Home » BTS Publications » National Transportation Statistics

Table 2-10: U.S. Commuter Air Carrier(a) Safety Data

Excel | CSV

  1980 1985 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 (R) 2013 (P) 2014
Total fatalitiesb 37 37 6 77 21 24 25 9 14 46 0 12 5 13 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
Total seriously injured persons 14 14 11 31 7 2 6 17 2 1 2 2 7 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 1 2 0 0 9 0
Total accidentsc 38 18 15 23 23 16 10 12 11 16 8 13 12 7 7 2 4 6 3 3 7 2 6 4 4 7 4
Total accidents, fatal 8 7 3 8 7 4 3 2 1 5 0 5 1 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 (R) 0 (R) 0 (R) 0 0 0 2 0
Aircraft-miles (millions) 192 301 450 434 508 555 594 550 591 246 51 52 45 43 42 47 47 46 47 46 47 45 48 49 49 49 54
Rates per 100 million aircraft-miles                                                      
Fatalities 19.27 12.30 1.33 17.75 4.13 4.33 4.21 1.64 2.37 18.70 0.00 22.90 11.13 30.16 0.00 4.22 0.00 0.00 4.30 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 10.13 0.00
Seriously injured persons 7.29 4.65 2.44 7.14 1.38 0.36 1.01 3.09 0.34 0.41 3.94 3.82 15.58 9.28 0.00 2.11 0.00 0.00 2.15 0.00 4.28 2.21 4.17 0.00 0.00 18.23 0.00
Total accidentsd 19.79 5.98 3.33 5.30 4.53 2.89 1.68 2.18 1.86 6.50 15.76 24.81 26.70 16.24 16.81 4.22 8.55 13.12 6.45 6.51 14.97 4.41 12.50 8.21 8.08 14.18 7.48
Total accidentsd, fatal 4.17 2.33 0.67 1.84 1.38 0.72 0.50 0.36 0.17 2.03 0.00 9.54 2.23 4.64 0.00 2.11 0.00 0.00 2.15 0.00 (R) 0.00 (R) 0.00 (R) 0.00 0.00 0.00 4.05 0.00
Aircraft departures (thousands) 1,777 2,561 3,160 2,820 3,115 3,602 3,581 3,220 3,515 1,394 707 672 604 558 513 572 538 527 568 593 589 589 605 608 585 590 630
Rates per 100 thousand aircraft departures                                                      
Fatalities 2.08 1.44 0.19 2.73 0.67 0.67 0.70 0.28 0.40 3.30 0.00 1.78 0.83 2.33 0.00 0.35 0.00 0.00 0.35 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.85 0.00
Seriously injured persons 0.79 0.55 0.35 1.10 0.22 0.06 0.17 0.53 0.06 0.07 0.28 0.30 1.16 0.72 0.00 0.17 0.00 0.00 0.18 0.00 0.34 0.17 0.33 0.00 0.00 1.53 0.00
Total accidentsd 2.14 0.70 0.47 0.82 0.74 0.44 0.28 0.37 0.31 1.15 1.13 1.93 1.99 1.25 1.36 0.35 0.74 1.14 0.53 0.51 1.19 0.34 0.99 0.66 0.68 1.19 0.63
Total accidentsd, fatal 0.45 0.27 0.09 0.28 0.22 0.11 0.08 0.06 0.03 0.36 0.00 0.74 0.17 0.36 0.00 0.17 0.00 0.00 0.18 0.00 (R) 0.00 (R) 0.00 (R) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.34 0.00
Flight hours (thousands) 1,176 1,737 2,342 2,292 2,335 2,638 2,784 2,628 2,757 983 354 343 370 300 274 319 302 300 301 292 297 310 315 326 320 321 349
Rates per 100 thousand flight hours                                                      
Fatalities 3.15 2.13 0.26 3.36 0.90 0.91 0.90 0.34 0.51 4.68 0.00 3.50 1.35 4.33 0.00 0.63 0.00 0.00 0.66 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.56 0.00
Seriously injured persons 1.19 0.81 0.47 1.35 0.30 0.08 0.22 0.65 0.07 0.10 0.57 0.58 1.89 1.33 0.00 0.31 0.00 0.00 0.33 0.00 0.67 0.32 0.64 0.00 0.00 2.81 0.00
Total accidentsd 3.23 1.04 0.64 1.00 0.98 0.61 0.36 0.46 0.40 1.63 2.26 3.79 3.25 2.33 2.56 0.63 1.32 2.00 1.00 1.03 2.36 0.65 1.91 1.23 1.25 2.18 1.14
Total accidentsd, fatal 0.68 0.40 0.13 0.35 0.30 0.15 0.11 0.08 0.04 0.51 0.00 1.46 0.27 0.67 0.00 0.31 0.00 0.00 0.33 0.00 (R) 0.00 (R) 0.00 (R) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.62 0.00

KEY: P = preliminary; R = revised.

a Air carriers operating under 14 CFR 135, scheduled service. Includes accidents involving all-cargo air carriers when those accidents occurred during scheduled 14 CFR 135 operations. Before Mar. 20, 1997, 14 CFR 135 applied to aircraft with 30 or fewer seats. Since Mar. 20, 1997, 14 CFR 135 includes only aircraft with fewer than 10 seats. This change makes it difficult to compare pre-1997 data with more recent years' data.

b Total fatalities for 1991 on U.S. air carriers operating under 14 CFR 135, scheduled service do not include the 22 persons killed aboard a large-certificated aircraft when it collided with a commuter aircraft.

c An attempted suicide case in 1992 is included in accidents but excluded in accident rates in this table.

d Rates are based on all accidents, including some that involve operators not reporting mileage or other traffic data to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

NOTES

Miles, departures, and hours are compiled by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration. Rates are computed by dividing the number of Fatalities, Serious injured persons, Total accidents, and Total accidents, fatal 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, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of Airline Information.

The illegal acts, such as suicide, sabotage and terrorism, are included in the totals for accidents, fatalities, and rate computation.

SOURCES

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

1980: National Transportation Safety Board, Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data: U.S. Air Carrier Operations, Calendar Year 1980, NTSB/ARC-83/01 (Washington, DC: January 1983), tables 26 and 40.

1985-92: National Transportation Safety Board, Aviation Accident Statistics, table 8, available at http://www.ntsb.gov/data/aviation_stats.html as of July 20, 2012.

1993-2014: National Transportation Safety Board, Aviation Accident Statistics, table 8, available at http://www.ntsb.gov/data/aviation_stats.html as of Mar. 23, 2016.

Serious injuries:

1980-85: Ibid., Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data: U.S. Air Carrier Operations (Washington, DC: Annual Issues).

1990-2014: Ibid., Analysis and Data Division, personal communications, Apr. 16, 2011, July 18, 2012, Aug. 7, 2013, Sept. 24, 2014, and Mar. 22, 2016.