The accident rate for the U.S. civil helicopter industry rose 6.6 percent in the first six months of 2017 to 3.37 accidents per 100,000 flight hours from a rate of 3.16 for the full year 2016, the U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) said Tuesday. The fatal accident rate for the first half of this year rose more sharply, to 0.58 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours from a rate of 0.51 for the full year 2016.
For the period 2016 through 2019, USHST is focusing its attention on reducing fatal accidents within the U.S. civil helicopter industry, and its goal is to reduce the fatal accident rate to 0.61 per 100,000 flight hours by 2019. The organization’s fatal accident rate goal for this year is 0.69 accidents per 100,000 flight hours or lower.
