Flight mishaps involve any reportable damage to an aircraft that is prevailing to fly, in flight, or completing a landing. Flight mishaps are classified by DOD according to the severity of resulting injury or property damage. Class A mishaps involve damage of $1 million or more, a destroyed aircraft, or a fatality or permanent total disability. The remaining classes of mishaps are distinguished primarily by their loss value and severity of injury: Class B accidents involve damage ranging from $200,000 to less than $1 million, permanent partial disability, or inpatient hospitalization of five or more people; Class C accidents involve damage ranging from $10,000 to less than $200,000 or a lost-time injury; and Class D accidents involve damage of less than $10,000. Our review focused on Class A flight mishaps only. DOD requires that all mishaps be investigated so that causes can be identified and corrective actions taken to prevent future occurrences. Service safety centers play a key role in maintaining aviation mishap statistics, establishing safety policies, disseminating safety information, reviewing mishap%investigation reports, tracking recommendations, and performing safety studies. In addition, the safety centers analyze trends to identify potential safety hazards. In our 1996 review,2 we reported that DOD aviation safety had improved significantly over the previous two decades. Between fiscal year 1975 and 1995, for example, the annual number of Class A mishaps decreased from 309 to 76, while the number of fatalities decreased from 285 to 85. During this period, Class A mishaps per 100,000 flying hours, referred to as the mishap rate, also decreased from about 4.3 to 1.5. The value of Class A losses during the early 1990s ranged from a high of about $1.6 billion in fiscal year 1993 to a low of $1.2 billion in fiscal year 1994.


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    Title :

    Military Aircraft Safety; Serious Accidents Remain at Historically Low Levels


    Publication date :

    1998


    Size :

    12 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English








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