USA Banner

Official US Government Icon

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure Site Icon

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Table 2-14: U.S. General Aviationa Safety Data

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Table 2-14: U.S. General Aviationa Safety Data

Excel | CSV

  1960d 1965d 1970d 1975 1980 1985 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 (R) 2006 (R) 2007 2008
Total fatalities 787 1,029 1,310 1,252 1,239 956 770 800 867 744 730 735 636 631 625 (R) 621 596 562 581 (R) 633 559 563 705 496 495
Total seriously injured persons U U 715 769 681 501 409 431 408 385 415 396 366 350 327 322 309 321 297 323 (R) 265 (R) 271 265 255 259
Total accidentsb 4,793 5,196 4,712 3,995 3,590 2,739 2,242 2,197 2,111 2,064 2,021 2,056 1,908 1,844 1,905 1,905 1,837 1,727 1,715 (R) 1,740 1,617 1,670 1,520 1,650 1,559
Total accidentsb, fatal 429 538 641 633 618 498 444 439 451 401 404 413 361 350 365 340 345 325 345 352 314 321 307 288 275
Flight hours (thousands) 13,121 16,733 26,030 28,799 36,402 28,322 28,510 27,678 24,780 22,796 22,235 24,906 24,881 25,591 25,518 29,246 27,838 25,431 25,545 25,998 24,888 23,168 23,963 23,819 21,931
Rates per 100,000 flight hoursc                                                  
Fatalities 6.00 6.15 5.03 4.35 3.40 3.38 2.70 2.89 3.50 3.26 3.28 2.95 2.56 2.47 2.45 (R) 2.12 2.14 2.21 2.27 (R) 2.43 2.25 2.43 2.94 2.08 2.26
Seriously injured persons U U 2.75 2.67 1.87 1.77 1.43 1.56 1.65 1.69 1.87 1.59 1.47 1.37 1.28 1.10 1.11 1.27 1.16 1.24 (R) 1.06 (R) 1.17 1.11 1.07 1.18
Total accidentsa 36.53 31.05 18.10 13.87 9.86 (R) 9.67 (R) 7.86 (R) 7.94 (R) 8.52 (R) 9.05 (R) 9.09 (R) 8.26 (R) 7.67 (R) 7.21 (R) 7.47 (R) 6.51 (R) 6.60 (R) 6.79 (R) 6.71 (R) 6.69 (R) 6.50 (R) 7.21 6.34 6.93 7.11
Total accidents, fatala 3.27 3.22 2.46 2.20 1.70 (R) 1.76 1.56 (R) 1.59 1.82 (R) 1.76 (R) 1.82 (R) 1.66 1.45 (R) 1.37 (R) 1.43 1.16 (R) 1.24 1.28 (R) 1.35 (R) 1.35 1.26 1.39 1.28 1.21 1.25

KEY: N = data do not exist; R = revised.

a U.S. registered civil aircraft not operated under 14 CFR 121 or 14 CFR 135. Accidents on foreign soil and in foreign waters are excluded. Suicide, sabotage, and stolen/unauthorized cases included in accidents and fatalities but excluded from accident rates in this table are: 1985 (11 accidents, 6 fatal accidents); 1990 (4,1); 1991 (8,5); 1992 (2,1); 1993 (5,4); 1994 (3,2); 1995 (10,6); 1996 (4,0); 1997 (5,2); 1998 (6,4); 1999 (3,1); 2000 (7,7); 2001 (3,1); 2002 (7,6); 2003 (4,3); 2004 (3,0); 2005 (2,1); 2006 (2,1); 2007 (0,0).

b Since April 1995, the National Transportation Safety Board has been required by law to investigate all public-use accidents, increasing the number of NTSB reported general aviation accidents by approximately 1.75%.

c Rates are computed by dividing the number of fatalities, serious injuries, total accidents, and fatal accidents by the number of flight hours. Except for the exclusions mentioned in footnote a.

d Data for 1960, 1965, and 1970 include air taxi.

NOTES

Flight hours are estimated by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration.

2008 data are preliminary.

SOURCES

Fatalities, accidents, flight hours and rates per 100,000 flight hours:

1960-70: National Transportation Safety Board, Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data: U.S. General Aviation, Calendar Year 1970, NTSB/ARG-74/1 (Washington, DC: April 1974), table 117.

1975-2008: National Transportation Safety Board, Aviation Accident Statistics: U.S. General Aviation, table 10, available at http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/Stats.htm as of July 23, 2009.

Serious injuries:

1970-85: National Transportation Safety Board, Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data: General Aviation (Washington, DC: Annual Issues).

1990-2008: Ibid., Analysis and Data Division, personal communication, July 23, 2009.