The number of GA accidents declined in the period between 2011 and 2013, according to a recent report from the AOPA’s Air Safety Institute (ASI). Its Joseph T. Nall report provides a comprehensive safety review of both commercial and non-commercial general aviation accidents, including helicopters, for aircraft weighing less than 12,500 pounds.
The most recent edition analyzes data from 2012; for that year the NTSB has issued a probable cause finding for 96 percent of the accidents. ASI also added a brief statistical analysis of GA accidents in calendar years 2013 and 2014, most of which have preliminary NTSB accident reports. Seventeen-percent fewer accidents were recorded in 2012 than 2011. However, three-quarters of the accidents recorded were attributed to pilot-related causes.
In 2013, the number of GA fixed-wing accidents decreased by 18 percent from the year before, falling below 1,000 per year for the first time. This improvement continued in 2014 with 923 total accidents, an all-time low. The number of fatal accidents fell 24 percent from 2012 to 2013. These were the only two years in the past half-century with fewer than 200 fatal accidents in light airplanes.