2016 Experimental Aircraft Accident Numbers Come In Well Under FAA Limit

When discussing the issue of safety and amateur built experimental aircraft, it’s not unusual to hear a question from non-aviation people that goes something like this; are those things really safe? The truth is, accidents do happen but, according to a recent report from EAA, safety is improving.

In September, EAA completed its annual tracking of experimental category fatal accidents, finding that such accidents involving experimental aircraft were well under the FAA-established “not to exceed” limit.

Experimental aircraft were involved in 49 fatal accidents during fiscal year 2016, with amateur-built aircraft accounting for roughly two-thirds of those accidents. As a side note, this statistic brings up the reminder that an experimental airworthiness certificate is issued to many aircraft that are not amateur built.

The FAA “not to exceed” number, which is based on the goal of a one percent reduction in accidents from the previous three-year average, was set at 60 for fiscal year 2016.

Experimental fatal accidents saw a decrease of more than 18 percent over fiscal year 2015 data, following a downward trend of fatal accidents in both experimental aircraft and general aviation as a whole.

EAA says that even with these promising numbers, they remain committed to expanding their role in general aviation safety with the goal of seeing even larger decreases in fatal accidents.

EAA points to their Founder’s Innovation Prize which challenged the experimental community to come forth with innovative solutions to loss of control, and the EAA amateur-built safety pledge allows homebuilders to hold themselves accountable for making safety their top priority.

EAA’s STC programs also seek to bring affordable safety enhancing equipment to the cockpits of type-certified aircraft. This is an example where the world of amateur built experimental aviation is bringing safety advances to standard factory produce aircraft.

EAA says these initiatives, among others, put EAA and its members on the forefront of ensuring general aviation remains one of the safest forms of transportation available.

(Chart image from EAA press release)

FMI: www.eaa.org