FAA Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing - March

Lee Roskop
Mar 6
3 min read

Updated: May 13

Attached is the Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing for March 2025 (sixth 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” or “Make Model Breakdown” for access to all 3 pages of visualized and interactive data.

Monthly Summary

March Totals: 11 accidents, 4 fatal accidents, 6 fatalities

- For the second consecutive month, the Personal/Private industry sector accounted for the highest number of accidents, with five total (1 occurred to a U.S. registered a/c operating outside the U.S).

- The four fatal accidents during the month were the highest monthly total for FY25 to date. No prior month from Oct-Feb had more than two. The monthly fatal accident total was also the highest monthly total since July 2024 (five).

- The fatal accidents were distributed among three different industry sectors: Personal/Private (2), Aerial Application (1), and Helicopter Air Ambulance (1).

FY25 Summary

FY25 Totals: 44 accidents, 12 fatal accidents, 24 fatalities

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

- The FY25 estimated accident rate for Oct-Mar was 3.19 per 100K hours (4% lower than the same period in FY24 and 8% lower than the 5-year average for the same period).

- Together, the following industry sectors accounted for 73% of the total accidents for FY25 through March:

1) Personal/Private – 30%, 2) Helicopter Air Ambulance – 14%, 3) Instructional/Training – 11%, 4) (tie) Air Tour/Sightseeing and Aerial Application – each accounted for 9%

- Distribution of accidents by Operating Part for FY25 through March was Part 91 – 64%, Part 133 – 5%, Part 135 – 14%, Part 137 – 9%. Another 5% operated as public aircraft. Operating Part was unknown for the remaining 5%.

- Of the 44 accidents from Oct – Mar, there were four that were U.S. registered operating outside of the U.S. (9% of the overall total).

Fatal Accidents:

- The FY25 estimated fatal accident rate for Oct-Mar was 0.87 per 100K hours (68% higher than the same period in FY24 and 29% higher than the 5-year average for the same period).

- Personal/Private led all industry sectors with five fatal accidents from Oct-Mar. The remaining seven fatal accidents were distributed across six industry sectors.

- Distribution of fatal accidents by Operating Part for FY25 through March was Part 91 – 67%, Part 133 – 0%, Part 135 – 17%, Part 137 – 8%. Another 8% operated as public aircraft.

- Of the 12 fatal accidents from Oct-Mar, there were two that were U.S. registered but occurred outside the U.S. (17% of the overall total).

Fatalities:

- The FY25 estimated fatality rate for Oct-Mar was 1.74 per 100K hours (47% higher than the same period in FY24, 11% higher than the 5-year average for the same period).

- The rate included four fatalities that occurred on rotorcraft that were U.S. registered but occurred outside the U.S.

- 80% (19 out 24) fatalities from Oct – Mar occurred in the following industry sectors:

1) Personal/Private – 38% (9 fatalities), 2) Helicopter Air Ambulance – 25% (6 fatalities), 3) Air Tour/Sightseeing – 17% (4 fatalities)

- 27% of the rotorcraft accidents from Oct - Mar had a fatality. The long-term historical average for both the most recent 10 years and the 42 years on record is 17%.

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)	0.62
133	1.73	1.56 (10% reduction)	0.41
135	0.33	0.17 (50% reduction)	0.36
137	1.11	1.00 (10% reduction)	1.54