 21 August 2026.
- Doors were mentioned in 7,637 reports, smoke in 751 and landing gear in 526, but overlapping keyword counts do not equal numbers of emergencies.
- Corrosion and cracking appeared far more often than smoke or engine shutdowns, reflecting the system's broad maintenance and airworthiness role.
- Operator totals were not adjusted for fleet size, flights, aircraft age or reporting practices and should not be read as airline safety rankings.
(NEWS) WASHINGTON, District of Columbia, United States, 2026-Aug-31 — /Travel PR News/ — Words such as smoke, fire and engine shutdown can make an aircraft maintenance record sound like an account of a crisis in the air. Across tens of thousands of US reports filed in 2026, however, the larger story is one of defects being found, recorded and addressed—often during inspections or other work on the ground.
An analysis by travel company Global Work & Travel examined 36,974 Service Difficulty Reports dated between 1 January and 21 August 2026. The records were filed with the US Federal Aviation Administration and cover malfunctions, failures, defects and maintenance findings affecting aircraft and their components.
The distinction matters for travellers. A Service Difficulty Report may describe a warning indication, a defective part found during routine maintenance or a condition identified by a repair station. It is not automatically evidence that passengers experienced an incident, and multiple reports can relate to the same aircraft or event.
Smoke draws attention, but doors dominate the keyword count
Among the terms examined, doors appeared most frequently, with 7,637 reports containing a reference. Smoke appeared in 751 records, landing gear in 526 and fire or flames in 387. Pressurisation or cabin pressure was mentioned 325 times, while hydraulic systems appeared in 319 reports.
| Issue mentioned | Reports |
|---|---|
| Doors | 7,637 |
| Smoke | 751 |
| Landing gear | 526 |
| Fire or flames | 387 |
| Pressurisation or cabin pressure | 325 |
| Hydraulics | 319 |
| Emergency declared or emergency landing terminology | 289 |
| Burning smell or odour | 287 |
| Oxygen masks or oxygen equipment | 109 |
| Engine shutdown | 75 |
Those figures are references found in narrative descriptions, not confirmed totals of separate operational events. The 387 mentions of fire or flames do not establish that 387 aircraft fires occurred, just as the 289 reports using emergency-related terminology do not represent a verified count of emergency landings.
The categories also overlap. One record could mention smoke, a burning odour and an emergency declaration, placing it in several keyword groups. The analysis therefore offers a view of the language and conditions appearing in the database, rather than a set of mutually exclusive incident categories.
Routine structural findings make up much of the picture
Less dramatic maintenance terms were substantially more common. Corrosion appeared in 7,429 reports and cracking in 6,468. Parts were classified as inoperative in 2,693 records, damaged in 2,194 and faulted in 1,612.
By comparison, reports mentioning smoke accounted for about 2% of the dataset, while engine-shutdown references represented roughly 0.2%. The prevalence of corrosion and cracking helps place the headline-grabbing terms within a system designed to collect broad information about continuing airworthiness.
The FAA describes Service Difficulty Reports as information submitted by operators and repair stations about malfunctions, failures or defects found in aircraft. It makes annual data available through its Service Difficulty Report download page and says the records support the identification of safety trends and airworthiness programmes.
Airline totals reflect scale as well as reporting
Among the major US passenger operators included in the analysis, American Airlines had the largest raw count, with 6,761 reports. It was followed by Southwest Airlines with 5,934, Delta Air Lines with 4,488 and United Airlines with 3,568.
| Airline | FAA reports |
|---|---|
| American Airlines | 6,761 |
| Southwest Airlines | 5,934 |
| Delta Air Lines | 4,488 |
| United Airlines | 3,568 |
| SkyWest Airlines | 1,309 |
| PSA Airlines | 1,044 |
| Mesa Airlines | 739 |
| JetBlue | 727 |
| Endeavor Air | 719 |
| Piedmont Airlines | 673 |
| Alaska Airlines | 619 |
These totals cannot support a ranking of airline safety. The figures were not normalised for the number of aircraft, flights or flight hours, and they do not account for fleet age, aircraft types, utilisation, maintenance programmes or differences in reporting practice. A larger operation has more exposure to reportable findings simply because it flies and maintains more aircraft.
There were nevertheless differences in the terminology associated with individual operators. United had 247 reports mentioning smoke, compared with 91 for Delta and 74 for American. American recorded the most landing-gear references, at 108, while Delta had the most reports mentioning an engine shutdown, at 14. Those are descriptive counts within each operator’s records, not comparative rates.
For passengers, the practical issue is disruption
Jürgen Himmelmann, co-founder and chief executive of Global Work & Travel, said the figures could appear alarming when separated from their reporting context, especially for nervous flyers. He argued that identifying, documenting and addressing technical issues is an integral part of aircraft checks and maintenance.
For passengers, the more immediate concern arises when a technical problem produces a delay, cancellation or diversion. The consequences can extend beyond the first flight to separately booked connections, accommodation, airport transfers, tours and fixed commitments such as visa appointments or job start dates.
Himmelmann advised travellers to retain airline messages and receipts for food, accommodation or alternative transport purchased during a disruption. He also recommended leaving extra time around important connections, particularly where flights are on separate bookings and the second carrier may have no obligation to rebook a passenger delayed on the first itinerary.
For long-haul journeys, working holidays and gap-year travel, the company recommends arranging suitable travel insurance when significant bookings begin. The release discloses that the insurance service it references, Global Travel Cover, is a brand within the same group as Global Work & Travel.
Founded in Australia in 2008, Global Work & Travel says it has helped more than 121,000 people travel overseas through working holidays, au pair placements, teaching, internships, volunteering and study programmes. The company reports a workforce of more than 90 across four international offices and a network exceeding 1,200 partners.
The analysis searched FAA narrative descriptions for terms connected with smoke, fire or flames, burning smells, emergency declarations and landings, engine shutdowns, doors, oxygen equipment, pressurisation, landing gear and hydraulics. Airline attribution used the database’s OperatorDesignator field. Because categories can overlap and the underlying unit is a report—not an aircraft, flight, accident or incident—the results are best read as a snapshot of maintenance reporting, with the system’s limitations kept firmly in view.
