Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-24
PILOTS BIG FACTOR
IN AIR SAFETY
Those With More Than 400
Hours Experience Have
Fewer Accidents.

HARTFORD, Conn, August 23.-Pas-
sengers in airplanes piloted by licensed
aviators with 400 or more hours of ex-
perience in the, air are not as likely to
figure in accidents as are persons riding
with pilots with less than such num-
Der of hours experience, according to a
report on aviation statistics of the
Actuarial Society of America.
Last year the death rate among pilots
holding a Department of Commerce
license of the highest or transport type
was 70 per 1000 among aviators having
less than 400 hours of flying, while the
rate was only 20 per 1000, or So per
cent less, among those with at least 400
hours In the air Strange as 1t may
seem, the committee responsible for the
report, consisting of j. E. Hoskins, as
sistant actuary of the Travellers Insur-
ance Co., and H. r. BasSford, assistant
actuary of the Metropolitan Life 1nSur-
ance Co., found comparatively little i'm
provement in the death rate of pilots
having more than 400 hours air expert
ence.
Comparing airway travel with that on
railways, the report points out that while
the passenger death rate on railroads Is
approximately ! per 300,000,000 pas
senger miles, the fatality rate in airway
travel is approximately l per 100000
passenger miles. This comparison in
dicates that airway travel, in accordance
with the experience tabulated by the
committee for 1929, was more than 200
times as hazardous as railway passenger
service. Comparison with automobile
and steamship travel was impossible be-
cause Of the lack OF statistics, it was re-
ported.
Air Death Rate Low.
Even though passenger travel by air
is shown to be far more dangerous than
by rail, it is disclosed in the report that
the death rate Of aviation passengers is
only / per 5000 persons carried on
scheduled air lines during the period
from January, 1927, through March Of
this year.
Since the safety Of passengers in large
measure depends on the experience of
pilots, much attention is paid in the re-
port to the death rate among pilots If
various claSSiflcations. While aviators
holding Department of Commerce IL
cenSes Of the transport class suffered a
death rate as a general group of "a per
1000, pilots flying more than 400 hours
a year had the lowest rate in the trans
port class.
The death rate was around so per
1000 among aviators flying on scheduled
lines, with little difference observable
between those on lines carrying passen-
gers only and those on lines carrying
mail. This higher death rate is prob
ably due to the necessity of making
schedule regardless of weather. AL
though definite figures were not avail
able on pilots giving student instruction,
the opinion Is expressed that their haZ-
ard is not unusually great.
That the number of miles covered by
aircraft has an important bearing on
the death rate among passengers is indi-
Gated by the record, which show In non
scheduled commercial flying, consisting
chiefly of short hops but with some
croSS-country taxi service, that the ia
tally rate among passengers was about
2 per 100,000 persons carried. This ex-
perience indicates that in scheduled fly
ing the death rate among passengers is
about 10 times what 1t is in 'non-sched-
ton of such flights is much shorter.
Army and Navy Factors.
The experience gathered on United
States Army and Navy pilots indicates
that Army and Navy regulations and
discipline have helped to promote safety
in the air, because the death rate of
Sucn DuOCS Is mucn lower IN the IlSCdi
year ending June 80, 1929, than in the
best class Of commercial aviators, and
this despite the stunt and formation
flying engaged In by service flyers The
death rate of commissioned airplane
pilots in the Army was per 1000, and
in the Navy 10 per 1000. The mortality
experience in the fiscal year ending June
80, 1929, was said to be exceptionally
favorable, as the annual average for the
last three years was at the rate OF IS
deaths per 1000 in the Army and 81 in
the Navy.
Mortality among relatively inexperi-
enced pilots in civil aviation was said
to have its counterpart in the Army,
where reserve officers on extended duty
with regular forces, comprising mostly
recent graduates of Army flying schools,
had a much higher death rate than
Regular Army pilots or reserve officers
who are accustomed to fly on week ends
at approved fields and Summer camps.
National Guard flyers suffered death
rate similar to Regular Army pilots.
The report Of the committee of the
Actuarial Society shows that travel by
airplane Is becoming safer, because the
death rate among passengers is gradually
decreasing, and that a greater degree Of
safety is possible where planes arc
piloted by flyers with considerable ex-
perience in the air.