Watch how aircraft crash tests evolve over the years

Just like the cars on the street, Regulators have been intentionally crashing planes for 75 years to better learn how to design aircraft to increase the chances of survival for their occupants. every new aircraft model can't be hurled off-road for a star rating like it's a new crossover destined for a showroom. Full-size test crashes were done sparingly and with specific objectives in mind, and are essentially extinct today.

The practice of aircraft crash tests began after Second World War. The number of commercial airline passengers increased rapidly in the late 1940s and 1950s. Federal agencies, aircraft manufacturers and airlines wanted to ensure that the increasing number of flights was as safe as possible. According to NASA The first large-scale crashes occurred in 1949 on the grounds of a US military arsenal. Frequently used cargo planes from the Berlin Airlift were remotely controlled to plunge down a runway and perform choreographed crashes. The experiment was conducted in the hope of gaining insights into how to contain crash fires.

The original goal of crash testing was to understand how fire starts in an accident and how aircraft fuselages break apart on impact. This mission evolved as the industry entered the jet age: