No fatal accidents involving U.S.-registered business jets were recorded in the first six months of 2022. In the same period last year, three fatal accidents claimed nine lives. Additionally, there were three fewer nonfatal accidents of U.S.-registered business jets in the first half versus the same period last year, according to preliminary statistics gathered by AIN. There was one fatal accident involving a non-U.S.-registered business jet that killed six in the first half, compared with a single accident that killed one in the same time frame last year.
The one non-U.S.-registered business jet fatal accident reported in the first half of this year involved a Venezuelan-registered Bombardier Learjet 55 on a charter flight that crashed into a hillside during an approach, killing the two pilots and four passengers. The crew had declared an emergency, reporting issues with the reversers.
Investigations are ongoing into the three fatal bizjet accidents in the first six months of 2021. On Jan. 9, 2021, the pilot and sole person on board a Cessna Citation V on a Part 91 personal flight died after the twinjet spiraled down to the ground from FL310. Preliminary NTSB information reported that FAA records did not indicate that the pilot held a type rating for the Citation 560.
An N-numbered Gulfstream GIV-SP crashed in the Dominican Republic on May 4, 2021, killing the pilot. Unconfirmed reports say that the pilot was the sole occupant, but the circumstances of the accident remain murky. On May 29, 2021, the pilot and six passengers were killed when their N-numbered Citation I/SP on a Part 91 flight plunged into a lake shortly after takeoff.
Fatalities from U.S.-registered business turboprops nearly doubled in the first half of this year, however. Thirteen people lost their lives in four crashes versus seven people in three crashes in the first six months of last year. On Feb. 13, 2022, the pilot and sole occupant died in the takeoff crash of a Piper Meridian. On the same date, a pilot, his son, and six other passengers died when their Pilatus PC-12 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off North Carolina.
Three occupants perished in the crash of their N-numbered Beechcraft King Air C90 in Mexico on March 28, 2022. On June 3, a Cessna C208B crashed during a landing approach, killing the pilot. Meanwhile, investigations continue into all seven of the fatal accidents of U.S.-registered turboprops that occurred in the first halves of 2021 and 2022.