FAA Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing - August

Lee Roskop
30 minutes ago
3 min read

Attached is the Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing for August 2025 (eleventh month of FY25).

(Covers Part 27, Part 29, and Restricted Category rotorcraft accidents to U.S. registered aircraft. Does not include gyrocopters or experimental aircraft.)

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”, “USHST Metrics”, or “Make Model Breakdown” for access to all 4 pages of visualized and interactive data.

Monthly Summary

August Totals: 18 accidents, 1 fatal accident, 2 fatalities

- The 18 accidents were the highest monthly total for FY25, 7 accidents higher than the second closest month.

- During the current 5-year period (FY21-FY25), this was only the fourth time that any monthly accident count was 18 or higher.

- The monthly accident total of 18 was the highest for an August since FY06 and more than two standard deviations above both the most recent 5-year and 10-year accident count averages for August.

- There were nine different industry sectors with an accident during the month. Personal/Private led all industry sectors with 33% of the month’s total (6 accidents).

- Limited preliminary information is available for most events, but initial reports suggested about one third of the events were the result of object strikes.

- The one fatal accident during the month occurred in the Utilities Patrol/Construction industry sector, the first fatal accident in that industry sector since November 2023.

FY25 Summary

FY25 Totals: 89 accidents, 18 fatal accidents, 37 fatalities

Accidents (includes both fatal & non-fatal accidents):

- The FY25 estimated accident rate for Oct-Aug was 3.22 per 100K hours (3% lower than the same period in FY24 and 17% lower than the 5-year average for the same period).

- By percentage of overall accidents, the highest three industry sectors through 11 months of FY25 were: 1) Personal/Private (35%, 31 events), 2) Aerial Application (13%, 12 events), 3) Helicopter Air Ambulance (11%, 10 events).

- Distribution of accidents by Operating Part for FY25 through Aug was:

-- Part 91 – 56%, Part 133 – 6%, Part 135 – 15%, Part 137 – 13%. Remaining accidents: 3% operated as public aircraft and 7% operated outside the U.S.

Fatal Accidents:

- The FY25 estimated fatal accident rate for Oct-Aug was 0.65 per 100K hours (17% higher than the same period in FY24 and 9% lower than the 5-year average for the same period).

- By percentage of fatal accidents, the highest industry sectors through 11 months of FY25 were: 1) Personal/Private (39%, 7 events), 2) (3-way tie), Helicopter Air Ambulance, Air Tour/Sightseeing, and Aerial Application (EACH with 11%, 2 events).

- Distribution of fatal accidents by Operating Part for FY25 through Aug was:

-- Part 91 – 50%, Part 133 – 6%, Part 135 – 17%, Part 137 – 11%. Remaining fatal accidents: 6% operated as public aircraft and 11% operated outside the U.S.

Fatalities:

- The FY25 estimated fatality rate for Oct-Aug was 1.34 per 100K hours (29% higher than the same period in FY24, 3% lower than the 5-year average for the same period).

- 20% of the rotorcraft accidents from Oct-Aug had a fatality.

- By percentage of fatalities, the highest three industry sectors through 11 months of FY25 were: 1) Personal/Private (30%, 11 fatalities), 2) Air/Tour Sightseeing (27%, 10 fatalities), 3) Helicopter Air Ambulance (16%, 6 fatalities).

- Distribution of fatalities by Operating Part for FY25 through Aug was:

-- Part 91 – 54%, Part 133 – 5%, Part 135 – 22%, Part 137 – 5%. Remaining fatalities: 3% on public aircraft and 11% on aircraft operated outside the U.S.

U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) Calendar Year Metrics

The USHST’s 5-year goals for 2025-2029 are based on individual 14 CFR Operating Parts, tracked by the 5-year average fatal accident rates per 100K hours.

14 CFR Part	Baseline, CY2018-2022 (per 100K hours)	Goal, CY2025-2029 (per 100K hours)	Progress, CY2021-2025 (per 100K hours)
91	0.81	0.73 (10% reduction)	0.59
133	1.73	1.56 (10% reduction)	0.49
135	0.33	0.17 (50% reduction)	0.35
137	1.11	1.00 (10% reduction)	1.48