General Aviation Experience in the United States (2024)

General aviation refers to all flight by noncommercialairline carriers.

This includes flightsfor personal transportation, in fixed-wing planes andjets, leisure flights in hot air balloons or gliders as wellas commercial flight in helicopters. There are roughly600,000 certified general aviation pilots in the UnitedStates. In 2010, 450 people died in general aviationcrashes, which is a fatality rate of 1.10 per 100,000flight hours. Accident experience over the period from2002 to 2012 was analyzed and varies greatly bytype of aircraft, the purpose and location of the flight,as well as the flying conditions and pilot training.

Engine type

• No-engine aircraft have the highest accident rate nand a mortality rate of 233% of the overall total.
• In the U.S., 75% of registered aircrafts havepiston engines; the mortality experience forthese planes is slightly worse than the overall
  average.
• Aircraft with turbine or turboprop engines havethe best accident experience.

Type of aircraft

• Gliders had the worst accident experiencewith a fatality rate nearly four times the overallaverage.

Commercial and non-commercial flight

• Roughly 85% of general aviation flights have anon-commercial purpose.
• Commercial flights have a much better accidentrate than non-commercial flights.

Region

• Accident experience is worst in Alaska as wellas mountainous states in the Northwest U.S.region.
• There is an increased propensity to fly in Alaska;only 18% of communities are accessible by road andthere are 6 times more certified pilots inAlaska than in the other states in the U.S.

Aircraft age

• Accident experience increases with the age ofthe aircraft.

Flight type and weather

• Flights conducted in visual meteorologicalconditions (VMC) are much more common andhave an accident rate that is more than twice thatof instrument meteorological conditions (IMC).

Overview

Personal airplane use is often the subject of media attention whencelebrities and high-profile public figures such as John F. Kennedy, Jr.,New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, and Sen. Theodore “Ted” Stevens ofAlaska are involved in fatal crashes. However, personal aircraft usage is notlimited to the rich and famous. In the United States, there are approximately600,000 certified pilots, operating a variety of aircraft.^[1]

General aviation (GA) includes all civilian flying, except for commercial airlinecarriers. These include flights for commercial uses such as crop-dusting,sightseeing, reporting on traffic conditions, emergency medical services andfirefighting, as well as flights for recreational and personal uses. The types ofaircraft used for general aviation flight vary from private airplanes and jets tohelicopters, gliders and hot air balloons.

In 2010, there were 450 general aviation fatalities compared to two deathson large U.S. commercial carriers.^[2]As a comparison, in 2010, therewere 23,371 vehicle and 4,518 motorcycle fatalities in the U.S.^[3]Whilethe number of airline deaths is considerably lower, it is difficult to comparesafety rates because the amount of exposure to each of those types oftransportation is quite different. In 2010, the motor vehicle fatality rate was1.11 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, ^[3] the commercial airline fatality ratewas 0.3 per 100 million passengers, and the general aviation fatalityrate was 1.10 per 100,000 flight hours.^[4]

Over the period from 2002 to 2012, approximately 18% of GA crasheswere fatal. Many factors can contribute to accident fatalities. Aircraft fire isresponsible for 40% of all crash fatalities.^[5]Therefore, safety measurestargeting reduction in aircraft fires will improve survival rates. Additionally,two-thirds of all weather-related accidents are fatal.^[6]Other factors thatinfluence the lethality of a crash include passenger use of safety restraintsas well as whether the crash occurred in an off-airport location.

Approximately 85% of general aviation accidents are due to pilot error.^[7]Alcohol is a known factor contributing to airline accidents. Consequently,the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has established regulationsrestricting pilots from consuming alcohol within eight hours of flight andrequiring a blood alcohol level less than 0.04%.^[8]In addition to alcoholconsumption prior to flight, studies have found that pilots with prior DWIconvictions are more likely to be involved in airline accidents.^[9]Further,prior airline accident experience is associated with future accidentpropensity. Pilot inexperience can contribute to an airline accident; however,older pilots also have worse experience.^[9]

Pilot certification

In 2013, there were nearly 600,000 certified pilots in the U.S. The average age of the pilotwas just under 45 years old. Roughly half of these pilots also have an instrument rating,which includes training for flight relying only on instruments.

Methodology

General aviation accident and fatality experience is analyzed over the study period. Exposureto accident is measured by the number of registered aircraft as well as the number of hoursof flight. The accident rate is calculated as “number of accidents per 100,000 hours of flight”.^[11][12]To estimate relative mortality, fatal accident rates are compared to the total.Most general aviation crashes are not fatal. There is a considerable difference between thenumber of fatal accidents and the total number of accidents. In this study, the proportion ofaccidents that result in at least one fatality is defined as “lethality”.

Overall experience

Over the study period, the number of GA aircraft in the United States remained stable atroughly 220,000. However, since 2002 the number of flight hours decreased about 10%.During this time, the number of fatal accidents declined, though the fatality rate remainednearly the same.

Engine Type

Summary

No-engine aircraft, such as gliders and lighter-than-air craft, experience the highest accidentrate. This may be due to a lack of control or independent power, which leaves the airframemore susceptible to changes in wind speed and air pressure.

Piston (reciprocating) engines are the most common type of general aviation aircraft andare often found in fixed-wing aircraft. Overall, the accident rate for piston engines is slightlyabove average. Accident experience for aircraft with turboprop and turbine engines is muchbetter than average; however, turboprop planes have relatively higher lethality.

The other engine category includes experimental and light sport accident experience, as wellas those without a known engine. This group has the highest relative mortality.

*Excludes 2011

No engine

The fatal accident rate for no-engine aircraft remained relatively stable over the study period.Accident rate experience was volatile, and has been above average since 2006. Over thestudy period, the usage of no-engine aircraft has generally decreased.

Piston

The accident rate for piston engine aircrafts increased slightly over the study period, while thenumber of hours flown steadily declined. The fatal accident rate remained stable.

Turbine, turbojet and turboprop

Turbine, turbojet and turboprop engine types are similar in that they all use the turbine engine.However, a turbojet uses a turbine engine without a propeller, and a turboprop plane uses aturbine engine with a propeller through a gearbox. These engine types exhibit similar accidentexperience trends and are therefore presented together. The accident rates for turbine-poweredaircraft dropped and flight hours slightly increased toward the end of the studyperiod. Fatal accident rate experience also improved during the study period.

Type of Aircraft

Summary

The majority of GA aircraft flown in the U.S. are fixed wing. Over the study period, helicoptersand fixed-wing aircraft had the lowest accident rates. Conversely, gliders are the mostdangerous type of aircraft, and have a fatal accident rate roughly four times the overallaverage. The “Other” category includes lighter than air, experimental and home-built aircraft.

Glider

Gliders comprise the smallest group of aircraft in this study measured both by the number ofaircraft and the number of flying hours. Further, the number of flying hours declined over thestudy period. However, during this same period, the accident rate experienced a steady andsubstantial increase. While gliders have the highest accident rate of all types of aircraft, the survivalrate is better than average.

Fixed wing

Fixed-wing aircraft, including light-sport, are the most common type of GA aircraft and alsoshowed the least variation over the study period. However, the flight activity, both by thenumber of active aircraft and the hours of flying, decreased over the period from 2002 to2012. At the same time, the number of accidents declined, resulting in a stable accident rateover the study period.

Helicopter

Helicopter usage increased steadily, while the accident rates decreased. From 2004 to2012, there was a 29% increase in the number of registered helicopters in the United Statesand a 76% increase in the number of rotorcraft-only pilot certifications.^[1]

Commercial and Non-Commercial

Summary

General aviation is defined as any flight activity other than either scheduled mainline fleetoperations (for example, commercial carriers such as American Airlines) or military operations.Furthermore, GA flight activity is segmented into both commercial and non-commercial flightactivity. The commercial flight criteria apply to activities such as crop-dusting or sightseeing – essentiallywhen the pilot receives direct monetary income. Conversely, non-commercial flightis non-monetary and often recreational.

As the following table suggests, commercial flight activity, although small in relation to
non-commercial experience, does exhibit a much safer accident rate. The results may bereasonable because:

• Commercial pilots are likely more experienced.
• There are more regulatory checks regarding the aircraft’s operation, equipment
  requirements and maintenance intervals.
• Commercial flight activity generally takes place at larger, manned airports.

Commercial flight

The accident rate for commercial flight activity has been declining in recent years.

Non-commercial flight

The accident rates are much higher for non-commercial flights and the accident experiencehas been slightly elevated since 2007.

Region and State

Summary

The FAA groups the United States and its territories into regions, as shown in the table below.

The mountainous regions, such as Northwest, Alaskan and Western Pacific, have accidentrates and fatal accident rates that are higher than the overall average. The Northwest regionhas the highest relative mortality, at 24% higher than the overall average. However, theaccident rate in the Alaskan region is 2.5 times higher than the total.

The map below depicts accident rate by state. The accident rate in Alaska is the highest,followed by the mountainous states in the Northwest region, including Idaho, Wyoming, Utahand Colorado.low high

Alaskan region

The region with the highest accident rate is Alaska. Some possible reasons include:

• Bad weather: Alaskan weather is more severe than in the other states.
• Rough terrain: The geography makes it difficult to land an aircraft safely in casesof emergency.
• Radar coverage: There is no radar coverage in some areas.

Perhaps the biggest differentiator for Alaskan flight experience is ‘propensity of flight’. TheAlaskan road network is limited, so airplanes are used more often for some personal traveland commerce. Only 18% of Alaskan communities are accessible by road;^[13]in fact, thethird largest city and capital, Juneau, is not accessible by road.^[14]As a result, Alaska hasmore certified pilots per capita than any other state. Over 1% of the population of Alaskahas a pilot certification, which is 6 times higher than in the rest of the U.S., where less than0.2% of the population are certified pilots.^{[1] [15]}Furthermore, out of necessity, pilots mayroutinely conduct operations in conditions that might normally be considered unsafe.

All other states

The accident experience in all other states in much lower than in Alaska and has remainedstable over the study period.

Aircraft Age

Perhaps not surprisingly, there is a relationship between the age of an aircraft and accidentexperience. Aircraft age is found by taking the difference between the date of the accidentand the manufacture date of the aircraft. For some aircraft only a range of manufacture dateswas known; the midpoint of the manufacture range was selected to calculate aircraft age.

When manufacture information was not available, the aircraft age is classified as “Other”.While this procedure is imprecise, a consistent relationship can be seen between aircraft ageand experience. As shown in the table below, accident rates are higher for older aircraft.

Aircraft Hours

It is interesting to note that the average age of aircraft is actually increasing. In 2002, theaverage aircraft age was 28 years; in 2012, the average age had increased to 33 years.Since we see increased accident rates for older aircraft, this may mean a future increase inaccident rates.

Flight Type

Under visual flight rules (VFR), a pilot must be able to fly the aircraft safely without the aidof instruments to avoid colliding with land or another aircraft. If the weather does not meetminimum VFR standards, then the operation of the aircraft must rely on instrumentation ratherthan visual reference; this is classified as instrument flight rules (IFR). The category ‘Other’here refers to situations where either the flight type was not specified, or a special case of‘VFR into IFR’, in which the flight starts out as VFR but, due to unforeseen weather, becomesan IFR flight.As the following table suggests, there is little difference between VFR and IFR, but otherflight types experienced a much higher accident rate.

Weather Conditions

Experience varies based on weather conditions, described as visual meteorological
conditions (VMC) or instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). Flights conducted in VMCare much more common and have an accident rate that is more than twice that of IMC.However, if an accident occurs in poor weather, it is more likely to be fatal; the lethality forIMC is 4 times as high as that for VMC.

Conclusion

General aviation risks vary substantially by aircraft type and age, flying conditions, region, andflying purpose.No-engine aircraft, especially gliders, have dramatically worse accident experience than othertypes of aircraft. Glider accident rates during the study period were consistently higher thanthe accident rates for other aircraft.

Despite year-to-year fluctuations, the number of accidents is significantly lower for
commercial flight. The disparity between commercial and non-commercial flight activity isnot surprising given the differences between the two environments, including regulatoryrequirements.In terms of geography, perhaps as expected, the accident experience in Alaska is poorrelative to the remainder of the United States. This may be attributed to a greater need to flydue to the lack of roads and to challenging flight conditions.

This study finds that accident rates increase as the aircraft age increases. This is perhapsa result of needed maintenance. Additionally, older aircraft may be less likely to have usefulsafety equipment, such as instrument flight rules (IFR) capability.

Instrument flight rules (IFR)

Rules and regulations established by the FAA to govern flight under conditions in which flight byoutside visual reference is not safe. IFR flight depends upon flying by reference to instruments inthe flight deck, and navigation is accomplished by reference to electronic signals.^[6]

Instrument meteorological conditions (IMC)

Meteorological conditions expressed in terms of visibility, distance from clouds, and ceiling less thanthe minimums specified for visual meteorological conditions, requiring operations to be conductedunder IFR.^[6]

Lethality

The proportion of accidents that result in one or more fatalities.Number of accidents (resulting in 1 or more fatalities)

Flight rules adopted by the FAA governing aircraft flight using visual references. VFR operationsspecify the amount of ceiling and the visibility the pilot must have in order to operate accordingto these rules. When the weather conditions are such that the pilot cannot operate according toVFR, he or she must use instrument flight rules (IFR).^[6]

Visual meteorological conditions (VMC)
Meteorological conditions expressed in terms of visibility, distance from clouds, and ceilingmeeting or exceeding the minimums specified for VFR.^[6]