FAA Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing - February

Attached is the Rotorcraft Monthly Accident Briefing for February 2023 (fifth month of FY23). **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 Feb Totals: 2 accidents, 0 fatal accidents, 0 fatalities - The 2 accidents in February tied January 2023 for the lowest monthly accident total for any month of the 41 FYs on record. - For the third time in the last 5 FYs, there were not any fatal accidents/fatalities during the month of February. FY23 Summary FY23 Totals: 29 accidents, 4 fatal accidents, 8 fatalities - All count and rate metrics for the five month period of Oct – Feb showed improvement when measured against the same period for both the previous FY and the 5 year average. Accidents (include both fatal & non-fatal accidents): - The FY23 estimated accident rate for Oct-Feb was 2.83 per 100K hours (29% lower than same period in FY22, 21% lower than 5 year average for same period). - The count of 29 total accidents for the first 5 months of the FY was the lowest for that time period for the 41 years on record, three accidents lower than the previous record of 32 in FY19. Fatal Accidents: - The FY23 estimated fatal accident rate for Oct-Feb was 0.39 per 100K hours (64% lower than same period in FY22, 51% lower than 5 year average for same period). - The count of 4 total fatal accidents for the first 5 months of the FY was tied for the second lowest for that time period for the 41 years on record, one fatal accident higher than the record of 3 observed Oct-Feb FY21. - Zero fatal accidents in the back to back months of Jan and Feb had only occurred one other time for the 41 years on record (in FY04). - The last time back to back months without a fatal accident occurred was over 2 years ago, in Oct and Nov, 2020. Fatalities: - The FY23 estimated fatality rate for Oct-Feb was 0.78 per 100K hours (58% lower than same period in FY22, 57% lower than 5 year average for same period). - The count of 8 total fatalities for the first 5 months of the FY was tied for the second lowest for that time period for the 41 years on record, one fatality higher than the record of 7 observed Oct-Feb FY21. U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) Calendar Year Metrics - 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 (0.62 per 100K hours) as their baseline for measurement. - The CY 2019-2023 5 year average fatal accident rate was 0.74 per 100K hours through Feb 2023. Lee Roskop Acting Manager, Fleet Safety Section, AIR-723 Operational Safety Branch, Compliance & Airworthiness Division 817-222-5337 lee.roskop@faa.gov We value your feedback. Click here to send us your feedback.

05 FY2023 Feb.pdf

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