FAA’s Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing for April 2021
USHST,
Attached is the FAA’s Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing for April 2021 (seventh month of FY21).
Monthly Summary
Totals: 7 accidents, 3 fatal accidents, 3 fatalities
- This was the first time in 7 months that more than 2 fatal accidents occurred during the month.
- Following 25 fatal accident free days from March 28 through April 21, there were 3 fatal accidents that occurred in April in the 7 days beginning April 22 and ending April 28.
- The last time that 3 fatal accidents occurred in the month of April was FY06.
- One of the three fatal accidents involved a U.S. registered rotorcraft operating outside of the U.S. (occurred in Mexico).
Cumulative FY21 Summary (Oct – Apr)
FY21, Totals: 51 accidents, 8 fatal accidents, 16 fatalities
Accidents:
- For Oct – Apr, the estimated accident rate was 2.9 per 100K hours.
- The cumulative accident count of 51 for Oct – Apr was the third lowest count in the last 39 FYs, trailing FY20 (46) and FY17 (49).
Fatal Accidents:
- For Oct – Apr, the estimated fatal accident rate was 0.45 per 100K hours. The cumulative rate for the FY has increased for 3 consecutive months.
- FY21 dropped to fourth in the cumulative count of fatal accidents for Oct – Apr when ranked for the 39 years on record. It had been second for Oct-Mar.
- Through 7 months, 16% of the accidents in the FY have had a fatality. The percentage had been tracking at or near historical lows through March, but for Oct- Apr was back to historical averages.
Fatalities:
- For Oct – Apr, the estimated fatality rate was 0.91 per 100K hours.
- Despite the increase in fatal accidents during the month, FY21 still had the third lowest number of fatalities from Oct – Apr for the 39 years on record.
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 fatal accident rate from CYs 2014-2018 (5 year average of 0.62 per 100K hours) as their baseline for measurement.
- The CY 2017-2021 5 year average fatal accident rate was 0.7 per 100K hours (no change from previous month).
- For the years that will be included in the USHST’s final measurement in 2025 (CY 2020-2021), the average fatal accident rate was 0.63 per 100K hours (increase of 0.03 from previous month).
Lee Roskop
Detailed to Strategic Policy Rotorcraft Section, AIR-616 (Jan – Jun, 2021)
Safety Risk Management Section, AIR-633 Systems Policy Branch, Policy & Innovation Division 817-222-5337 lee.roskop@faa.gov
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