Twenty-one aviation organizations are urging U.S. NTSB chairman Christopher Hart to convey that general aviation is one of the safest modes of transportation. Last week, the organizations wrote to the chairman expressing concerns about a recent NBC news segment that highlighted NTSB data to question general aviation safety, the groups said.
The organizations noted that from 2008 to 2014, general aviation aircraft accidents resulted in 3,628 fatalities. This compares with 277,310 automobile accident fatalities; 38,343 fatalities on motorcycles; 5,561 on bicycles; and 5,831 fatalities in recreational boating accidents.
“As you know, just two years ago, the general aviation accident rate dropped to nearly one fatal accident for every 100,000 flight hours,” the organizations added. “Given the hundreds of thousands of flight hours each year it is understandable that aviation accidents receive significant media attention because they are so infrequent given the enormous amount of private and business flying in the U.S.”
The associations stressed that the NTSB has an “inherent responsibility” to provide a comprehensive view of safety trends and outline the improvements in general aviation safety over the years.