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{{trope}}
[[File:Launchpad_crash_2952.jpg|link=Duck Tales (Animation)DuckTales|frame|"If it's got wings, I can crash it!"]]
 
 
{{quote|"A good landing is one you can walk away from. A great landing is one where they can use the plane again afterwards."|'''Common aviation proverb'''}}
 
Everyone's encountered or at least heard of this fellow. He's the [[The Red Baron|Patrician of Demolition]], the [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|Czar of "Fubar"]], and the [[Rhymes Onon a Dime|Master of Disaster]].
 
He's supposedly an accomplished captain/pilot/driver, but whenever he gets behind the controls of any vehicle, he crashes it. 
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** Though not nearly as much as Alto in ''[[Macross Frontier]]'', who trashes a new plane every other episode or so. {{spoiler|In the epilogue, he managed to set his perfectly-undamaged Valkyrie on fire, ''after'' the battle was over, and scuttled it as it was breaking apart.}}
* Seta in ''[[Love Hina]]'' usually enters a chapter by crashing his van, but emerging without major injury. His protégé Keitaro picks up the trait by the final chapters.
* ''[[Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure (Manga)|Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure]]''
** They're rarely the ones piloting them, but there's a rule that if someone of the Joestar bloodline gets into a plane, ''it will crash''. No exceptions.
** Cars, trains, boats and ''submarines'' have a similar tendency to crash somehow when a Joestar is near. Oh, and an helicopter, but that was highly intentional.
* Sagara Sousuke from ''[[Full Metal Panic (Light Novel)|Full Metal Panic]]'' seems to be this. Of course, part of it might be explained by how most of the instances where he's driving have been [[Chase Scene|dangerous car chase scenes]] (where it's only natural that he would be crashing through things and [[Drives Like Crazy|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.
* ''[[Area 88 (Manga)|Area 88]]'': While very much an [[Ace Pilot]], Shin Kazama manages to get at least three or four planes shot out from under him, depending on the continuity. His luckier comrades also have tendencies in this directions. The rest, well, [[Anyone Can Die]].
* ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (Anime)|Mobile Suit Gundam Wing]]'': Heero Yuy. Utterly lethal in mobile suit combat, but the number of suits he's totalled or seriously damaged defies belief. He has had at least two Leos and the Mercurius shot out from under him, as well as wrecking Wing Zero in Endless Waltz (although that [[Rasputinian Death|took some doing]].) And then there is Wing Gundam. Poor, poor Wing Gundam. To date, Heero has crashed it into the ocean, attempted to self-detonate it, attempted to blow it up with torpedoes, actually self-detonated it, then finally had it shot out from under him before getting his [[Mid-Season Upgrade]]. One has to wonder what Trowa was thinking when he lent him Heavyarms...
** In ''Gundam Seed'' and ''Seed Destiny'' Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala have each had only one of their mobile suits survive the end of the series (one each across two series), every other suit they used was totaled, though Athrun went though far more suits, to the point if he touched it it was probably doomed and Kira's tended to be rebuilt and destroyed again.
* In ''[[Gunsmith Cats]]'', Rally Vincent wrecks her car on multiple occasions despite proving her worth in multiple street races. At one point it is even mentioned that she can't get insurance anymore.
* Enryu from ''[[Gao Gai GarGaoGaiGar]]'' has a tendency towards this, despite being a transforming ''fire truck'': any time he's launched out of the Mirror Catapult, it can be safely assumed that his return to the ground will be devoid of any grace whatsoever. {{spoiler|And apparently his Chinese counterpart, Rairyu, shares the same problem, as do ''both'' of the French Dragons, Kuryu and Anryu. 2/3 of the Dragon Braves, it seems, are masters of the divine art of the faceplant.}}
* Rosette Christopher of ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' has gotten into so many car accidents that even the ''mangaka'' isn't sure whether or not she has a license.
 
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== Fan Fic ==
* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series (Fanfic)|Calvin and Hobbes The Series]]'' notes that Calvin [[Invoked Trope|makes it a point to crash his wagon at least twice a week.]]
 
 
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** The [[X Wing Series]] gives us [[Ascended Extra]] Derek 'Hobbie' Klivian and his much-lampshaded tendency toward spectacular crashes and long periods in a bacta tank. Despite this, he's unquestionably an [[Ace Pilot]] and even seems to make it work for him: no matter what violent fate befalls his vehicle, Hobbie will ''always'' eject, survive and be back kicking ass within the week.
** The first-published comic arc in that series, The Rebel Opposition, makes it necessary to mention Hobbie's squadronmate Tycho. He put on Imperial guise and reported in saying that his TIE had crashed. They gave him a new one. He flew on a mission, was shot down by his own X-Wing (long story), [[Ejection Seat|ejected and survived]], then returned to the Imperial base. They gave him a new one. Then he betrayed them. In fairness, TIE fighters are light, cheap, unshielded [[Fragile Speedster|Fragile Speedsters]] mainly used for [[Zerg Rush|Zerg Rushing]].
* A running gag in ''[[Indiana Jones (Franchise)|Indiana Jones]]''. Quoth [[TheIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Film)|the third film]]:
{{quote| '''Henry Jones Sr.:''' You know how to fly this thing?<br />
'''Indiana Jones:''' Fly, yes. Land, no. }}
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== [[Literature]] ==
* A romance novel where the hero, an airplane pilot, was called "Crash" ... because he crashed a car.
* [[Harry Potter (Literaturenovel)|Harry Potter]] crashes something in almost every one of his books.
* ''[[Catch-22]]'''s Orr ''practices'' crashing his plane. [[Obfuscating Stupidity|Not that anyone could tell.]]
* Richard Hannay ([[The Thirty -Nine Steps]]) ends up crashing almost every vehicle he gets into, although sometimes they pre-emptively break down instead.
* [[Sinbad the Sailor]] had a bad habit of getting shipwrecked in his stories.
* Callista Carmel of ''[[Tour of the Merrimack]]'' earned the nickname "Crash Carmel" for totaling a number of shuttles.
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* For Jake Cutter, of ''[[Tales of the Gold Monkey]]'', crash landings were routine and accepted as such on Bora Gora.
* Richard Hammond of ''[[Top Gear]]'' has a... not-undeserved reputation for being accident-prone.
* This is pretty much Chakotay's nickname in ''[[Star Trek: Voyager (TV)|Star Trek Voyager]]''. He ends the second part of the pilot episode crashing his original ship into a Kazon cruiser, and nearly every shuttle he touches from then on is doomed.
** [[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation (TV)|Deanna Troi]] [[Never Live It Down|can't escape the fact]] that the [[Star Trek Generations (Film)|two]] [[Star Trek Nemesis (Film)|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 [[Ramming Always Works|ram the ship into the enemy.]]
* This was a running joke when referencing Uncle Albert in ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]''.
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'''Flintlocke''': [his head popping into view, and looking down at the player] What? Like ''you'' could have done any better! }}
** There's also a running gag about the Draenei, that any time they're piloting a vehicle they'll crash it. This is likely because their capital, the Exodar, is a magic interstellar space-ship that they crashed into Azeroth.
* The hero of ''[[Grandia (Videovideo Gamegame)|Grandia]] III'' 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.
* James Vega from ''[[Mass Effect 3 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 3]]'' 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'' 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 [[Drives Like Crazy|Shepard's fault]].
** [[Sarcasm Mode|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 [[Drives Like Crazy|all]] [[Car Fu|those]] [[Good Bad Bugs|shenanigans]] with the Mako in the first game. One thing's for sure; if Shepard's driving, ''something'' is going to [[Stuff Blowing Up|end up in a fiery wreck]].
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Launchpad McQuack. Throughout ''[[Duck Tales (Animation)|Duck TalesDuckTales]]'', it's a marvel anyone gets in a plane he's piloting. He really is a [[Crippling Overspecialization|very accomplished pilot]], capable of taking off on any surface, flying through any storm, and weaving through any enemy air space, but he can't land without crashing.
** It's not just planes - in one episode (after he's crashed a ''submarine''), he pulls out a bingo card from his insurance company with pictures of various land, sea and air vehicles and marks it off. Several other types of craft are already crossed out.
** [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[Duck TalesDuckTales the Movie: Treasure of Thethe Lost Lamp (Animation)|Duck Tales the Movie Treasure of The Lost Lamp]]'', when Launchpad confesses that his flying leasons were a [[Incredibly Lame Pun|crash course]].
** [[Subverted Trope|Hilariously subverted]] in "The Golden Goose" when Launchpad attempts to crash on purpose, [[Springtime for Hitler|only to land perfectly]] - Launchpad may crash all the time, but he's so good at wrecking his planes that he's an expert at crashing ''safely''.
** [[Deconstructed Trope|Deconstructed]] in one episode where a Scrooge orders Launchpad to pilot a sabotaged blimp that's about to crash on its own. With Launchpad at the control, they still crash, but everybody survives with minor injuries.
** By the time of ''[[Darkwing Duck (Animationanimation)|Darkwing Duck]]'', he seemed to have improved (or forced himself to get better because they only had one plane, as opposed to ''[[Duck Tales (Animation)|Duck TalesDuckTales]]''' never ending supply). He'd crash occasionally, but that was usually due to getting shot down. There were still a lot of jokes and [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]] to his poor landing skills, but on that show it had become more of an [[Informed Ability|Informed Inability]].
** Received [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]] at least twice on ''[[Gargoyles (Animation)|Gargoyles]]'', with the drivers of crashed helicopters musing, "Any landing you can walk away from..."
* Ace in the ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' cartoon and comic. Lampshaded in one instance when he says over the radio, "I'm going in!", to which Duke replies, "Every time you say that it gets expensive!"
** Cobra troops often joke about their own Air Devil pilots. "What's the last thing to go through an Air Devil's head when he hits the ground? His engine."
** Also the notoriously clumsy and oafish Wildcard, who seems to break everything he comes in contact with by random chance ''except'' for his vehicle of choice. His filecard says that they put him in that thing because siccing him on the enemy personally is probably against the Geneva Convention.
* ''[[Fillmore (Animation)|Fillmore]]'' can be pretty much guaranteed to wreck any ride he gets into, much to Vallejo's frustration.
* [[Batman (Franchise)|Batman]] in [[The DCAU]]. IIRC, the Batwing was destroyed in every appearance it made in JL/JLU. I'm not even sure the thing has landing gear.
** It does. It lands once in the very first JU episode, although [[Superman (Franchise)|Superman]] has to catch it and land it for Batman because a wing was shot off.
* In ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', Rainbow Dash exhibits the non-vehicle version of this trope. Dash is a superb flyer; her landings, however, are sometimes far from graceful, as Twilight's library can attest. Taken [[Up to Eleven]] when she's afflicted by Poison Joke, which inverts her wings, leaving her crashing into things every few seconds, thrust-vectoring into the floor, and other such mishaps.
** A lot of crashing is indicated to come from constantly attempting impossibly difficult stunts in an effort to impress the Wonderbolts. She also has a tendency to lose concentration or get distracted at critical moments (if she starts talking to someone while flying, it's a safe bet she's going to hit something in the next few seconds).
* In ''[[Star Wars: theThe Clone Wars (Animation)|Star Wars the Clone Wars]]'', Anakin Skywalker proves the apple didn't fall far from the tree in some ways. He's the finest starfighter pilot in the galaxy... and the worst starfighter ''lander'' in the galaxy.
** He did successfully land (half) a ship in ''[[Revenge of the Sith (Film)|Revenge of the Sith]]'', though.
* Due to [[Continuity Reboot]], it may not technically count, but nearly every incarnation of ''[[Transformers (Franchise)|Transformers]]'' begins with the Autobots and Decepticons (or [[Beast Wars (Animation)|Maximals and Predacons]]) crashing on Earth or recently having done so. ''Very'' rare is the Cybertronian ship that has actually landed. Apparently, robots who turn into vehicles are terrible drivers.
** For that matter, wouldn't one expect their vehicles to just turn into even gianter robots? Maybe then CAN but they all just keep crashing themselves and dying before we can see any of them transform...
* In ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (Animation)|Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers]]'', Shane Gooseman crashed ''least'' three interceptors and a Ranger cruiser...and the show only ran one season. His driving is [[Drives Like Crazy|just as bad]].
* Whistler the heron in ''[[The Animals of Farthing Wood (Animation)|The Animals of Farthing Wood]]'' is bad at landing in later episodes and falls on someone before able to take cover.
* The old ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle (Animation)|Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'' cartoons featured the world's most incompetent sailor, Captain Peter "Wrongway" Peachfuzz.
 
== Web Original ==
* [http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-666-j One of the "joke" articles] of the [[SCP Foundation (Wiki)|SCP Foundation]] states that Dr. Gerald has this effect on any vehicle:<br /><br />''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.''
 
 
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