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Bloomberg
Fatalities in crashes of small private planes have fallen to the lowest levels in decades as industry and government work to address an area of aviation that has lagged behind jetliners in dramatic safety improvements.
While aviation crash analysts caution that it’s still too early to say for sure that the data represents a long-term trend, the declining number of fatal crashes and deaths are a sign of possible progress.
The number of fatal crashes per year on small private planes averaged 180 per year from 2013 through 2015, according to a report to be released by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. That’s a 17.8 percent decline compared to the previous three-year period.
“It goes to a trend we’ve seen
in the last several years,†said George Perry, who heads AOPA’s Air Safety Institute. “Safety numbers have been significantly better year-over-year.†Among the factors credited for the decline: better training of pilots and technological advancements that make planes easier to fly and provide up-to-date weather and other information. That can range from advanced crash-avoidance systems to apps for mobile devices.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which tabulates private-plane accidents using slightly different criteria, calculated the rate of fatal crashes in the 2015 fiscal year was the lowest it had recorded, 1.03 per 100,000 flight hours, according to a July 28 fact sheet. The number of private-plane flights per year has been falling, so the decline in the accident rate is less steep than the drop in overall accidents.
Electronic devices, including aviation applications for Apple Inc. iPads and other mobile devices, are giving pilots much better weather information than just a few years ago, and newer planes are easier and safer to fly, he said.
Meanwhile, the FAA and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board have each begun efforts to improve safety among private aircraft operators, who are generally the least regulated in the aviation system. The FAA in recent years has studied accidents and taken steps to lower the leading causes, which include pilots losing control, engine failures and flying into bad weather. The agency has made it easier to add new equipment to planes, such as a device warning pilots they are about to lose control. It has also approved weather and other programs for mobile devices.