Accident Numbers Round-Off Fiscal Year Under FAA Limit

October 15, 2015 - In September, EAA completed its annual tracking of experimental category fatal accidents. Experimental aircraft were involved in 60 fatal accidents during fiscal year 2015, with amateur-built aircraft accounting for roughly two-thirds of those accidents.

As in previous years, the FAA established a “not to exceed” number based on the goal of decreasing experimental fatal accidents by 10 percent year over year. The number of fatal accidents for fiscal year 2015 came in well below the not to exceed number of 64. Additionally, experimental fatal accidents saw a decrease of more than 11 percent over fiscal year 2014 data.

Despite the promising numbers, EAA is committed to expanding its role in experimental aircraft safety with the goal of seeing even larger decreases in fatal accidents. The EAA Founder’s Innovation Prize will allow the experimental community to come forth with innovative solutions to loss of control, while the amateur-built safety pledge will allow homebuilders to hold themselves accountable for making safety the top priority when building their aircraft.