The Nation - News from Nov. 23, 1987

The armed forces had a second year in a row of unusually safe flight records in fiscal 1987, but the relatively low number of accidents caused an increased number of deaths, reports show. The reports indicate the aviation accident rates of the Air Force, Army and Marine Corps worsened only slightly in fiscal 1987 while the Navy posted one of its best records ever. All told, the services experienced 165 so-called Class A accidents, ones that result in either a fatality or property damage to a plane or helicopter exceeding $500,000, during the year ending Sept. 30. That compared to 163 reported for fiscal 1986, when the Defense Department logged its safest flying year in history. Military aviators flew roughly 7.4 million hours during fiscal 1987, compared to 7.3 million the year before. The number of servicemen killed in aviation accidents rose 13% from 148 fatalities in fiscal 1986 to 167 in 1987.