2020 Sees a Little Less of Everything

The NTSB has announced a decrease in fatalities for 2020, with sweeping reductions in flight activity across the country, according to its most recently compiled statistics. For a country with spotted lockdowns, a patchwork of travel regulations, and consumer pessimism, it's somewhat unsurprising to see the depression in travel throughout the year. 

The report is happy to note that for the first time in two consecutive years, no Part 121 air carriers were involved in fatal accidents, a return to normalcy. As per the usual course of things, fatalities came almost entirely from general aviation operations, where 332 lives were lost, down from 414 the year before. The overall fatal accident rate was 1.049 accidents per 100,000 flight hours, a slight decrease from the 2019 rate of 1.069. 

Part 135 operations saw 21 fatalities in 2020, down by 11 from the year before. Charters, air taxis, tours, and medical services are often a small second place to Part 91 in terms of injuries, and the results point to little variation.

Overall, flight activity in general was down across all sectors of civil aviation in the United States. Carrier operations dropped by 55 percent, from 19.8 to 8.9 million flight hours in total. Part 135 commuter ops decreased by 46 percent, from 417,000 flight hours in 2019 to 225,000. Charter ops, interestingly, fell by only 19 percent, from 3.8 to 3.0 million flight hours, pointing to some truth to industry scuttlebutt that private business travel ensnared a slew of new customers las year. The effects of 2020 on the business aviation and charter market could be just beginning, if last year's new clients see fit to stick around.

General aviation fell by 11 percent, from 21.8 to 19.5 million flight hours, an unsurprising result when considering the often hobbyist nature of such flights. 

The NTSB published their summary on U.S. Civil Aviation Accidents, which includes info from completed investigations and lessons learned. 2020 statistics are largely complete, only missing the final results of a few outstanding investigation results. The board's Most Wanted List has been updated with the top lifesaving safety recommendations for the year, with aviation requiring crash-resistant recorders and flight data monitoring programs as the primary goal, with a verification of the safety efficacy of management systems in revenue passenger carrying operations. 

FMI: www.ntsb.gov