Participate and invest in the General Aviation Joint
Steering Committee (GAJSC): Industry participation is
key to data analysis that leads to the development of
voluntary safety enhancements. The group uses a data
driven process modeled on the highly successful
Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST).
Sharing data through the Aviation Safety Information
Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) system and other voluntary
programs will help educate and shape the safety culture
of the GA community. The FAA plans to expand ASIAS to
general aviation in the next few years. FAA and industry
will work together to find incentives to increase
voluntary reporting.
Support the overhaul of airmen testing and training
standards: An industry and government working group is
overhauling the standards by incorporating risk
management and decision-making into flight training and
testing.
Expedite the Part 23 certification process to reduce
costs and install new technology in airplanes: An
industry and government committee is working on
streamlining certification for the installation of
certain safety technologies.
The General Aviation Accident Rate. While the number of
fatal general aviation accidents over the last decade
has gone down, so have the estimated of total GA flight
hours, likely due to economic factors.
Over the past three years, fatal accidents from
Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) have been reduced
by more than 50 percent compared to the previous three
years. However, the general aviation fatal
accident rate appears to have remained relatively static
based on the FAA’s flight hours estimates. The
preliminary estimate for FY 2012 is a fatal accident
rate of 1.09. Final data will be available later this
year. In FY 2011, there were 275 fatal GA accidents. In
2010, there were 270 fatal GA accidents. The accident
rate for 2011 was 1.13 fatal accidents per 100,000 hours
flown and was 1.10 fatal accidents per 100,000 hours
flown in 2010.
The Top 10 Leading Causes of Fatal General Aviation
Accidents 2001-2011
1. Loss of Control Inflight
2. Controlled Flight Into Terrain
3. System Component Failure – Powerplant
4. Low Altitude Operations
5. Unknown or Undetermined
6. Other
7. Fuel Related
8. System Component Failure – Non-Powerplant
9. Midair Collisions
10. Windshear or Thunderstorm
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