Important Info - Aviation Accidents Overview

According to information from the U.S. DOT (U.S. Department of Transportation) and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), the average number of fatal aviation accidents is around 385 per year, give or take a little.

Mechanical problems and human error and the main causes of aviation accidents.  Pilots, maintenance and aircraft manufacturers all have guidelines that are mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration.  Even when they are following these guidelines, there are still accidents.  There could be steps that were overlooked during inspection or an important detail that everyone failed to notice. 

Most aviation accidents happen right before takeoff or landing, or after takeoff or landing.  When these accidents happen, they can be attributed to human error.  Accidents that happen during mid-flight seldom happen.  When they do, the results can be catastrophic.

With aviation accidents, the Federal Government has standards that the airlines are required to follow.  They are required to take precautions to decrease the onset of any casualties or danger to the crew or passengers.  There are a lot of rules and regulations for the airlines to follow the safety protocol.  They are responsible for passenger safety and to adhere to the strict rules to honor the precautions. 

The aircraft is required to have regularly scheduled maintenance and inspection to keep it safe and operational.  The more the aircraft is operating, the more stress and deterioration that is inflicted on it.  With regularly scheduled maintenance, lots of problems including minor ones can be avoided.  They can also prevent major problems occurring with the aircraft.  The more that they stay on schedule, the less chance there will be for additional aviation accidents. 

Along with the preventative measures taken by the airlines and the crew, the passengers can also help in this regard.  Passengers should keep their eyes on the pre-flight emergency demonstration by the flight attendants.  They should notice where the exits are on the aircraft.  They should look through the emergency information booklet so they will know exactly what to do in an emergency.

There are still quite a bit of aviation accidents, but without the fatalities.  Along with the airline crew, passengers must be prudent to learn everything that they can about aircraft safety.