LAST YEAR SAW a sharp rise in the number of people who died in aircraft crashes around the world.
The Aviation Safety Network (ASN) reports that a total of 556 people were killed in 15 airliner accidents in 2018 compared with 44 people in ten accidents in 2017, the safest year in aviation history.
Passenger flights made up 12 of the accidents, while three related to cargo flights.
The year’s worst accident came in October when 189 died after a Lion Air plane crashed in Indonesia. The aircraft was deemed not to have been airworthy.
The figures mean that 2018 was worse than the five-year average of 14 accidents and 480 fatalities. However the ASN still described it as “one of the safest years ever for commercial aviation”.
The stats are based on all worldwide fatal commercial aircraft accidents involving civil aircraft which are certified to carry more than 14 passengers.
Because of these criteria the April crash involving an Algerian Air Force transport plane that killed 257 is not included. When military transport aircraft are added to the total the number of fatalities rises to 917 in 25 fatal accidents.
Discussing the accident rate, Aviation Safety Network’s CEO, Harro Ranter said that the statistics show that the level of safety has increased significantly: “If the accident rate had remained the same as ten years ago, there would have been 39 fatal accidents last year.
At the accident rate of the year 2000, there would have been even 64 fatal accidents. This shows the enormous progress in terms of safety in the past two decades.
The network added that loss of control (LOC) accidents have been a major safety concern in the aviation industry over the past five years, accounting for at least ten of the 25 worst accidents.
LOC refers to an unrecoverable deviation from an intended flight path, and can be caused by mechanical failure, human actions or environmental disturbances. Most of those accidents were not survivable.
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