United States, Mexico and New Zealand Experience an Uptick
The International Helicopter Safety Team (www.IHST.org) has gathered accident information from countries across the globe and continues to seeing an encouraging trend of safer civil helicopter operations. Preliminary 2017 data from 49 countries show that most have decreasing totals for both fatal and non-fatal accidents. Looking forward, the teams plan to place a stronger focus on human factors and safety actions based on empirical analysis.
North America - United States
2017: 121 accidents, 20 fatal accidents
2016: 106 accidents, 17 fatal accidents
2015: 121 accidents, 17 fatal accidents
2014: 138 accidents, 21 fatal accidents
2013: 146 accidents, 30 fatal accidents
North America - Canada
2017: 26 accidents, 1 fatal accident ***
2016: 28 accidents, 2 fatal accidents
2015: 33 accidents, 5 fatal accidents
2014: 34 accidents, 0 fatal accidents
2013: 27 accidents, 6 fatal accidents
Europe (32 countries) **
2017: 43 accidents, 11 fatal accidents
2016: 52 accidents, 12 fatal accidents
2015: 84 accidents, 17 fatal accidents
2014: 98 accidents, 15 fatal accidents
2013: 103 accidents, 25 fatal accidents
North America - Mexico
2017: 12 accidents, 3 fatal accidents
2016: 7 accidents, 2 fatal accident
2015: 8 accidents, 3 fatal accidents
2014: 7 accidents, 1 fatal accident
2013: 8 accidents, 3 fatal accidents
India
2017: 2 accidents, 1 fatal accident
2016: 1 accident, 1 fatal accident
2015: 4 accidents, 3 fatal accidents
2014: 0 accidents, 0 fatal accidents
2013: 5 accidents, NA fatal accidents
CIS/Russia (11 countries) **
2017: 11 accidents, 4 fatal accidents
2016: 30 accidents, 12 fatal accidents
2015: 22 accidents, 10 fatal accidents
2014: 23 accidents, 12 fatal accidents
2013: 19 accidents, 7 fatal accidents
Brazil
2017: 10 accidents, 2 fatal accidents
2016: 19 accidents, 5 fatal accidents
2015: 17 accidents, 6 fatal accidents
2014: 20 accidents, 6 fatal accidents
2013: 25 accidents, 4 fatal accidents
New Zealand
2017: 14 accidents, 2 fatal accidents
2016: 12 accidents, 2 fatal accidents
2015: 17 accidents, 3 fatal accidents
2014: 14 accidents, 5 fatal accidents
2013: 21 accidents, 3 fatal accidents
Total from 49 countries
2017: 239 accidents, 44 fatal accidents
2016: 255 accidents, 53 fatal accidents
2015: 306 accidents, 64 fatal accidents
2014: 334 accidents, 60 fatal accidents
2013: 354 accidents, 78 fatal accidents
Using combined data from these 49 countries, total civil helicopter accidents in 2017 were down 6 percent compared to the prior year and fatal accidents were reduced by 17 percent year-over-year. Comparing 2017 to 2013, total accidents decreased by 32 percent and fatal accidents were cut by 44 percent.
As the positive trend continues, the worldwide IHST partners will push on with expanding a culture of safety and increasing cooperation on safety issues between government and the industry and within the global helicopter community. Looking forward to 2018, the IHST and its worldwide regional teams will continue to focus on three central objectives:
- Reduce risk and improve safety through widespread and persistent distribution of relevant educational materials.
- Analyze the cause of accidents and develop data-driven safety actions.
- Move the industry (manufacturers, operators, pilots and mechanics) to adopt safety practices or equipment that will reduce the number of accidents.
The IHST was formed in 2005 to lead a government and industry cooperative effort to promote helicopter safety and work to reduce accidents and fatalities.
More information about the IHST, its reports, safety tools, Reel Safety audio/video presentations and YouTube safety videos can be obtained at its web site at www.IHST.org and on the IHST Facebook page.
(**) Reporting countries in Europe include: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom)
(**) Reporting countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) include: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Russia.
(***) 2017 accident total from Canada is preliminary.
