The Wilmington morning star., 1947-01-15
AIRLINES DEATH
PERCENTAGE Low
Scheduled Carriers Flew
3,466,755 Miles Per
Fatality Recorded

WASHINGTON, Jan. IA R =
IScheduled .airplanes flew 1856, 755
miles for eery passenger killed and
10, 1852, 200 miles for every crew
member who died in a crash dur
ing the period of 1939-1946, inclu-
sive.
These figures are based on a
compilation of fatal accidents re-
corded by the Civil Aeronautics
board, Safety bureau and the Civil
lAeronautics administration. Re
ports begin with 1949 because that
was the first full year in the mod
ern era of domestic air transport
as established by the Civil Aeron-
autics act of 1888. Less detailed in
formation is available back as far
as 1880, however.
The customary figure used in
computing air travel safety is the
ratio of passenger fatalities to
passenger-miles flown, since it re-
lates the death figures directly to
the amount of traffic and compen-
safes for the increase in the size
of aircraft and route mileage.
In the 1939-1946 period there were
So airline accidents in which 355
passengers and 80 crew members
were killed. The plane-miles flown
totaled 1910, 698, 900 and the passen-
ger-miles 18 ,502, 795, 900. One pas
senger-miles of certificated airline
travel.
Computation Method
CA plane mile is the flight of one
aircraft one mile, and a passenger
mile is the movement of n pas
senger one mile. Thus, if a plane
carrying A passengers flies 100 it
registers 100 plane miles, and A.
400 passenger miles.
"a c~ertificated airline is one
holding a route certificate granted
by the CAB. Non-certificated car
riers, also known as non-scheduled
carriers, engage in the air trans
port of persons or cargo, but do not
hold route certificates.)
Passenger-miles and plane-miles
are not at hand for the 1930-193a
period. However, there were IS &C
eide IT'S on scheduled airlines in
which a crew member or passen-
ger died. There were 205 passen-
ger and 100 crew fatalities.
The change in commercial air
craft design is reflected in the av-
erage number of deaths for each
accident.
In the 193o-1938 period each air
line crash caused an average OF
ITS deaths among the passengers
and las deaths of crewmen. Dur
ing the 1939-1946 period, the aver.
age per accident rose to 1888 for
passengers and 2.43 for crew men,
berS.
Capacity Grows
Planes which carried 10 to Is
passengers were large transports
before the DC-3 went into service in
1915. Now the DEB with its 81 seats
is a little fellow beside the DC-4,
which has a nominal capacity. OF
A but carriers up to SO, and the
Constellation, with up to 81 passen-
gers. Still larger planes will enter
service this year.
The first accident in which as
many as 10 passengers were killed
did not occur until January, 1916,
when ID passengers and three crew
members died in a crash at Good
win, Ark.
The airlines, while representing
the great bulk of passenger travel,
are a small part of the overall fly
ing picture. They operate only one
in 100 of the civil planes in the
United States.
Last year there were an estirnat-
ed 500 fatal accidents involving
planes other than those used by
air carriers and $500 non-fatal &C
cidents.
Other Figures
Non-certificated air carriers,
such as those flying charter, con
tract or non-scheduled services,
had eight fatal accidents in which
So passengers were killed and %
non-fatal accidents.
The schedules airlines reported
~ non-fatal accidents in 1946.