CASA Media Release - Tuesday 8 October 2002
International air safety improving
International aviation safety improved strongly last year, despite the events of September 11 in the United States.
That’s the finding of the latest analysis of air safety statistics from a range of independent sources.
Figures show 2001 was one of the safest years on record for flying on major airlines, with declining accident rates and total passenger fatalities.
The analysis is fully explained in the latest edition of Flight Safety Australia magazine – CASA’s aviation safety flagship publication.
Flight Safety Australia is sent free-of-charge to more than 90,000 people involved in aviation in Australia very two months.
The story – titled ‘Still Safe’ – looks at three sets of figures for air safety in 2001.
According to the International Air Transport Association 2001 was the best year for accident prevention since 1992.
The number of passenger and crew fatalities from airline accidents involving western-built jets halved to 455. This figure does not include the September 11 victims as these were deaths due to terrorism rather than air accidents.
The loss rate of aircraft per million flying hours declined from 0.59 to 0.54.
Figures from the Aviation Safety Network – which include turboprop aircraft as well as jets – show 2001 was the sixth safest year since 1970. The number of multi-engine airliner accidents involving fatalities was 32 per cent below the average annual rate for the last 30 years.
And statistics published in the US show the accident rate in 2001 in that country fell from 0.299 accidents per 100,000 hours to 0.215.
Australia still boasts the world’s best safety record for large jet operations, with no fatal accidents having occurred.
Other stories in the current edition of Flight Safety Australia cover sleep inertia, the future of GPS and breaking in engines.
Media contact
Peter Gibson
ph 02 6217 1015
mobile 0419 296 446
Ref: MR02/55