Wikipedia:WikiProject Aviation/Style guide/Layout (Accidents)

Page structure

The following is a suggested structure for an aviation accident article. It should be noted that in major accidents the first 48 hours after an accident can involve the article having many hundreds of edits. Users should sometimes consider waiting to impose a formal structure during times of heavy editing.

• Infobox – The project standard infobox {{Infobox aircraft occurrence}} should be used. As-yet-undefined parameters may be left in place until they can be defined. (e.g. registration or serial number often emerges a few hours or days after the article is started.)

• Lead – The lead section is not titled. It should be a summary of the accident and should reflect the content of the body of the article. As a minimum, it needs to detail the location, airline and aircraft involved, the number of people involved and, once known, the official cause of the accident.

• Accident – A description of the events leading up to the accident and the accident itself. Additional headings and alternate headings (like Ditching) can be used related to the nature of the accident. May use subheadings for "Background", "Weather conditions", etc. to put the flight in context.

• Aircraft – A description of the aircraft to include the make and model and registration. Other information on the aircraft should only be included if related to the accident.

• Crew – Details about the number of flight and cabin crew. Information on the experience and training of the flight crew may be included.

• Passengers – Information about the number of passengers, fatalities, injuries and survivors. Information on the nationalities involved should be included. Optionally, notable passengers may be recorded but should be limited to individuals with a Wikipedia article. Information including ethnic or religious backgrounds and school affiliations should not be included.

• Ground damage and fatalities – Information on casualties on the ground and significant damage to buildings and infrastructure.

• Aftermath – The activities that happened after the accident, to include information on the "Search and rescue" and "Recovery" phases of the accident.

• Investigation – A description or summary of the investigation. This should first identify and link to the official bodies involved in the investigation, which will normally include the lead national investigator and regulator, with investigators from the states of the airline(s), and of the manufacturer(s) of the aircraft and of any relevant equipment (particularly engines).

• See also – Links to similar accidents and additional supporting information. Where possible, it is better to include these links inline in the body of the article, rather than in a "See also" section.

• References – Will normally use {{reflist}} to show inline references. For especially large, complex articles a two-level referencing scheme linking {{harvnb}} named references to a "Bibliography" section may be considered. This should be discussed on the article's talk page before implementing.

• External links

Items to avoid

As per the consensus against accident comparisons do not include comparisons like "this was the 12th worst crash of this aircraft type painted blue on a Wednesday that was carrying sheep as cargo" or similar. For more reasoning, see also WP:TRIVIA, WP:PROVEIT and WP:OR.

Navboxes

Navboxes will often include:

{{Aviation accident orgs}}
{{Aviation lists}}
{{Lists of aviation accidents and incidents}}

Images

The page may include an image of the accident/incident or its aftermath, or, if involving a single aircraft, that aircraft. If a free image of the actual aircraft is not available then an aircraft of the same type can be used; be aware that aircraft in other operators' markings may be misleading and focus on an operator not related to the accident. Representations or computer generated images, unless released by the investigation authority, should not be used.

Categories

Categories should be added as appropriate but the following should be considered:

• Location categories from Category:Aviation accidents and incidents by country
• Aircraft type categories from Category:Aviation accidents and incidents by aircraft
• Accidents by year categories from Category:21st-century aviation accidents and incidents
• Cause categories from Category:Aviation accidents and incidents