Table 2-9: U.S. Air Carriera Safety Data

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	1960	1965	1970	1975	1980	1985	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	(R) 2007	2008	(P) 2009
Total fatalities	499	261	146	124	1	526	39	50	33	1	239	168	380	8	1	12	92	531	0	22	14	22	50	1	3	52
Total seriously injured persons	N	N	107	81	19	30	29	26	22	19	31	25	77	43	30	67	29	19	24	31	20	14	9	16	22	23
Total accidents	90	83	55	37	19	21	24	26	18	23	23	36	37	49	50	51	56	46	41	54	30	40	33	28	28	30
Fatal accidents	17	9	8	3	1	7	6	4	4	1	4	3	5	4	1	2	3	6	0	2	2	3	2	1	2	2
Aircraft-miles (millions)	1,130	1,536	2,685	2,478	2,924	3,631	4,948	4,825	5,039	5,249	5,478	5,654	5,873	6,697	6,737	7,101	7,524	7,294	7,193	7,280	7,930	8,166	8,139	8,136	8,068	7,557
Rates per 100 million aircraft-miles
Fatalities	44.159	16.992	5.438	5.004	0.034	14.486	0.788	1.036	0.655	0.019	4.363	2.971	6.470	0.119	0.015	0.169	1.223	7.280	0.000	0.302	0.177	0.269	0.614	0.012	0.037	0.688
Seriously injured persons	N	N	3.985	3.269	0.650	0.826	0.586	0.539	0.437	0.362	0.566	0.442	1.311	0.642	0.445	0.943	0.385	0.260	0.334	0.426	0.252	0.171	0.111	0.197	0.273	0.304
Total accidents	7.965	5.404	2.048	1.493	0.650	0.578	0.485	0.539	0.357	0.438	0.420	0.637	0.630	0.732	0.742	0.718	0.744	0.631	0.570	0.742	0.378	0.490	0.405	0.344	0.347	0.397
Total accidents, fatal	1.504	0.586	0.298	0.121	0.034	0.193	0.121	0.083	0.079	0.019	0.073	0.053	0.085	0.060	0.015	0.028	0.040	0.082	0.000	0.027	0.025	0.037	0.025	0.012	0.025	0.026
Aircraft departures (thousands)	N	N	N	N	5,479	6,307	8,092	7,815	7,881	8,073	8,238	8,457	8,229	10,318	10,980	11,309	11,468	10,955	10,508	10,433	11,023	11,130	10,821	10,928	10,437	10,349
Rates per 100,000 aircraft departures
Fatalities	N	N	N	N	0.018	8.340	0.482	0.640	0.419	0.012	2.901	1.986	4.618	0.078	0.009	0.106	0.802	4.847	0.000	0.211	0.127	0.198	0.462	0.009	0.029	0.502
Seriously injured persons	N	N	N	N	0.347	0.476	0.358	0.333	0.279	0.235	0.376	0.296	0.936	0.417	0.273	0.592	0.253	0.173	0.228	0.297	0.181	0.126	0.083	0.146	0.211	0.222
Total accidents	N	N	N	N	0.347	0.333	0.297	0.333	0.228	0.285	0.279	0.426	0.450	0.475	0.455	0.451	0.488	0.420	0.390	0.518	0.272	0.359	0.305	0.256	0.268	0.290
Total accidents, fatal	N	N	N	N	0.018	0.111	0.074	0.051	0.051	0.012	0.049	0.035	0.061	0.039	0.009	0.018	0.026	0.055	0.000	0.019	0.018	0.027	0.025	0.012	0.025	0.026
Flight hours (thousands)	N	4,691	6,470	5,607	7,067	8,710	12,150	11,781	12,360	12,706	13,124	13,505	13,746	15,838	16,817	17,555	18,299	17,814	17,290	17,468	18,883	19,390	19,263	19,637	19,098	18,001
Rates per 100,000 flight hours
Fatalities	N	5.564	2.257	2.212	0.014	6.039	0.321	0.424	0.267	0.008	1.821	1.244	2.764	0.051	0.006	0.068	0.503	2.981	0.000	0.126	0.074	0.113	0.260	0.005	0.016	0.289
Seriously injured persons	N	N	1.654	1.445	0.269	0.344	0.239	0.221	0.178	0.150	0.236	0.185	0.560	0.271	0.178	0.382	0.158	0.107	0.139	0.177	0.106	0.072	0.047	0.081	0.115	0.128
Total accidents	N	1.769	0.850	0.660	0.269	0.241	0.198	0.221	0.146	0.181	0.175	0.267	0.269	0.309	0.297	0.291	0.306	0.258	0.237	0.309	0.159	0.206	0.171	0.143	0.147	0.167
Total accidents, fatal	N	0.192	0.124	0.054	0.014	0.080	0.049	0.034	0.032	0.007	0.030	0.022	0.036	0.025	0.006	0.011	0.016	0.034	0.000	0.011	0.011	0.015	0.010	0.005	0.010	0.011

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

^a Air carriers operating under 14 CFR 121, scheduled and nonscheduled service. Includes all scheduled and nonscheduled service accidents involving all-cargo carriers and commercial operators of large aircraft when those accidents occurred during 14 CFR 121 operations. Since Mar. 20, 1997, 14 CFR 121 includes aircraft with 10 or more seats formerly operated under 14 CFR 135. This change makes it difficult to compare pre-1997 data for 14 CFR 121 and 14 CFR 135 with more recent data.

NOTES

Aircraft-miles, Aircraft departures, and Flight hours are compiled by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration. Rates are computed by dividing the number of Fatalities, Seriously injured persons, Total accidents, and Fatal accidents by the number of Aircraft-miles, Aircraft departures, or Flight hours. These figures are based on information provided by airlines to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of Airline Information. 1991 data do not include the 12 persons killed aboard a SkyWest commuter aircraft when it and a U.S. Air aircraft collided. For 2001, fatalities resulting from the September 11 terrorist acts are excluded, other than the persons aboard the aircraft who were killed.

SOURCES

Fatalities, accidents, miles, departures, and flight hours:

1960: National Transportation Safety Board, Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data: U.S. Air Carrier Operations, Calendar Year 1967 (Washington, DC: December 1968).

1965-70: Ibid., Calendar Year 1975, NTSB/ARC-77/1 (Washington, DC: January 1977).

1975 (all categories except miles): Ibid., Calendar Year 1983, NTSB/ARC-87/01 (Washington, DC: February 1987), table 18.

1975 (miles): Ibid., Calendar Year 1975, NTSB/ARC-77/1 (Washington, DC: January 1977 ).

1980: Ibid., Calendar Year 1981, NTSB/ARC-85/01 (Washington, DC: February 1985), tables 2 and 16.

1985-2009: Ibid., Aviation Accident Statistics, available at http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/Stats.htm as of Apr. 26, 2010.

Serious injuries:

1970-85: Ibid., Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data: U.S. Air Carrier Operations (Washington, DC: Annual Issues).

1990-2009: Ibid., Analysis and Data Division, personal communication, April 2010.