Amateur-Built Accident Rate Drops To New Low In 2017 | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.07.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.08.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.25.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-06.26.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.27.25

Wed, Oct 10, 2018

Amateur-Built Accident Rate Drops To New Low In 2017

E-AB Pilots Involved In 2.63 Fatal Accidents Per 100,000 Flight Hours

According to the recently finalized results of the 2017 General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey (GA Survey), pilots of experimental amateur-built (E-AB) aircraft were involved in fatal accidents at a lower rate than has ever been recorded, with 2.63 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours last year. This breaks the record set the previous year, when E-AB pilots were involved in 3.6 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours.

Although the number of fatal accidents involving E-AB aircraft dropped from 32 in calendar-year 2016 to 26 in 2017, the estimated number of hours flown by amateur-builts rose from about 890,000 to approximately 950,000. Despite dips that correspond with periods of economic difficulty, the figure for E-ABs has remained stable between 800,000 and 1,000,000 hours since 1999, and amateur-built aircraft are claiming an ever-growing share of personal flying hours each year.

Light-sport aircraft flight time also hit record numbers in 2017, with special light-sport aircraft (S-LSA) breaking 200,000 flight hours for the first time on record. Experimental light-sport aircraft (E-LSA) added its own robust total, with LSA of all types recorded approximately 348,000 hours. The GA Survey has recorded a 19 percent growth in light-sport aircraft activity over the past decade.

“These statistics show that growth and safety are not mutually exclusive in our community,” said Sean Elliott, EAA vice president of advocacy and safety. “We are immensely proud of the progress we have made, but we’re not done yet and never will be. We cannot afford to be complacent. EAA will continue to be highly engaged in initiatives and programs to enhance aviation safety.”

In addition to the good news on the 2017 accident rate, the preliminary count shows that experimental accidents in FAA fiscal year 2018, which ended on Sunday, came in below the FAA not-to-exceed goal for fatal accidents. This would be the fourth year in a row that the experimental community outperformed this safety benchmark.

(Source: EAA news release. Image from file)

FMI: www.eaa.org

Advertisement

More News

NTSB Prelim: Piper PA-23

Pilot Also Reported That Due To A Fuel Leak, The Auxiliary Fuel Tanks Were Not Used On June 4, 2025, at 13:41 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-23, N2109P, was substantially damage>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: One Man’s Vietnam

From 2023 (YouTube Edition): Reflections on War’s Collective Lessons and Cyclical Nature The exigencies of war ought be colorblind. Inane social-constructs the likes of racis>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Capella Aircraft Corp FW1C50

Pilot Reported That He Was Unfamiliar With The Single Seat Amateur-Built Airplane And His Intent Was To Perform High-Speed Taxi Testing Analysis: The pilot reported that he was unf>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Timber Tiger Touts Curtiss Jenny Replicas

From 2023 (YouTube Edition): First Kits to Ship October 2023 Having formerly resurrected the storied shape of the Ryan ST—in effigy, anyway—Montrose, Colorado-based Tim>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.04.25): Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) [ICAO]

Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) [ICAO] Area navigation based on performance requirements for aircraft operating along an ATS route, on an instrument approach procedure or in a d>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC