Scheduled Operations Highlighted
On Monday, the National Transportation Safety Board released
preliminary aviation accident statistics for 2003 showing an
increase in several civil aviation categories, including scheduled
airliners, air taxis and general aviation. The total number of U.S.
civil aviation accidents rose from 1,820 in 2002 to 1,864 in
2003. There were a total of 695 fatalities in all aviation
accidents in 2003. The majority of these fatalities occurred
in general aviation and air taxi operations. There were 351
fatal general aviation accidents, up from 345 the year before.
Total general aviation accidents increased from 1,713 in 2002 to
1,732 in 2003. The accident rate remained relatively unchanged from
6.69 in 2002 to 6.71 in 2003 per 100,000 fl