FAA Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing - August
Attached is the Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing for August 2024 (eleventh month of FY24).
(Covers Part 27, Part 29, and Restricted Category rotorcraft accidents to U.S. registered aircraft. Does not include gyrocopters or experimental aircraft.)
Please access the information from this briefing directly anytime at the FAA’s publicly available, Rotorcraft Accident Dashboard.
Find “Dashboard Navigation” near the top of the default page and click either “Historical Briefing” or “Make Model Breakdown” for access to all 3 pages of visualized and interactive data.
Monthly Summary
August Totals: 7 accidents, 1 fatal accident, 1 fatality
- The 7 accidents were the lowest for an August for the 42 FYs on record and only the second time on record that August had fewer than 10 accidents.
- For the second consecutive month, Aerial Application led all industry segments in total accidents. However, the total of 3 Aerial Application accidents in August was half the total observed during July.
- The single fatal accident and fatality during the month involved an Aerial Application aircraft.
FY24 Summary
FY24 Totals: 90 accidents, 15 fatal accidents, 28 fatalities
Accidents (includes both fatal & non-fatal accidents):
- The FY24 estimated accident rate for Oct-Aug was 3.37 per 100K hours (12% lower than the same period in FY23 and 17% lower than the 5 year average for the same period).
- The accident count of 90 for Oct-Aug tied with FY20 for the lowest total for that time period for the 42 FYs on record.
- Personal/Private (24%), Aerial Application (19%), and Instructional/Training (13%) were the industry segments with the highest percentage of accidents for Oct-Aug, followed by Air Tour/Sightseeing (11%), Law Enforcement (8%), and Helicopter Air Ambulance (8%)
Fatal Accidents:
- The FY24 estimated fatal accident rate for Oct-Aug was 0.56 per 100K hours (19% lower than the same period in FY23 and 30% lower than the 5 year average for the same period).
- The single fatal accident in August moved Aerial Application to the second highest fatal accident industry segment with 20% of fatal accidents. Personal/Private led all segments with 40%.
Fatalities:
- The FY24 estimated fatality rate for Oct-Aug was 1.05 per 100K hours (24% lower than the same period in FY23, 33% lower than the 5 year average for the same period).
U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) Calendar Year Metrics
Includes only helicopter accidents that meet the following criteria:
1. U.S. registered aircraft
2. Operating in the U.S./U.S. territories (includes offshore)
- USHST Goal: Reduce the 5 year average fatal accident rate to 0.55 per 100K hours by 2025. The USHST uses the 5 year average fatal accident rate from CYs 2014-2018 (0.58 per 100K hours, revised from 0.62) as their baseline for measurement.
- The CY 2020-2024 5 year average fatal accident rate was 0.63 per 100K hours through Aug 2024.
Lee Roskop
Aviation Safety Coordinator (Rotorcraft)
Fleet Safety Section, AIR-723
Operational Safety Branch, Compliance & Airworthiness Division
817-222-5337
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