According to data compiled by AIN, U.S.-registered business jets suffered no fatal accidents last year. That is a significant improvement from 2021 when 23 people lost their lives in six (all Part 91) accidents involving N-numbered business jets.
Meanwhile, non-U.S.-registered business jets were involved in three fatal accidents last year, resulting in 14 deaths versus a single fatality from one crash in 2021. These accidents included the June 22 crash of a chartered Venezuela-registered Bombardier Learjet 55 while on approach to Charallave-Machado Zuloaga Airport; the crash on takeoff from Rio Grande Airport on July 1 of an Argentina-registered Learjet 35A; and the crash into the Baltic Sea near Latvia on September 4 of an Austria-registered Cessna Citation II/SP.
In an uptick of accidents involving business turboprops, 37 died in 11 mishaps of N-numbered turboprops last year—up from 23 deaths in 10 accidents in 2021. All but one of the fatal accidents in both comparable periods occurred during Part 91 flights. The nine fatal accidents involving non-U.S.-registered business turboprops in 2022 represented an increase of one from 2021, but the number of fatalities decreased from 40 in 2021 to 26 last year.