Updated: Nov 19, 2020
Attached is the Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing for April 2020.
Note: We think there has been a significant reduction in flight hours for some rotorcraft industry sectors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but cannot yet quantify the magnitude. For now, the calculation of monthly and cumulative rotorcraft safety rates has been suspended until a revised forecast of FY2020 rotorcraft flight hours is available.
Monthly Summary
Totals: 7 accidents, 1 fatal accident, 2 fatalities
Cumulative FY20 Summary, Oct-Apr
FY20, Cumulative Totals: 48 accidents, 11 fatal accidents, 30 fatalities
Accidents:
-The Oct-Apr total accident count of 48 was the lowest for the 38 FYs on record.
Fatal Accidents:
-The Oct-Apr total fatal accident count of 11 was among the 5 lowest Oct-Apr totals for the 38 FYs on record.
-23% of the accidents that have occurred so far in the FY were fatal, nearly unchanged from the previous month and still trending above the recent historical averages of 16-17%.
Fatalities:
-The Oct-Apr total fatality count of 30 ranks among the highest Oct-Apr totals in the last 20 FYs.
U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST)
-Goal: Reduce the 5 year average fatal accident rate to 0.55 per 100K flight hours by 2025.
-Rate metrics on USHST’s progress were suspended for April due to uncertainty in the number of flight hours.
-The count of 4 rotorcraft fatal accidents from Jan-Apr is below the 5 year average count for CYs 2014-2018 from Jan-Apr of 6.2 fatal accidents. The USHST uses the fatal accident rate from CYs 2014-2018 as their baseline for measurement.
Lee Roskop
Safety Management Section, AIR-682
Rotorcraft Standards Branch, Policy & Innovation Division
817-222-5337
lee.roskop@faa.gov
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