FAA Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing - July
Attached is the Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing for July 2022 (10th month of FY22).
Announcements:
**You may now access the information from this briefing directly anytime at the following NEW FAA public site, Rotorcraft Accident Dashboard.**
-Starting this month a make/model breakdown is now available on the dashboard. Check at the top of the page for the box labeled “Make and Model Breakdown” and click it to visit that part of the dashboard. There are drill down options for each make of helicopter where an accident occurred. A brief summary and NTSB number is available for each fatal accident.
-There are now 3 pages available on the dashboard:
1.Fiscal Year Briefing (default page)
2.Historical Briefing (compares FY22 to previous years & reviews USHST numbers)
3.Make Model Breakdown
Monthly Summary
Totals: 19 accidents, 1 fatal accident, 2 fatalities
- The 19 total accidents were the highest monthly total so far in FY22.
- Historically, it has not been unusual for July to have the highest accident total for the year. For the 10 years of FY12-FY21, July averaged 17 accidents, the highest accident total for any month in the FY by 3 to 4 accidents.
- In addition to the one fatal accident listed for July, a second fatal rotorcraft accident with 4 fatalities occurred that involved a UH-1H. However, the event is not included in the month’s count since the aircraft was not a Part 27, Part 29 or Restricted Category helicopter.
- Of the 19 accidents during the month, 9 (47%) occurred in the Aerial Application industry sector, and 4 (21%) occurred in Instructional/Training. None of the 13 events were fatal accidents.
Cumulative FY22 Summary, Oct-Jul
FY22, Totals: 105 accidents, 19 fatal accidents, 32 fatalities
Accidents:
- The Oct-Jul estimated accident rate was 4.69 per 100K hours.
- During the same time period in FY21, the Oct-Jul accident rate was 3.71 per 100K hours. FY22 was 26% higher than Oct-Jul of FY21 and 20% higher than the 5 year average for Oct-Jul.
- Aerial Application rose from 14% of the total accidents from Oct-Jun to 20% of the total accidents from Oct-Jul.
Fatal Accidents:
- The Oct-Jul estimated fatal accident rate was 0.85 per 100K hours.
- During the same time period in FY21, the Oct-Jul fatal accident rate was 0.65 per 100K hours. FY22 was 31% higher than Oct-Jul of FY21 and 7% higher than the 5 year average for Oct-Jul.
Fatalities:
- The FY22 estimated fatality rate through Jul was 1.43 per 100K hours.
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 2018-2022 5 year average fatal accident rate was 0.8 per 100K hours through Jul 2022.
Lee Roskop
Fleet Safety Section, AIR-723
Operational Safety Branch, Compliance & Airworthiness Division
817-222-5337
We value your feedback. Click here to send us your feedback.
