History Main / CaptainCrash

* Sagara Sousuke from ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'' seems to be this. Of course, part of it might be explained by how most of the instances where he's driving have been [[ChaseScene dangerous car chase scenes]] (where it's only natural that he would be crashing through things and [[DrivesLikeCrazy driving crazy]]). But then one starts to wonder when, during an instance where he wasn't even being chased, he ended up running an obvious red light and crashed into another car. And then there's his crazy "driving" when he was riding on a bicycle... honestly, people should get the idea and just ''not'' let him drive.

* Orville the albatross in ''Disney/TheRescuers'', as well as his brother Wilbur in ''Disney/TheRescuersDownUnder''. TruthInTelevision, as real albatrosses are masters of the air, yet largely useless on land.

* Cpt. Hans Ulrich Lutz, Swiss aviator with the Crossair airline, worked as a pilot-in-command and a training pilot, even though his competences were somewhat slim: flying a Saab 340, he failed an upgrade exam to MD-80 eight consecutive times; he crashed an aircraft while sitting on the tarmac (he tried to retract the gear to show the student that it is impossible on the ground due to pressure sensors in the landing gear, but on this particular aircraft, these sensors were temporarily disabled and he simply retracted the gear, resulting in a Saab 340 write-off); once, he almost landed in Italy instead of Switzerland due to navigational errors; and once, he almost flew his aircraft into a lake, confusing it with a runway. Sadly, on 24 November 2001, Crossair Flight 3597 crashed into a hill on final approach due to his major error (he descended well below the minimum safety altitude in heavy snowfall and borderline visibility), claiming 24 of 33 people on board.

* For a BadassDriver in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, [[Film/MadMax Max Rockatansky]] has terrible luck with his Pursuit Special. Counting the videogame, he's had it blown out from under him something like four times.

* Launchpad [=McQuack=].

* Creator/TheMightyJingles:

** Even more amusing is that his gang acts like he isn't blind at all. It is rather confusing especially since you meet him during a high speed race. Through the countryside. The SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} is when he confesses to CJ that he is blind. No shit, homie.

** At the end of the Alliance Questline to Twilight Highlands, Fargo Flintlocke says he ditched the landing gear among other things to make the plane lighter -- he doesn't "land" usually anyway. Fargo's remark at the end of the trip is a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}.

* ''Series/AirCrashInvestigation'': Inevitable that it would show up from time to time, given how frequently pilot error factors into air crashes. But averted in other episodes where pilots are confronted with circumstances beyond their control; even in cases where the worst happens, the episodes sometimes make a point of noting that the pilots handled the situation as best they could, but there was nothing they could do to avert a crash.
** On several occasions, the show covered a pilot who may have purposefully crashed the plane in a murder-suicide.
** Captain Lutz of Crossair Flight 3597 was almost literally this before his fatal accident, and yet his airline continued to let him fly.

** In general, pilots who were involved in famous accidents can find themselves on the wrong side of this trope even when, like Sully, their actions were heroic rather than reckless, because their names become associated with that single incident of a crash rather than the countless uneventful flights over the course of their career. (However, in the case of heroic actions, the heroism is usually remembered as a key component of said accident.)

* ''Fanfic/CaptainsCrash'': Launchpad, of course. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that he's actually doing it ''deliberately'', and the Wonderbolts theorize he has some kind of innate magical talent that assists him in always walking away from the crash unscathed. By the fic's end, he's been hired as an instructor at the Academy to teach its students how to crash safely, so they don't get hurt.

** In general, pilots who were involved in famous accidents can become this even when, like Sully, their actions were heroic rather than reckless, because their names become associated with that single incident of a crash rather than the countless uneventful flights over the course of their career.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Deanna Troi [[NeverLiveItDown can't escape the fact]] that the [[Film/StarTrekGenerations two]] [[Film/StarTrekNemesis times]] she's taken the helm, she's crashed an ''Enterprise.'' Though to be fair, the first was a crash landing after half the ship blew up that miraculously had minimal casualties and the second time, she was ordered to [[RammingAlwaysWorks ram the ship into the enemy.]] In addition, Deanna is so far down the chain of command that if she has to sit in the captain's seat, there's some ''serious shit'' going on already, so this might be correlation rather than causation.

* ''Series/AirCrashInvestigation'':
** Inevitable. The pilots seen on the show either handle the incident very professionally, committed errors that caused the incidents, or were victims of hijacking attempts. On two occasions, the show covered a pilot who may have purposefully crashed the plane in a murder-suicide.

** Orville's CharacterEstablishingMoment is soaring down majestically for a landing... then skidding on his face in the runway. He gets up like nothing happened, calling it "one of my better landings".

* Tails from the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series has been crashing planes in almost every ''Sonic'' game since his first appearance in ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 Sonic 2]]''. To be fair though, more often than not it's not his fault.

* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'': Leon is this to RunningGag levels. If he gets behind the wheel of a vehicle, ten-to-one says he's gonna crash it or it'll end up destroyed pretty soon. Actually lampshaded by Ada in ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 4]]'', where she immediately recognizes a busted bulldozer as "Leon's handiwork." [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] to some extent, as typically when he's driving said vehicle there are monsters attacking and trying to eat him; ''anyone'' would have a hard time concentrating under such conditions, but one would expect he'd get enough practice to eventually learn how to drive safely in a crisis, or at least look in the back seat.

* [[http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/make-believe-maverick-20081016?page=3 John McCain]] had a longstanding reputation for being unable to stay airborne, pulling stunts like crashing into suburban power lines even though his flight plan was high altitude. It's rumored that his father being in charge of his branch of the armed forces was a factor in his keeping his wings. [=McCain=] came to be known mockingly as a "reverse ace", for having lost 5 of his own planes. In fairness, two weren't his fault; one plane was destroyed (while on a carrier deck, but with [=McCain=] in the cockpit) when another pilot somehow managed to accidentally fire off a rocket into it, and the last time he crashed was when he was shot down by the enemy on a bombing mission.

* A joke/criticism of the {{reboot}}ed ''Film/{{Star Trek| 2009}}'' series is that Kirk crashes the ''Enterprise'' every damn movie.

* Ibis Douglas of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' is given the InSeriesNickname "Shooting Star" because, just like a shooting star, she inevitably falls to earth. Unfortunately, RealityEnsues in one {{Continuity}} where her tendency to crash ''[[DeconstructedTrope actually kills someone]]'' ([[spoiler:specifically her mentor and older brother to TheRival]]). Oh, and whatever confidence she had before [[HeroicBSOD goes straight down the tubes because of this]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUKA23kShM4 The Incredible Crash Dummies]] can't fly a plane or drive anything else without crashing it. [[note]]This carries over from the original 1980s PSAs where they would crash a car in order to prove a point about buckling your safety belt (which is the law in most states). Even then, as talking crash test dummies, they would be used to being in crashes anyway.[[/note]]

'''Obi-Wan Kenobi:''' Another happy landing!