Turbine business airplanes were involved in 12 fatal accidents globally in the first quarter, up from seven in the same period last year, according to preliminary data collected by AIN. Those fatal accidents in the first three months killed 43 crew and passengers, compared with 19 in the first quarter of 2023.
Nine people died in three crashes involving U.S.-registered business jets in the quarter versus two accidents and two fatalities in the three months last year. These included the February 7 crash of a Part 91-operated Beechcraft Hawker 900XP, killing both pilots; February 9, Part 135-operated Bombardier Challenger 604, killing both pilots; and March 10, Part 91-operated IAI Astra SP, killing all five onboard.
Meanwhile, two of the six people aboard a Russian-registered Dassault Falcon 10 died on January 20 when the twinjet crashed in Afghanistan on a chartered ambulance flight. There were no fatal non-U.S.-registered business jet accidents in the first quarter of 2023.
Operations of U.S.-registered turboprops represented the only turbine business aircraft segment to have experienced a decrease in fatal accidents. In the first quarter, six people lost their lives in one Part 91 accident (Daher TBM 960, March 30), compared with 14 fatalities in three accidents in the quarter a year ago.
But there were 26 fatalities in seven accidents of non-U.S.-registered turboprops in the first three months. Two private and two charter operations alone sustained 22 fatalities. During the same time frame last year, three people died in two non-U.S-registered chartered turboprops.
Following the usual pattern, runway excursions accounted for the majority of accidents and incidents: 23 such misadventures in the first quarter, up from 20 a year ago.
In the first quarter, the NTSB concluded two turbine aircraft accident investigations. One was the non-fatal gear-up landing of a Beech King Air 200 on March 6, 2022, due to a gear actuator failure. The turboprop twin was substantially damaged. On Nov. 9, 2022, the two people aboard a Piper Meridian were killed when the turboprop single crashed on approach in day IMC. The safety board attributed the accident to pilot spatial disorientation.