Note: This article contains statistics that are several years old, but the point is still a good one: private jets are a safe way to fly!
It’s common knowledge that you’re more likely to be in an accident in an automobile than a plane. But if you’re in a business jet, you’re even less likely to be in an accident or sustain an injury.
A report in the October issue of Business Jet Traveler (BJT) (BJTonline.com) says corporate/executive business jets had been involved in only one fatal accident since 2007, citing statistics on U.S.-registered aircraft from Robert E. Breiling Associates, an aviation-safety research firm. It also noted that corporate/executive turboprops don’t have quite the stellar record, with one fatal accident in 2007, two in 2008 and three in 2009, but none in the first half of 2010.
The lowest fatality rates per 100,000 flight hours belong to corporate/executive aviation and airlines, followed by business aviation (generally owner-flown aircraft) and then the charter industry (which covers everything from single-engine visual flights skirting weather in Alaska to aeromedical operations to jets), BJT reports.
And fractional-share operations have the highest safety rate in recent years, with no fatal accidents from 2007 through the first half of 2010, according to BJT.
However, accidents not involving a fatality do occur among aircraft, and Breiling statistics showed 17 incidents occurred in the first six months of 2010 compared with 11 in the same period in 2009 in the corporate/executive jet segment, BJT reports. For all of 2009, that segment saw 17 incidents, while corporate/executive turboprop operations’ incident rate was four in the first half of 2010 compared with one in the first half of 2009.
A history of safety improvements
Before Congress established the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) in 1958 (changed to the Federal Aviation Administration in 1967) and began implementing regulations to make flying safer, aircraft incidents and fatalities were fairly common, according to a 2009 BJT article. One former FAA inspector was quoted as saying 3,214 people — about eight people a day — died in aviation-related incidents in 1972; by 2008, that number had dropped to 876.
FAA regulations, as well as steps the aviation industry has recently taken to mitigate the risk of flying, have helped to make flying safer, BJT reports. Under the new Safety Management System (SMS), the operator of an aircraft establishes a formal process to evaluate, minimize and prevent risk exposure, essentially creating a feedback loop to prevent small risk-taking actions from turning into incidents and accidents. Many airlines, flight departments, charter and fractional-share operations have already adopted SMS programs. The FAA is planning to make SMS mandatory in the United States, and it is already required in many other countries, according to BJT.
Business jet owners and operators can also help to ensure safety for themselves and their passengers and minimize their exposure to risk with two simple moves: Clearly communicate that safety is the first priority by telling their flight crews that they’d rather arrive late than take undue risks; and implement an SMS in your flight department or fly with charter operators that have implemented one.