NBAA Responds to General Media Goofs
NBAA tells ANN that
"three recent high profile aviation accidents have resulted in
dramatically increased media attention on the safety of business
aviation. NBAA has responded aggressively to the media regarding
business aviation safety and these efforts have prevented a number
of misleading and/or inaccurate stories. In addition, NBAA
President and CEO Ed Bolen has personally appeared on CNBC and
defended business aviation’s excellent safety record."
Unfortunately, NBAA notes that one national news organization,
ABC News, ran a story on November 29 which stated that the fatal
accident rate of “corporate aviation is 2.5 times greater
than the major airlines.” ABC added that “the fatal
accident rate for charters…is more than 50 times higher than
that of the commercial airlines.”
NBAA says that the
basis for ABC’s statements are statistics developed by
the FAA, "which we believe inappropriately include a broad
spectrum of general aviation aircraft in their calculation –
including piston-powered airplanes, turboprops, business jets,
helicopters, balloons, dirigibles and gliders. The result of this
overly broad categorization of aircraft is that it misrepresents
the accident performance of specific components within those broad
categories."
Aviation safety expert Bob Breiling, whose numbers NBAA relies
upon, calculates from NTSB data accident statistics using a more
precise approach that allows for “apples-to-apples”
comparisons. Breiling defines corporate aircraft as any airplane
flown by a professional crew. For these types of operations, the
fatal accident rate is 0.014 per 100,000 hours – which is
nearly identical to that of the scheduled air carriers (0.012 per
100,000 hours). Similarly, for turbine-powered charter aircraft the
fatal accident rate is about one tenth of what was reported by ABC
News.
Moreover, when compared with other forms of travel, charter
is an exceptionally safe option.
To place the safety performance of the business aviation
community in full context, it is important to understand that,
historically, corporate/executive and business aircraft operators
have compiled the best safety statistics of any segment of general
aviation.
- Most of these operators have taken numerous steps to enhance
safety, and many fly with two pilots.
- Regular recurrent training is provided for pilots and
maintenance technicians.
- Some corporate/executive operators fly to FAR Part 121
standards (the rules that cover the major air carriers).
- The majority, however, operate in accordance with FAR Part 91.
Through such safety initiatives, corporate/executive aircraft,
flown by two-person professional pilots or crews, have compiled in
recent years a safety record that is comparable to that of FAR Part
121 airlines.
In addition, on average since the mid-1980s, the accident rate
among corporate/executive operators has been superior to that of
commuter air carriers and air taxis operating under FAR Part
135.
-
The year 2003 shows one of the best
corporate/executive (professionally flown) accident records ever
– 0.028 accidents and 0.014 fatal accidents per 100,000
flight hours.
- Business aviation (nonprofessionally flown) compiled in 2003
its best record ever – 0.95 accidents per 100,000 flight
hours.
- In 2003, all airplanes and helicopters professionally flown for
corporate/executive use under FAR Part 91 were involved in two
accidents, including one fatal accident resulting in two
fatalities, according to the NTSB and Robert E. Breiling
Associates, Inc. Both accidents involved single professionally
piloted turboprop aircraft. No accidents involved two
professionally piloted corporate/executive-operated jets or
turboprops.