The global major accident rate in 2011 for Western-built commercial jets was the lowest ever recorded, at 0.27 accidents per million departures.
Last year, the static accident rate that has existed for a decade started downward. And 2011 was the first year with no commercial jet loss of control accidents. The corporate jet fleet, which normally averages about 10 major accidents a year, showed an improvement, with seven major accidents in which 12 people died, compared with 18 fatalities in 2010.
Not all the data were so encouraging. The number of Eastern-built commercial jet accidents was above average.1 Four of the 14 commercial jet major accidents were controlled flight into terrain (CFIT), the largest number of this type of accident involving commercial jets in eight years. CFIT accidents continue to dominate the turboprop fatality numbers.
The commercial turboprop fleet had an average year, with 23 major accidents, just sligh…
