Crash Risk in General Aviation

Noncommercial flights, usually called general aviation, encompass a wide variety of activities, including emergency medical services (EMS), sightseeing, flight training, traffic reporting, aerial surveys, search and rescue, crop dusting, firefighting, logging, recreation, and personal or business use. In this commentary article, the authors examine the crash risk of private airplane flights, identify major factors influencing survival in aviation crashes, and discuss possible approaches for improving the safety of general aviation. The authors note that the fatal crash rate for general aviation, 1.31 fatal crashes per 100,000 flights hours, is 82 times the rate for major airlines, a difference that has persisted over several decades. General aviation flights are particularly vulnerable to adverse weather conditions and other environmental factors (such as wires or terrain). Other risk factors include alcohol-impaired pilots, sudden incapacitation of the pilot (particularly crucial in light of the lack of a co-pilot on most small aircraft), pilot inexperience, and nonconformist flying behavior. Risks for crash fatality include aircraft fire, instrument meteorological conditions, off-airport location, and failure to use safety restraints; the authors briefly consider approaches to reduce each of these risks. The authors conclude with a consideration of the intersection of general aviation and medicine, focusing particularly on transporting patients from crash sites and between medical facilities (EMS flight crews), and on physician pilots. The safety of general aviation could be increased with interventions to improve fuel system integrity and restraint systems, enhance general crashworthiness of small aircraft, and reduce weather-related crashes through pilot training and avionics technology.