Federal Agency Says Airline Crash Rate Rose in 1999

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Federal Agency Says Airline Crash Rate Rose in 1999 By Rebecca Sinderbrand Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - A dozen people died in U.S. airliner accidents last year, a step back from the perfect safety record of 1998 when there were no fatalities. Overall, the National Transportation Safety Board reported Friday a rise in the number of accidents and fatalities involving U.S.-registered airline and commuter aircraft in 1999. Of the 12 people who died last year in accidents involving commercial aircraft, 11 were aboard American Airlines Flight 1420 when it crashed in Little Rock, Ark., in June. The number of air-taxi accidents fell by one in 1999 to 76, and fatalities dropped from 48 to 38. Accidents involving general aviation - typically small, private planes - dipped by one, to 1,908, and the number of fatal accidents dropped from 365 to 342. Although the number of general aviation accidents decreased, total fatalities increased slightly, from 623 to 628. There were 12 commuter airline deaths in 1999; there were none in 1998. Some critics took issue with the NTSB report, saying it does not reflect the full range of American air accidents that took place last year. "The numbers we have are strictly U.S. What about the hundreds of foreign crashes where Americans are on board, or military crashes?" said Gail Dunham, president of the National Air Disaster Alliance, a Washington-based group. "I think plane crashes are far more frequent than people realize." "We're working to continue to raise the bar on aviation safety," said Frazier Jones, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman. "The FAA takes all accidents seriously, and takes steps to see what can be done to prevent them in the future." According to the report, foreign-registered aircraft were involved in only six accidents, down from 18 the previous year, and no deaths. Since only crashes that occur on U.S. soil are included in the report, those numbers do not reflect the 100 Americans who died in the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990, which took off from an American airport but crashed in international waters. Also not reflected are the American servicemen who died in a string of military aircraft accidents last year, mostly during training exercises.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGIXZPUT45C.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 26, 2000

Answers

LINK

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 26, 2000.

Wonder if there were any Chinese made parts involved in these accidents???

-- Lurkess (Lurkess@Lurking.XNet), February 26, 2000.

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