Air Crashes Decline; Private Plane Rate Is Safest on Record
Aviation accidents declined in all categories last year, the National Transportation Safety Board reported Friday.
The 2,138 accidents in general, or private, aviation were the fewest since the board began compiling records in the 1960s, and an industry group said the accident rate in that category, about 7 per 100,000 flying hours, was the lowest ever.
The safety board said there were 2,282 aviation accidents in the United States overall last year and 819 fatalities. In 1989, there were 2,361 accidents and 1,154 fatalities.
Last year, U.S. passenger and cargo air carriers experienced 26 accidents that killed 39 people, the board said. That compares to 30 accidents and 278 fatalities in 1989.
Those accidents took place while the air carriers flew an estimated 4.3 billion miles, the safety board said, citing figures supplied by the Federal Aviation Administration.
There were more than 7.2 million scheduled departures by the air carriers during the year.
Commuter air carriers were involved in 14 accidents resulting in four fatalities during 1990. The safety board said that equals the previous record low in the air commuter industry set in 1986, when four people also were killed.
In 1989 there were 17 commuter accidents and 31 fatalities.
Commuter airlines flew an estimated 392 million miles in 1990 and had about 2.9 million departures.
Air taxi carriers were involved in 104 accidents last year that resulted in 40 deaths, the board said. That compares to 113 accidents and 88 fatalities the year before.
There were 2,138 accidents and 736 fatalities in general aviation in 1990, the safety board said. In 1989 there were 2,201 accidents and 757 fatalities.
Donald D. Engen, president of the Air Safety Foundation of the Airplane Owners and Pilots Assn., attributed the decline to improved aviation education and pilot training.
“Larger numbers of active pilots are participating in more professional initial and recurrent training; that’s the key,” he said.
