FAA Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing - October

Lee Roskop
1 hour ago
2 min read

Attached is the Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing for October 2026 (first 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

October Totals: 5 accidents, 2 fatal accidents, 5 fatalities

- The 5 accidents during the month were the lowest October total in the last 44 FYs.

- The following industry sectors had accidents during the month: Personal/Private (2), Helicopter Air Ambulance (2), and Instructional/Training (1).

- For the 2 fatal accidents during the month, one was in the Personal/Private industry sector (4 fatalities), while the other was Helicopter Air Ambulance (1 fatality).

FY26 Summary

FY26 Totals: 5 accidents, 2 fatal accidents, 5 fatalities

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

- The FY26 estimated accident rate through one month was 1.86 per 100K hours (30% lower than the same period in FY25 and 40% lower than the 5-year average for the same period).

- Distribution of accidents by Operating Part for FY26 through one month:

-- Part 91 – 80%, Part 133 – 0%, Part 135 – 20%, Part 137 – 0%.

Fatal Accidents:

- The FY26 estimated fatal accident rate through one month was 0.74 per 100K hours (2% lower than the same period in FY25 and 52% higher than the 5-year average for the same period).

- Distribution of fatal accidents by Operating Part for FY26 through one month:

-- Part 91 – 50%, Part 133 – 0%, Part 135 – 50%, Part 137 – 0%.

Fatalities:

- The FY26 estimated fatality rate through one month was 1.86 per 100K hours (30% lower than the same period in FY25 and 90% higher than the 5-year average for the same period).

- 40% of the rotorcraft accidents in October had a fatality.

- Distribution of fatalities by Operating Part through one month:

-- Part 91 – 80%, Part 133 – 0%, Part 135 – 20%, 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)	0.59
133	1.73	1.56 (10% reduction)	0.59
135	0.33	0.17 (50% reduction)	0.36
137	1.11	1.00 (10% reduction)	1.42