History Main / CaptainCrash

* Richard Hammond of ''Series/TopGear'' has a... not-undeserved reputation for being accident-prone.

* In the ''VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries'', Charles is an excellent helicopter pilot... except for this idea he has that crashing his chopper into things is a great solution to any problem, generally resulting in YetAnotherStupidDeath for Henry. [[spoiler: It actually works once; during the Valiant Hero route of ''Completing the Mission''. Unfortunately, this ends up causing a series of events that indirectly leads to Charles' death.]]

* Creator/HarrisonFord has been involved in three crashes as a pilot, though to be fair, only one was his fault.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesley_Sullenberger Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger III]] is a rare good pilot remembered for this. On January 15, 2009, after bird hits took out the engines of his Airbus A320, he calmly landed in the Hudson river - ''saving the lives of all 155 people on the aircraft''. As air traffic controllers panicked and continued to offer him alternate landing places, Captain Sullenberger calmly told them "We'll be in the Hudson". [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE_5eiYn0D0 Listen to him here.]] While this was his only crash, he fits the trope well in this instance and is honorably remembered for it. Especially for the fact that literally no other water landing in history before this had all passenger and crew members survive.

** Before Pastor Maldonado, there was Andrea de Cesaris. Nicknamed "de Crasheris", he spent his entire career being hired by teams [[MoneyDearBoy due to his lucrative sponsors]] and genuine speed, then sacked when they realised that his ''constant'' crashing made him a liability even with those sponsors. He once managed to crash 18 times in a 16-race season, and to this day he holds the record for the most [=DNFs=] in Formula One (albeit not all of them were crashes).

* UsefulNotes/FormulaOne driver Pastor Maldonado gained this reputation. He's been involved in multiple crashes and incidents since 2011.

** This even happened to poor [[SapientShip Aphelion]] in ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureACrackInTime A Crack in Time]]''-- though, to Ratchet's credit, he tried everything to keep her from crashing, and she gets repaired.

* ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' showcases the former of the two protagonists destroying every single starship he pilots in the series, at one point or another.

* Tails from the ''VideoGame/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.

* If Batly from ''Series/EureekasCastle'' is seen flying anywhere, he will almost inevitably crash. After which, [[CatchPhrase he will usually say,]] "IMeantToDoThat." Sometimes, even if he isn't flying, he'll crash into something or knock something over.

* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'': Leon Kennedy is this to the point of it being a RunningGag. 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. This gets lampshaded by Ada in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', where she immediately recognizes a busted bulldozer as "Leon's handiwork." This is [[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 [[DangerTakesABackSeat back seat]].
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' takes this to a new extreme, as ''every'' single mode of transportation Leon takes over the course of the game crashes, even when he ''isn't'' the one driving it. He manages to be involved in a car, bus, plane, helicopter, ''and'' train crash over the course of the game and still walk away alive.

* Ibis Douglas of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' is given the InSeriesNickname "Shooting Star" because, just like a shooting star, she inevitably falls to earth. Unfortunately, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs 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]].

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas''. Woozie, a very bizarre ally, can drive magnificently. Walking into walls, however, is a frequent occurrence. Even more amazing is the fact that he can drive while being blind.
** 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. He confesses to CJ that he is blind. No shit, homie.
** Various characters suggest that protagonist CJ attend the in-game driving school, due to his propensity to wreck vehicles.
* Most ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' players are bound to be this, some intentional and some not.

* The hero of ''VideoGame/GrandiaIII'' has designed, built and crashed over a dozen planes before the game even starts. After his personal hero builds him a new plane, he stops crashing. Maybe it was just that he couldn't design a plane that would stay in the air.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
** James Vega from ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' gets this reputation after he intentionally crashes his shuttle into ''another'' shuttle to prevent [[spoiler:Dr. Eva from escaping with the plans for the Prothean device]]. ''Nobody'' [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten will let him forget it]]. He can end up crashing ''again'' if he's the one to take over the skycar controls when Shepard [[spoiler:abandons the control panel to shoot at Kai Leng]] during [[spoiler:the Citadel coup]]--although ''that one'' is [[DrivesLikeCrazy Shepard's fault]].
** [[SarcasmMode Vega learned from the best.]] Shepard crashes the skycar no matter who is in the backseat with them. And when chasing [[spoiler: Tela Vasir]] in the last game's DLC missions, Shepard used another skycar to sideswipe [[spoiler: her]] into crashing. And let's not get into [[DrivesLikeCrazy all]] [[CarFu those]] [[GoodBadBugs shenanigans]] with the Mako in the first game. One thing's for sure; if Shepard's driving, ''something'' is going to [[StuffBlowingUp end up in a fiery wreck]].
** Although he's the best pilot in the Alliance, Joker also has a tendency to crash during the finales, although he manages to keep the Normandy salvageable. In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' it opens with the first Normandy getting shot down with him at the controls. During the finale he also crashes the second Normandy getting you into the Collector Base, but he also gets it up and running again in time for the dramatic escape sequences. At the very end of the third game, the Normandy crashes again, but that's less to do with his piloting than [[spoiler: the giant energy wave from the Crucible.]]
* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'' Isaac Clarke climbs/gets thrown out of a train, a drilling machine and an escape pod. Outside influences causes the crash in those cases but still, guy climbs out of a lot of wreckage. Oh and you know that [[spoiler: giant mining ship from the [[VideoGame/DeadSpace first game]]]]? That gets blown up as well.
* This continues in ''VideoGame/DeadSpace3'', where Isaac must fly a heavily damaged shuttle from the frigate ''Roanouke'' to the surface of Tau Volantis, dodging mines and debris all the way down. [[ForegoneConclusion Needless to say, you crash]], but only two {{Mauveshirt}}s die. Strangely, Ellie, the actual pilot, [[InformedAbility doesn't do any piloting]]. Before that another ship you're on gets trashed by mines before you can enter orbit, a car get blown up before you can get in it and many, many autonomous transport vehicles crash when he attempts to cross a free way. Later on even 300-year-old wrecked vehicles arn't safe from him, with one falling off a cliff shortly after he climbs though it. Even ''ladders'' and lifts break down or are trashed around him. All this from an engineer/repair man who, you know, is supposed to 'fix' things.
* Nathan Drake often comes off as this in ''VideoGame/{{Uncharted}}'', neatly complementing his status as a WalkingDisasterArea, although he has specifically driven only a few. The vehicular victims of his escapades include two planes, a helicopter, two separate derailments of the same train, two boats (one of them a cruise ship!) and an untold amount of trucks and jeeps. It says a lot when the two most popular games in his franchise depict him in the wreckage of a vehicular accident he's involved in.
* Launchpad's reputation follows him again in ''[[VideoGame/DuckTales DuckTales: Remastered]]''. He crashes a helicopter off-screen in the Amazon level, and the Himalayas level starts with Scrooge and Launchpad climbing out of the tangled wreckage of their plane. Unsurprisingly, when he needs a pilot to get him to the Moon, Scrooge goes with [[AbsentMindedProfessor Gyro]] instead.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomsOfAmalurReckoning'' has [[CloudCuckooLander Captain Rast Brattigan]] in [[DownloadableContent The Legend of Dead Kel]]. Frequently referred to as "the worst sailor alive", she has ended up crashing every ship she's commanded (usually into ''another'' ship).
--> '''Rast:''' "I captained my first ship when I was no bigger than my papa's knee... and promptly crashed it into the dock, sinking three vessels with one wreck. It was then I knew, my destiny was to be a sailor."
* Tails from the ''VideoGame/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.
* Appears in the form a DevelopmentGag in ''[[Videogame/MechWarrior MechWarrior Living Legends]]''. When [[UsefulNotes/BetaTest playtesting]] a new version of [[LethalLavaLand TC_Inferno]] that featured an odd SpacePlane hangar that required one to taxi out to the runway and turn lest they plow into a wall opposite the hangar, the alpha testers would instead hop onto the plane, immediately mash the afterburners and scream into the unbreakable wall at 400kph -- [[TooDumbToLive repeatedly]]. The testers would also try to land in lava or fly into battlemech hangars. The level designer then proceeded to replace the default hint signs in the spawn rooms with helpful hints like "LAVA IS HOT. DO NOT LAND IN LAVA." and "DO NOT TAXI INTO WALLS".
* Erritis from ''VideoGame/TormentTidesOfNumenera'' lack quantity, only crashing one vehicle. That vehicle, however, is a slow-moving, easily-controlled airship that even an entirely untrained pilot can at least basically operate. One would have to be vastly idiotic or completely insane in order to actually crash it. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Erritis easily ticks off both boxes]].
* Franchise/{{Kirby}} uses his Warp Star to fly from place to place very quickly, but the flight always seems to end with him crashing into the ground and/or other objects. In ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'', this extends to the [[UnexpectedShmupLevel Jet Mode]] of his Robobot Armor; the segment always ends with him crashing the armor into the ground. The ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' games actually weaponize this; anyone who uses the Warp Star immediately flies off into the sky and crashes back into the ground, obliterating anyone underneath.
* Clementine in the ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' series can develop a bit of a habit of doing this. If you go with Kenny at the end of [[VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonTwo Season 2]], she crashes while Kenny was teaching her how to drive in Episode 1 of [[VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonThree New Frontier]]. In Episode 1 of [[VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonFour The Final Season]], she crashes while fighting off walkers after Clem and AJ escaped an abandoned train station.

* In the ''VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries'', Charles is an excellent helicopter pilot... except for this idea he has that crashing his chopper into things is a great solution to any problem, generally resulting in YetAnotherStupidDeath for Henry. [[spoiler: It actually works once; during the Valiant Hero route of ''Completing the Mission''. Unfortunately, this ends up causing a series of events that indirectly leads to Charles' death.]]
* Captain Chuck Hull in the game "Joke Boat" from ''VideoGame/TheJackboxPartyPack'' has gotten to the point where his log entries comment on the ship sinking ''again'' as though he's used to it, and indicate that he hasn't gotten around to finishing the operating manual. To be fair, the ''Sea Minus'' [[TheAllegedCar comes off second best in a collision with a stationary rubber duck]]; it's probably an impressive display of seamanship that it managed to get out of the harbour.

* Sagara Sōsuke 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 isn't even being chased, he ends up running an obvious red light and crashes into another car. And then there's his crazy "driving" when he is riding on a bicycle... honestly, people should get the idea and just ''not'' let him drive. Kaname seems to agree.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has [[https://scryfall.com/card/unf/164/captain-rex-nebula Captain Rex Nebular]], from its spoof Unfinity set. He can pilot ''anything'' (except lands), but when he does, he has an extremely high chance of crashing it.

*** This incarnation of Launchpad can handle any vehicle, [[DrivesLikeCrazy to a point]], and mostly crashes them because he's distracted from the road. In fact, he's so used to crashing that he has trouble comprehending the idea of ''not'' crashing a vehicle.

* ''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 [[DangerTakesABackSeat back seat]]. ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' takes this to a new extreme, as ''every'' single mode of transportation Leon takes over the course of the game crashes, even when he wasn't the one driving. He manages to be involved in a car, bus, plane, helicopter, ''and'' train crash over the course of the game.

Everyone's encountered or at least heard of this character. They're the [[RedBaron Patrician of Demolition]], the Czar of "Fubar", and the [[RhymesOnADime Master of Disaster]].

** ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': The season three opener "[[Recap/StarTrekPicardS3E01TheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]" introduces viewers to Geordi [=LaForge's=]daughter Sidney [=LaForge=], and also established her nickname during her academy days was Crash [=LaForge=] as she crashed two shuttlecraft during her time at the academy.

--> '''Captain Archer:''' Great...you scratched the paint.
** ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': The season three opener "[[Recap/StarTrekPicardS3E01TheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]" introduces viewers to Geordi LaForge's daughter Sidney La Forge, and also established her nickname during her academy days was Crash LaForge as she crashed two shuttlecraft during her time at the academy.

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'':
** This is pretty much Chakotay's nickname. He ends the second part of the pilot episode crashing his original ship into a Kazon dreadnought, and nearly every shuttle he touches from then on is doomed.
** All the characters have crashed a shuttle at least once at some point, which leads one to wonder where ''Voyager'' has been getting replacement shuttles from. Being stranded in the Delta Quadrant it's not like they can call up Starfleet Command for another six pack of shuttles. The trope is subverted in the episode [[spoiler:"Year of Hell Part II"]], when Janeway's [[spoiler:ramming the ''Voyager'' into the villain's ship solves the episode's problems]].
** Tuvok isn't much better than Chakotay - he is at least a passenger in at least half of the shuttle crashes on the series. Basically, if you're in a shuttle with Chakotay and Tuvok... Get to the escape pod before the shuttle launches. You'll live longer.
* Lampshaded in an episode of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. [=DS9=]'s shuttles are named after Earth Rivers, and one time when Sisko is asked to name a newly arrived replacement runabout shuttle, Major Kira quips that at the rate the station is going through runabouts that it was a good thing Earth had so many rivers.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Deanna Troi [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten 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's role is so far removed from piloting that if she's being asked to take the helm, there's some ''serious shit'' going on already, so rather than her causing the crashes, it's more that her being in that seat is a result of the same catastrophe that causes the ship to crash.
* "Trip" Tucker from ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' may be a SouthernFriedGenius as TheEngineer, but that doesn't extend to his piloting skills. In the pilot episode alone, he bumps ''Enterprise'' with an inspection pod and a Suliban helix with a captured cell-ship. Two and a half seasons later, he scrapes ''Enterprise'' again with a commandeered Xindi-Insectoid shuttle.

** Excluding [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved Foehammer]], it seems that the typical Pelican pilot doesn't know ''how'' to land without crashing.
** Much like the case with ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'', despite not always being the captain, most of the ships that the Chief embarks on within the games end up crashing, exploding, being chopped in half by a collapsing portal, etc. About the only exception is the UNSC ''Infinity'', which is the most powerful ship in the UNSC fleet.

* An educational kids show called ''Amazing Planet'' about aliens learning about earth had the pilot's inability to land smoothly as a RunningGag. One of the few times that he did land smoothly, he had accidentally landed on the tip of a pyramid in Egypt without even realizing it, which led to the ship falling down the side of the pyramid when the ship became unbalanced.

* ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'''s inability to land the plane in the ''Film/TopGun'' NES game became a RunningGag after the original episode, except when he somehow manages to land it with the Power Glove [[AchievementsInIgnorance without knowing how]]. In his re-review of the game, he believed he can actually pull it off this time, only for it to somehow fly off the screen, and WebVideo/PatTheNESPunk mocks him for being unable to do it. For those who played the game before, or simply [[FunnyBackgroundEvent paid attention to the screen]], it becomes apparent that even though he initially blamed the game for it, he's unable to land it [[ReadTheFreakingManual because he dismissed the Speed and Altitude readings as useless nonsense.]]

* [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-666-j One of the "joke" articles]] of the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' states that Dr. Gerald has this effect on any vehicle: "''A research team hypothesized that rollerblades are, technically, vehicles. We tested their hypothesis by having Gerald skate into the IRG's headquarters in Tehran. They were right.''" (This description is a subtitle of a picture showing an exploding building.)

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': When asked if he can land a plane, Grif answers: "That just means stop flying, right?" He is a little better with [[BadassDriver cars]].

* According to ComicBook/SpiderMan, anyone who flies to the Savage Land. The Savage Lands have mystical properties that prevent ''anything'' from flying near or in them other than through manual means. Villains like Sauron can fly because he manually flaps his wings, but Mutants like Rogue and Magneto are left stranded, and technological means just don't work. Get close enough to the South Pole and you will crash.

* This continues in ''VideoGame/DeadSpace3,'', where Isaac must fly a heavily damaged shuttle from the frigate ''Roanouke'' to the surface of Tau Volantis, dodging mines and debris all the way down. [[ForegoneConclusion Needless to say, you crash]], but only two {{Mauveshirt}}s die. Strangely, Ellie, the actual pilot, [[InformedAbility doesn't do any piloting]]. Before that another ship you're on gets trashed by mines before you can enter orbit, a car get blown up before you can get in it and many, many autonomous transport vehicles crash when he attempts to cross a free way. Later on even 300-year-old wrecked vehicles arn't safe from him, with one falling off a cliff shortly after he climbs though it. Even ''ladders'' and lifts break down or are trashed around him. All this from an engineer/repair man who, you know, is supposed to 'fix' things.