United States General Accounting Office

GAO Briefing Report to the Honorable

Ike Skelton, Ranking Minority Member,

Committee on National Security, House

of Representatives

March 1998 MILITARY AIRCRAFT

SAFETY

Serious Accidents

Remain at Historically

Low Levels

GAO/NSIAD-98-95BR

GAO United States

General Accounting Office

Washington, D.C. 20548

National Security and

International Affairs Division

B-279205 

March 23, 1998

The Honorable Ike Skelton

Ranking Minority Member

Committe on National Security

House of Representatives

Dear Mr. Skelton:

At your request in May 1995, we reviewed the military aircraft safety

record across the Department of Defense (DOD) and reported that the

military’s accident rate in fiscal year 1995 was at its lowest point in 

20 years. In September 1997, you noted that a series of serious accidents

had occurred over a short period of time and asked that we provide

updated information on military aircraft safety. Specifically, we

(1) identified the number and rate of serious accidents, including related

fatalities, destroyed aircraft, and the value of lost aircraft over the last

2 fiscal years and added it to the information we had previously collected

to assess trends and (2) obtained the views of DOD safety officials on

whether operating tempo or availability of spare parts have been

contributing factors to Class A mishaps.

Background Flight mishaps involve any reportable damage to an aircraft that is

preparing to fly, in flight, or completing a landing. Flight mishaps are

classified by DOD according to the severity of resulting injury or property

damage. Class A mishaps involve damage of $1 million or more, a

destroyed aircraft, or a fatality or permanent total disability. The

remaining classes of mishaps are distinguished primarily by their loss

value and severity of injury: Class B accidents involve damage ranging

from $200,000 to less than $1 million, permanent partial disability, or

inpatient hospitalization of five or more people; Class C accidents involve

damage ranging from $10,000 to less than $200,000 or a lost-time injury;

and Class D accidents involve damage of less than $10,000. Our review

focused on Class A flight mishaps only. DOD requires that all mishaps be

investigated so that causes can be identified and corrective actions taken

to prevent future occurrences. Service safety centers1

 play a key role in

maintaining aviation mishap statistics, establishing safety policies,

disseminating safety information, reviewing mishap investigation reports,

1

These centers are the Naval Safety Center, Norfolk, Virginia; Air Force Safety Agency, Kirtland Air

Force Base, New Mexico; and the Army Safety Center, Ft. Rucker, Alabama. In addition to its

involvement in Navy safety, the Naval Safety Center also monitors investigations of Marine Corps

aviation mishaps.

Page 1 GAO/NSIAD-98-95BR Military Aircraft Safety
B-279205 

tracking recommendations, and performing safety studies. In addition, the

safety centers analyze trends to identify potential safety hazards.

In our 1996 review,2

 we reported that DOD aviation safety had improved

significantly over the previous two decades. Between fiscal year 1975 and

1995, for example, the annual number of Class A mishaps decreased from

309 to 76, while the number of fatalities decreased from 285 to 85. During

this period, Class A mishaps per 100,000 flying hours, referred to as the

mishap rate, also decreased from about 4.3 to 1.5. The value of Class A

losses during the early 1990s ranged from a high of about $1.6 billion in

fiscal year 1993 to a low of $1.2 billion in fiscal year 1994.

We also reported that no direct link appeared to exist between operating

tempo and safety mishaps, but human error was identified as a

contributing cause in 73 percent of the Class A flight mishaps in fiscal

years 1994 and 1995.

Results in Brief Overall, in fiscal years 1996 and 1997, the military achieved historically low

levels of serious mishaps. The number of Class A flight mishaps across DOD

in fiscal year 1997 was 68, an all-time low, and the rate of mishaps per

100,000 flying hours remained virtually the same for the last 3 fiscal years

at about 1.5. While the number of fatalities rose from 85 in 1995 to 116 in

1996 due to several high-casualty mishaps, they declined in 1997 to 76,

DOD’s second lowest level ever. The fatality rate per 100,000 flight hours

shows annual fluctuations depending upon the types of aircraft involved,

but it has been within the low end of its historic range over the last 

10 years. New lows on the number of destroyed aircraft (54) and the rate

of destroyed aircraft per 100,000 flight hours (1.2) were also reached in

fiscal year 1997. Finally, the value of the aircraft lost reached its lowest

level in the 1990s, $1.1 billion. Detailed trend statistics on military aircraft

safety are shown in appendix I.

With regard to any possible safety impact of operating tempos and

availability of spare parts, service safety officials indicated that neither has

been identified as a contributing causal factor in any of the Class A flight

mishaps over the last few years.

Agency Comments We discussed the information in this report with DOD officials and

incorporated their comments where appropritae.

2

Military Aircraft Safety: Significant Improvements Since 1975 (GAO/NSIAD-96-69BR, Feb. 1, 1996).

Page 2 GAO/NSIAD-98-95BR Military Aircraft Safety
B-279205 

Scope and

Methodology

We analyzed annual statistics for fiscal years 1996 and 1997 on the number

of Class A flight mishaps, fatalities, destroyed aircraft, and dollar losses

and compared them to the data we had previously collected on accidents

between 1975 and 1995 to identify trends.

We conducted our review from September 1997 to February 1998 in

accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.

We are sending copies of this report to other interested congressional

committees and Members of Congress; the Secretaries of Defense, the

Army, the Navy, and the Air Force; and the Commandant of the Marine

Corps. We will also make copies available to other interested parties on

request.

The major contributor to this report was William E. Beusse. If you or your

staff have any questions concerning this report, please contact me on

(202) 512-5140.

Sincerely yours,

Mark E. Gebicke, Director

Military Operations and Capabilities

Page 3 GAO/NSIAD-98-95BR Military Aircraft Safety
Briefing Section I 

Aircraft Mishap Trends

GAO Number of Class A Flight Mishaps 

(fiscal years 1975-97)

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 1997

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Fiscal year

Number of mishaps

Navy/Marine Corps Air Force Army

Between fiscal year 1975 and 1997, military aircraft were involved in 3,967

Class A mishaps, which resulted in 4,002 fatalities and 3,603 destroyed

aircraft.

The annual number of Department of Defense (DOD) Class A flight mishaps

decreased from 309 in fiscal year 1975 to 68 in fiscal year 1997. In the

Navy/Marine Corps, the number declined from 158 to 27, the Air Force

from 99 to 29, and the Army from 52 to 12.

Page 4 GAO/NSIAD-98-95BR Military Aircraft Safety
Briefing Section I 

Aircraft Mishap Trends

GAO DOD Class A Flight Mishap Rate (fiscal 

years 1975-97)

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 1997

0

1

2

3

4

5

0

1

2

3

4

5

Fiscal year

Mishaps per 100,000 flying hours

DOD’s Class A mishap rate, calculated as the number of accidents per

100,000 flying hours, declined from about 4.3 in fiscal year 1975 to a steady

rate of about 1.5 in each of the last 3 fiscal years, 1995 through 1997.

Page 5 GAO/NSIAD-98-95BR Military Aircraft Safety
Briefing Section I 

Aircraft Mishap Trends

GAO Service Class A Flight Mishap Rates 

(fiscal years 1975-97)

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 1997

0

2

4

6

8

0

2

4

6

8

Fiscal year

Mishaps per 100,00 flying hours

Navy/Marine Corps Air Force Army

As with the number of mishaps, each of the services has also experienced

an overall downward trend in its mishap rate since fiscal year 1975. In

particular, the Navy/Marine Corps mishap rate dropped significantly from

7.3 mishaps per 100,000 flying hours in fiscal year 1975 to 1.9 in fiscal

year 1997. Air Force rates were decreased from about 2.8 to 1.4 during that

period. Army aviation experienced a decrease from 4.3 in fiscal year 1975

to a rate of 1.25 in fiscal year 1997, a rise from its low rate of about 0.7 in

1996.

Page 6 GAO/NSIAD-98-95BR Military Aircraft Safety
Briefing Section I 

Aircraft Mishap Trends

GAO Class A Flight Mishap Fatalities (fiscal 

years 1975-97)

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 1997

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Fiscal year

Number of fatalities

Navy/Marine Corps Air Force Army

The annual number of aviation fatalities has dropped significantly since

fiscal year 1975, when DOD reported 285—141 in the Air Force, 103 in the

Navy/Marine Corps, and 41 in the Army. In fiscal year 1997, the number of

fatalities had fallen to 76—31 in the Air Force, 30 in the Navy/Marine

Corps, and 15 in the Army.

Page 7 GAO/NSIAD-98-95BR Military Aircraft Safety
Briefing Section I 

Aircraft Mishap Trends

GAO DOD Rate of Class A Fatalities (fiscal 

years 1975-97)

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 1997

0

1

2

3

4

5

0

1

2

3

4

5

Fiscal year

Fatalities per 100,000 flying hours

The number of DOD aviation fatalities per 100,000 flying hours declined

from about 4 in fiscal year 1975 to 1.7 in fiscal year 1997.

Page 8 GAO/NSIAD-98-95BR Military Aircraft Safety
Briefing Section I 

Aircraft Mishap Trends

GAO Number of Destroyed Aircraft (fiscal 

years 1975-97)

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 1997

0

50

100

150

200

250

0

50

100

150

200

250

Fiscal year

Number of destroyed aircraft

Navy/Marine Corps Air Force Army

The number of destroyed aircraft resulting from flight mishaps decreased

significantly between fiscal year 1975 and 1997. In fiscal year 1975, 221

aircraft were destroyed (117 in the Navy/Marine Corps, 52 in the Air Force,

and 52 in the Army). The number of destroyed aircraft decreased to 54 in

fiscal year 1997, when the Navy/Marine Corps reported 24, the Air Force

24, and the Army 6.

Page 9 GAO/NSIAD-98-95BR Military Aircraft Safety
Briefing Section I 

Aircraft Mishap Trends

GAO Rate of Destroyed Aircraft (fiscal years 

1975-97)

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 1997

0

1

2

3

4

0

1

2

3

4

Fiscal year

Destroyed aircraft per 100,000 flying hours

Between fiscal year 1975 and 1997, the annual rate of destroyed aircraft

per 100,000 flying hours declined from 3.1 to 1.2.

Page 10 GAO/NSIAD-98-95BR Military Aircraft Safety
Briefing Section I 

Aircraft Mishap Trends

GAO Value of Class A Flight Mishap Losses

(fiscal years 1990-97)

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

Fiscal year

Dollars in millions

Navy/Marine Corps Air Force Army

Since fiscal year 1975, the services have reported the value of Class A

flight mishaps totals about $23.3 billion. The value of Class A losses has

been fairly constant over the 1990s given that the number of mishaps in

1997 is less than half the number in 1990. The value of lost aircraft ranges

from a high of about $1.6 billion in fiscal year 1993 to a low of $1.1 billion

in fiscal year 1997. Although fiscal years 1996 and 1997 had historically low

numbers of mishaps, the value of Class A losses still totaled to about

$2.3 billion over these 2 fiscal years.

(703233) Page 11 GAO/NSIAD-98-95BR Military Aircraft Safety
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