FAA Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing - April

Attached is the Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing for April 2023 (seventh month of FY23). **Please access the information from this briefing directly anytime at the FAA’s publicly available, Rotorcraft Accident Dashboard.** Find “Dashboard Navigation” near the top of the default page and click either “Historical Briefing” or “Make Model Breakdown” for access to all 3 pages of visualized and interactive data. Monthly Summary Apr Totals: 6 accidents, 1 fatal accident, 2 fatalities - After comparatively high accident, fatal accident, and fatality totals during the month of March, the April monthly totals were more closely aligned with many of the previous months in the FY. - The overall accident total from April was less than half the total of the previous FY (6 accidents in FY23 versus 13 in FY22). - Four of the six accidents during April occurred in the Instructional/Training industry sector, the highest of any month for that industry sector for FY23. FY23 Summary FY23 Totals: 48 accidents, 9 fatal accidents, 21 fatalities - All count and rate metrics for the seven month period of Oct-Apr showed improvement when measured against the same period for both the previous FY and the 5 year average. Accidents (include both fatal & non-fatal accidents): - The FY23 estimated accident rate for Oct-Apr was 3.16 per 100K hours (27% lower than same period in FY22, 12% lower than 5 year average for same period). - The count of 48 total accidents for the first 7 months of the FY was the second lowest for that time period for the 41 years on record. - Through 7 months in the FY, two industry sectors have had 10 or more accidents, Personal/Private and Instructional/Training. Each have had 11 accidents and together (22 accidents) accounted for 46% of the accidents so far in FY23. Fatal Accidents: - The FY23 estimated fatal accident rate for Oct-Apr was 0.59 per 100K hours (41% lower than same period in FY22, 27% lower than 5 year average for same period). - The count of 9 fatal accidents for the first 7 months of the FY was the fourth lowest for that time period for the 41 years on record. - Five industry sectors have had fatal accidents in FY23. Three of the 9 fatal accidents were Personal/Private. Fatalities: - The FY23 estimated fatality rate for Oct-Apr was 1.38 per 100K hours (20% lower than same period in FY22, and also 21% lower than 5 year average for same period). U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) Calendar Year Metrics - Goal: Reduce the 5 year average fatal accident rate to 0.55 per 100K hours by 2025. The USHST uses the 5 year average fatal accident rate from CYs 2014-2018 (0.62 per 100K hours) as their baseline for measurement. - The CY 2019-2023 5 year average fatal accident rate was 0.75 per 100K hours through April 2023. Lee Roskop Acting Manager, Fleet Safety Section, AIR-723 Operational Safety Branch, Compliance & Airworthiness Division 817-222-5337 lee.roskop@faa.gov We value your feedback. Click here to send us your feedback.