There were no fatal accidents involving US business jet operators in the first quarter of this year, compared with one fatality during the same period last year, according to US flight safety analyst Robert Breiling Associates.
The Boca Raton, Florida-based company, which compiles a comprehensive summary of turbine business aircraft accidents and incidents across all operating sectors, reveals that corporate jets - professionally flown business jets - were involved in only one non-fatal accident in the first quarter of the year, compared with two during the first three months of last year. While the business jet accident rate has fallen by two this quarter, the overall number of incidents, resulting in minor damage to the aircraft, has risen from five to eight, compared with the same period last year, Breiling says.
The US business turboprop fleet also experienced fewer accidents during the first quarter of the year. Notably, the fatality rate dropped from 11 last year to only two in the first quarter of the year, while the incident rate fell by 10 to nine during the same period. Corporate turboprops, however, recorded the largest increase in the first quarter with two accidents, one of them fatal, compared with none last year.
Source: Flight International