Watchdog Organization Says Last Year One Of Safest In History

Citing data from the International Civil Aviation Office (ICAO) and other official sources, the independent watchdog organization Aircraft Crashes Record Office (ACRO) says last year saw only 156 fatal commercial crashes around the world -- down from 178 in 2005. It says that's the lowest number in 53 years making 2006 on of the safest in history. 

The ACRO was founded in Geneva in 1990 By Ronan Hubert for the purpose of collecting and documenting data on air disasters worldwide. The private, Geneva-based institution tracks all commercial accidents around the world where an aircraft capable of carrying six or more passengers in addition to the crew is totaled.

Using that criterion, the institution says 1,296 people died in commercial aviation plane crashes last year -- that's a decrease of 11 percent from 2005.

The decrease in fatalities around the world coincided with an increase in air travel according to the ICAO. Its data shows an increase of four percent last year to just over 2 billion passengers.

According to ACRO, about a third of fatal air crashes occurred in North America, 45 in the US alone. In fact, US airline fatalities in the US almost doubled from 75 in 2005 to 142 in 2006.

In general, says ACRO, larger jet-powered passenger aircraft crashes get much more media attention because of the larger number of fatalities, but nearly three-fourths of deaths last year involved smaller, propeller-driven aircraft.

ACRO says last year's deadliest accident was the August crash of a Tupolev Tu-154 in Ukraine when 170 were lost.

According to information on ACRO's website, Hubert is an accident historian and archivist. He has written two books, Aircraft Disasters from 1920 to 1996, and Swissair's Drama - SR111, an in-depth look at the September 1998 crash of a Swiss International Air Lines MD-11 off the coast of Nova Scotia killing all 229 aboard.

Hubert claims regular access to information from investigative bodies around the world and says he is a press consultant.

FMI: www.baaa-acro.com