The 2024 Richard G. McSpadden Report, which looks at general aviation safety for the year 2022, has been released. The two-year delay reflects the time it takes for the National Transportation Safety Board to complete its investigations. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Air Safety Division (ASD) notes that the most current accident statistics are updated on a rolling 30-day cycle to offer an ongoing look at safety trends.
This year’s report shows an increase in the total number of accidents from 1,120 in 2021 to 1,152 in 2022. However, flight activity also increased significantly — to over 500,000 hours. The result was only a slight upward move from 4.26 to 4.30 accidents per 100,000 hours of flight.
On the positive side, the number of general aviation fatalities has decreased slightly since last year’s report, dropping from .76 to .68 per 100,000 hours.
“Pilot-related accidents remain around 70 percent, with loss of control events continuing to be the leading causal factor, and weather-related accidents remaining highly lethal,” according to Robert Geske, AOPA Air Safety Institute manager of aviation safety analysis.
According to the report, there is an upward trend in accidents for non-commercial, fixed-wing aircraft; a total of 965 accidents, 157 of which were fatal.
*Information taken from “AOPA’s Annual Safety Report Shows Rise in Accidents and Decline in Fatalities” by Amelia Walsh (https://www.avweb.com)
