NTSB Concerned About Part 135 Fatalities
Frances Fiorino fiorino@aviationweek.com 
The overall U.S. aviation safety record is among the best in the world, but the NTSB 2008 preliminary accident statistics released Apr. 2 show "mixed" results among various types of operations.
The general aviation sector, which logged 21.9 million flight hours in 2008, was involved in the highest number of accidents and fatalities-- 1,559 occurrences, 275 of which resulted in 495 deaths. This resulted in an overall accident rate of 7.11 per 100,000 flight hours (an increase from 6.92 in 2007), and a fatal accident rate of 1.25 per 100,000 flight hours.
Looking at the last two decades, the GA sector had its highest overall accident rate in 1994, with 9.08 accidents per 100,000 flight hours. In that year, general aviation aircraft were involved in 2,021 accidents, 404 of which caused 730 deaths. Its lowest overall accident rate was 6.33 in 2006, when GA had 1,520 accidents,307 of which caused 705 fatalities.
But the spike in fatalities in Part 135 on-demand air charter operations is of particular concern to investigators, noted NTSB Acting Chairman Mark V. Rosenker, adding "There's a lot of room for improvement in this area."
Part 135 operations, which include air medical, air taxi and air tour flights, logged 3.7 million flight hours in 2008. Part 135 aircraft were involved in 56 accidents, 19 of which caused 66 fatalities - its highest number of fatalities since 2000, when 71 people died in 22 of a total of 80 accidents.
The 2008 Part 135 overall accident rate of 1.52 per 100,000 flight hours was virtually unchanged from the 1.54 per 100,000 flight hours in 2007, according to the NTSB. The sector's fatal accident rate of 0.52 per 100,000 hours compares to 0.35 in 2007.
In contrast, the NTSB statistics show that U.S. Part 121 air transport operators in 2008 were involved in 28 accidents as they carried 753 million passengers on more than 10.8 million flights--without one passenger fatality.
For the complete NTSB 2008 statistical tables, go to www.ntsb.gov/aviation/stats.htm
Photo of Bell 407: Bell Helicopters
