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Kandahar Airfield 2009. Crashes and failures for the unique British-designed aircraft are actually not that uncommon. The first Harrier design, the AV-8A, was an absolute crash addict, with more than half of the planes crashing. The later AV-8B Harrier was much safer, but still had a failure rate much higher than other military jets. Between the years 1971 and 2002, 45 U.S. Marine Harrier pilots were killed in 143 noncombat accidents.