The fatal accident rate for U.S. passenger and cargo airlines has declined significantly since 2001, down to 0.006 accidents per 100,000 flight hours ─ or the equivalent of one fatal accident for every 16.3 million flight hours, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says.
In comparison, the NTSB said Monday, in updating its 2001 report, Survivability of Accidents Involving Part 121 U.S. Air Carrier Operations, 1983 Through 2000, that the fatal accident rate for air carriers operated under U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations Part 121 from 1983 to 2000 was 0.030 per 100,000 flights.
The number of fatal accidents declined from 71 (or 12.5 percent of total accidents) in 1983−2000 to 23 (or 4.1 percent of total accidents) in 2001−2017, the report said. The total accident rate for air carrier aircraft from 2001 through 2017 was 0.181 accidents per 100,000 flight ho…
