Fatal Accidents In Experimental Aircraft Under FAA Targets

The EAA reports that the fatal accident rate in the Experimental-Amateur Built (E-AB) category continues to decline, and has renewed its call for separate accident statistics in that category.

The FAA tracks accidents by fiscal year, which concludes at the end of this month.

Statistics show the overall number of accidents in experimental airplanes is at 67, which is close to the FAA's stated "never exceed" target of 70. But in a report on its website, EAA says the E-AB number stands at 45 for the year, which is far below the 2009 statistic of 67, and still below the 47 E-AB accidents recorded in 2010.

EAA Government Advocacy Specialist David Oord said the number of E-AB fatal accidents continues to decline, and EAA feels that the FAA should track this as a separate metric. "The subcategories that make up the experimental fleet (amateur-built, exhibition, light-sport, racing, market survey) have very different operational characteristics and risk profiles. By creating one metric for all, it doesn't take into account those differences,” he said.

Some of the responsibility for lowering the rate of accidents falls to the owners and builders, Oord said. The EAA offers programs like the Flight Advisor as ways to improve safety in the category. Pilots can also offer compensated instruction in E-AB aircraft if they obtain a Letter of Deviation Authority (LODA) from the FAA. And, builders can still be trained in their own aircraft without a LODA if the aircraft is out of Phase I testing.

The EAA and NTSB recently completed a survey of owners, builders, and pilots of experimental aircraft, which received more than 5,000 responses. It is hoped the data will help increase understanding of why accidents seem to occur at a higher rate in experimental aircraft than in production airplanes.

FMI: www.eaa.org, www.ntsb.gov