FAA Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing - November

Attached is the Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing for November 2025 (second month of FY26).

(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

November Totals:  2 accidents, 1 fatal accident, 1 fatality

- The 2 accidents during the month were the lowest November total in the last 44 FYs.

- This was only the third time in the last 44 FYs that any month had only two total accidents. Both of the previous times this occurred were in FY23 when the consecutive months of January/February both only had two accidents.

FY26 Summary

FY26 Totals:  7 accidents, 3 fatal accidents, 6 fatalities

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

- The FY26 estimated accident rate for Oct-Nov was 1.4 per 100K hours (54% lower than the same period in FY25 and 58% lower than the 5-year average for the same period).

- Distribution of accidents by Operating Part so far in FY26:

  -- Part 91 – 71%, Part 133 – 0%, Part 135 – 29%, Part 137 – 0%.

Fatal Accidents:

- The FY26 estimated fatal accident rate for Oct-Nov was 0.6 per 100K hours (27% lower than the same period in FY25 and 24% higher than the 5-year average for the same period).

- Distribution of fatal accidents by Operating Part so far in FY26:

   -- Part 91 – 33%, Part 133 – 0%, Part 135 – 67%, Part 137 – 0%.

Fatalities:

- The FY26 estimated fatality rate for Oct-Nov was 1.2 per 100K hours (47% lower than the same period in FY25 and 30% higher than the 5-year average for the same period).

- Through 2 months, 43% of the rotorcraft accidents in FY26 had a fatality.

- Distribution of fatalities by Operating Part so far for FY26:

   -- Part 91 – 67%, Part 133 – 0%, Part 135 – 33%, Part 137 – 0%.

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)	0.58
133	1.73	1.56 (10% reduction)	0.58
135	0.33	0.17 (50% reduction)	0.38
137	1.11	1.00 (10% reduction)	1.4

USHST uses the following as conditions for the fatal accidents included in rate calculations.

1. U.S. registered aircraft

2. Operating in the U.S./U.S. territories (includes offshore)

3. Not operating as Public Aircraft (public use)

Lee Roskop

Aviation Safety Coordinator (Rotorcraft)

Fleet Safety Section, AIR-723

Operational Safety Branch, Compliance & Airworthiness Division

817-222-5337

lee.roskop@faa.gov

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