Business Turbine Airplane Fatalities Increase

The number of fatalities in turbine business airplane accidents increased nearly 80 percent in the first nine months of this year compared with the same period last year, according to statistics compiled by safety analyst Robert E. Breiling Associates of Boca Raton, Fla. Eight people were killed in the one fatal Part 91 corporate jet accident between January 1 and September 30 (the February 16 crash of a Circuit City Citation 560), compared with six people in one air-taxi accident in the same period last year. Fatalities involving turboprops, particularly owner-flown turboprops, accounted for the vast majority of all turbine aircraft fatalities–28 in the first nine months of this year compared with seven in the same period last year. Fractional operators continued to maintain a flawless record of no fatal or serious accidents.