FAA Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing - February 2024
Attached is the Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing for February 2024 (fifth month of FY24).
(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” or “Make Model Breakdown” for access to all 3 pages of visualized and interactive data.
Monthly Summary
February Totals: 7 accidents, 1 fatal accident, 6 fatalities
- The 7 accidents were distributed among 4 industry sectors: Air Tour/Sightseeing (2), Commercial (2), Personal/Private (2), and Aerial Application (1).
FY24 Summary
FY24 Totals: 36 accidents, 7 fatal accidents, 16 fatalities
All of the year to year metrics (counts and rates) are higher than the same period from FY23. This is in part due to the historically exceptional January and February numbers from the previous year (4 TOTAL accidents, 0 fatal accidents/fatalities during those 2 months in FY23).
Accidents (includes both fatal & non-fatal accidents):
- The FY24 estimated accident rate for Oct-Feb was 3.27 per 100K hours (24% higher than the same period in FY23 and 2% lower than the 5 year average for the same period).
- Among industry sectors, Personal/Private led all categories through 5 months of the FY with 9 accidents, followed by three different industries that each had 5 accidents: Aerial Application, Instructional/Training, and Air Tour/Sightseeing.
Fatal Accidents:
- The FY24 estimated fatal accident rate for Oct-Feb was 0.64 per 100K hours (68% higher than the same period in FY23 and 8% lower than the 5 year average for the same period).
- 19% of the accidents that have occurred in the FY have been fatal.
Fatalities:
- The FY24 estimated fatality rate for Oct-Feb was 1.45 per 100K hours (92% higher than the same period in FY23, 8% lower than the 5 year average for the same period).
- 38% of the fatalities (6 out of 16) for FY24 occurred during the 1 fatal accident in February
U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) Calendar Year Metrics
NEW Based on the decision of the USHST Steering Committee, the USHST historical and current metrics were revised and now include only helicopter accidents that meet the following criteria:
1. U.S. registered aircraft
2. Operating in the U.S./U.S. territories (includes offshore)
Previous metrics had included all cases of U.S. registered helicopter accidents including those operated in countries outside of the U.S.
- USHST 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 (0.58 per 100K hours, revised from 0.62) as their baseline for measurement.
- The CY 2020-2024 5 year average fatal accident rate was 0.66 per 100K hours through February 2024.
Lee Roskop
Aviation Safety Coordinator (Rotorcraft)
Fleet Safety Section, AIR-723
Operational Safety Branch, Compliance & Airworthiness Division
817-222-5337
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