Cessna 208 Caravan

The Cessna Caravan is a well-built, rugged aircraft with a weak safety record per passenger flight. The record says more about its work than its design: it flies with one pilot, often into short strips in mountains, jungle, the Arctic and on safari routes, where weather and terrain are the main killers. If you are booked on one, the operator and the day's weather matter far more than the type.

Where you fly on a Caravan

The Caravan is a single-engine turboprop with a high wing, fixed landing gear and up to about a dozen passenger seats. It first flew in 1982 and is still in production. About 3,000 have been built, and about 2,500 are in use, more than almost any airliner type.

You meet it on short commuter hops in Hawaii (Mokulele) and Alaska, on safari flights in Kenya and Tanzania, between islands in the Caribbean and Central America, and on floats as a seaplane in Canada and Australia. Many fly cargo; FedEx built a large feeder network on the Caravan. Others carry skydivers or private owners.

The fatal record

Our data lists 176 fatal Caravan events up to 7 October 2026. Only 60 of them count toward the score: accidents on passenger flights. The rest were cargo, skydiving, military, ferry and private flights. Examples from the past decade:

• 15 November 2017, Coastal Aviation, Empakaai area, Tanzania: all 11 on board died.
• 31 December 2017, Nature Air, Punta Islita, Costa Rica: crashed after take-off; all 12 died, mostly US tourists.
• 5 June 2018, Fly-SAX, Aberdare Range, Kenya: all 10 died.
• 26 February 2022, AB Aviation, off Mohéli, Comoros: all 14 died.
• 29 October 2023, ART Táxi Aéreo, near Rio Branco, Brazil: all 12 died.
• 6 February 2025, Bering Air, near Nome, Alaska: the aircraft disappeared in winter weather over sea ice; all 10 died.
• 28 October 2025, Mombasa Air Safari, near Kwale, Kenya: all 11 died.
• 27 April 2026, CityLink, near Juba, South Sudan: flew into a hill in poor visibility; all 14 died.
• 1 August 2026, Aerodiana, near Nazca, Peru: crashed on a sightseeing flight over the Nazca lines; all 13 died.

The worst Caravan passenger crash in our data is La Costeña in Nicaragua in 1999, with 16 dead.

Why the record looks worse than an airliner's

Be fair to the aircraft. Few of these crashes start with something breaking. Most follow a familiar pattern: a single pilot flies into cloud over high ground, ice builds up faster than the de-icing equipment can cope with, or the aircraft takes off overweight from a short, hot or wet strip. Often the operator is a small company with little backup. On 17 January 2004, Georgian Express took off from Pelee Island, Ontario, overweight with ice on the wings. It crashed just after take-off and all 10 people died. Canada's investigators blamed both factors.

Airliners rarely face these conditions. A Caravan flying into an Alaskan village in February or a gravel strip in the Serengeti faces them every week. Our methodology scores the type on passenger flights only, but it cannot separate the aircraft from where it flies. For a fairer comparison, look at other bush types such as the Twin Otter.

How to tell if you are on one, and what to check

Flight trackers show C208 for every version: the original 208, the stretched 208B Grand Caravan and the Grand Caravan EX. You will see a single propeller on the nose and a cargo pod under the belly on many.

Before you fly, ask:

• Does the company have a long record, and does it hold an air operator certificate from the national aviation authority?
• Does it fly in poor weather, or delay? A pilot who waits for the cloud to lift is a good sign.
• Is your bag weight limit enforced? Strict weighing is a sign of a careful operator.