This page in a nutshell: This List article must consist of standardized, size-limited entries, each using a single, present tense, semi-colon or comma separated sentence, each boldly linked to an existing dedicated Wikipedia article. Only commercial aircraft that seat at least 10 passengers are includable. Only cargo aircraft that weigh at least 10 tons are includable. |
This page is intended to help achieve and maintain standardized List inclusion criteria and format for the List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft article.
List articles on Wikipedia in general suffer from several common problems:
The above are general ailments that many lists suffer from. The specific list here is no exception, and its current state reflects all these generic problems. Specifically, it may be missing some fairly notable cases while including marginally notable or non-notable ones. It has differing grammar and punctuation styles for different entries: present vs. past tense, semi-colon separated single sentence vs. period separated multi sentence, etc. It is also excessively bloated, currently weighing in at 87 kilobytes, more than 3 times the recommended size for a good list article.
Wikipedia is open to change by anyone at any time, but list articles specifically are extremely difficult to maintain properly, as they consist of a long list of individual items. The only way to maintain a high quality list is by agreeing on a rigid set of rules for the list and strictly enforcing them. If some editor is unhappy with the list status, s/he can either work to change the rules (with resultant retroactive changes possibly needed in the list) or start a new list with his/her own rules. But once the rules exist, even if they are not perfect or ideal by everyone's perspective, they must be enforced, or else the list degrades in quality over time.
The restriction to minimize the number of entries, and minimize the words per entry, could seem to contradict the 'Wikipedia is not paper' rule, but in fact the non-paper rule deals with inclusion of articles into Wikipedia, not entries into a list. If a list has too many entries and becomes excessively long, it loses its readability, usefulness and attractiveness.
Also, Wikipedia in general, and this List article specifically, only allow inclusion of notable and verifiable entries. If each individual List entry is already wiki-linked to its own existing Wikipedia article, then by definition its notability and verifiability have been (or will be) proven and maintained elsewhere. On the other hand, if an entry were not linked to an article it would shift the burden to prove and maintain its notability and verifiability to the List level, which could require prolonged AfD-like debates along with supplying and vetting of multiple references per entry. This would have to be done in addition to the normal task of determining the specific List admissibility criteria, and would require including and vetting multiple references per entry, which would increase the overall article size beyond the recommended limits and require excessive attention and effort per entry.
This article is sorted by increasing time and is a timeline type list. As such, it should use the historical present tense, which sounds more dynamic and engaging, as if describing unfolding events in real time. Therefore, each entry in this article shall be in the present tense only as it describes the specific event.
No individual entry in this list shall exceed 40 words; if the entry describes an accident involving multiple aircraft then the maximum size may be increased to 60 words. This is a maximum value and should not be used unless absolutely needed; we want to keep the overall article size to a minimum so simpler events should use less words, to allow more complex ones more space.
Editors will attempt to minimize the words for each entry to convey the most critical highlights from the linked main article's lead: date, site, airline/flight number (link to accident/incident article), aircraft type, nature of accident/incident, reason(s) (when known), number of casualties. The structure shall normally be one long sentence broken up into sub-sentences by semi-colons. An en dash (–) is preferred over a regular dash (-) after the date to maintain consistency throughout the article. The link to the main article should be in bold text, as in the examples below.
Example 1:
Example 2:
Avoid placing hyperlinks within the text of the list item. If each individual List entry is already wiki-linked to its own existing Wikipedia article, then hyperlinks to related terms within the entry (such as place names, airports, etc.) will be provided in the linked article. The only hyperlink visible should be the emboldened text that defines the entry and provides the link to the associated article.
Since the list items must all be linked to their main dedicated Wikipedia article, references should not be provided in the list article. All references related to an item should be included in its main article.[under discussion]
For the purposes of this list article only we define 'includable commercial aircraft' involved in an accident or incident as any of the following:
Note that any entry in this article must also meet the notability criterion by having its own dedicated accident/incident Wikipedia article. In the case of a collision, at least one of the aircraft must meet the inclusion criteria on its own. Note also that military aircraft are specifically excluded from this list, as non-commercial. Aircraft chartered by the military from a civilian operator to transport troops are eligible for inclusion, as the operator was non-military. In the case of a collision between civilian and military aircraft, the civilian aircraft would have to be eligible for inclusion in its own right. Also, a civilian aircraft with a civilian crew, operated by a government to carry passengers, otherwise meeting the above minimum seating criteria, is includable.
An accident is defined as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft that takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight and all such persons have disembarked, and in which any person suffers death or serious injury, or in which the aircraft receives substantial damage.
An incident is an occurrence other than an accident that affects or could affect the safety of operations.
The ICAO definitions are similar, though somewhat more involved.
Discussion of this guideline will take place in its own Talk page. Any change to this guideline must be discussed and agreed to by consensus on that page.