Notes Spike In Fatalities Among Part 135 Ops; GA Accident Rate
Climbs Per Hours Flown
The National Transportation Safety Board released Thursday its
preliminary aviation accident statistics for the 2008 calendar
year, showing improvements in some industry sectors but increased
accident rates in others.
"While the overall aviation safety record in the United States
is among the best in the world, the 2008 accident statistics reveal
a mixed picture," said NTSB Acting Chairman Mark V. Rosenker. "We
are particularly concerned with the spike in fatalities in
on-demand air charter operations. There's a lot of room for
improvement in this area, and as evidenced by our recent forum on
emergency medical service helicopter accidents, we continue to do
everything we can to identify the safety issues involved, and to
advocate for the adoption of our recommendations that will make the
skies safer."
On-demand flight operations (classified by regulators as
operating under the federal code 14 CFR Part 135), which include
air medical, air taxi and air tour flights, logged over 3.6 million
flight hours and had 56 accidents, killing 66 people - the highest
number of fatalities since 2000; there were 43 fatalities in 2007.
The accident rate per 100,000 flight hours (1.52) remained
virtually unchanged from 2007 (1.54).
The number of accidents involving large commercial carriers
(Part 121) was 28 in both 2008 and 2007. In both scheduled and
non-scheduled services, the airlines carried 753 million passengers
on over 10.8 million flights without a passenger fatality.
In 2008, commuter airlines (also operating under Part 135 in the
federal code) that typically fly smaller turboprop aircraft made
581,000 flights, logging over 290,000 hours. These operators had
seven accidents, none of which resulted in fatalities. This is an
increase from three accidents in 2007.
In general aviation, there were 1,559 accidents, 275 of which
involved fatalities, killing a total of 495 -- one fewer than the
previous year. The GA accident rate per 100,000 flight hours was
7.11, up from 6.92 in 2007. In the last 20 years, the highest
accident rate was 9.08 in 1994; the lowest rate was 6.33 in
2006.
Federal legislation defines an aircraft accident as an
occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which 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.