Contributor - Accidents and Regulations

Gordon Gilbert

In the first half of this year, the U.S. business jet and turboprop fleet suffered 36 accidents, including seven fatal ones resulting in 19 passengers and crew members killed, according to Robert E. Breiling Associates of Boca Raton, Fla. While this is an increase of only one in the total number of accidents, it is a major decline in fatalities vs the same period last year. Breiling reported 35 total accidents in the first half of last year and 16 fatal accidents in which 62 passengers and crew were killed. In the first six months of this year, there was only one fatal accident of a U.S.-registered business jet–a Challenger 604 that crashed during takeoff in the UK, killing two passengers and three crewmembers.
There were twice as many non-fatal accidents of turboprops in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year, but fatal accidents dropped by half and the number of people killed fell to 14. Thirty-nine people died in turboprop accidents in the first six months of last year. 
In addition to three non-fatal accidents shown for fractional operations, fractional operators were involved in four incidents–defined by the NTSB as causing neither serious injury nor substantial damage.

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