Opinion/Letters
July 3, 2014 5:02 PM
I noticed that the Enquirer used articles and video that were part of the USA Today series “Unfit for Flight.”
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association on June 20 asked USA Today to correct the misrepresentation of general aviation fatality statistics in this series. USA Today reported a “massive and growing death toll,” and “unchecked carnage,” and stated that nearly 45,000 people have been killed in general aviation accidents since the 1960s.
However, the stories did not report that more than half of those deaths happened more than 30 years ago, and that general aviation fatalities have actually declined by 75 percent since 1973. USA Today was aware of this decline. In fact, reporter Thomas Frank provided us with the NTSB chart that shows a fairly steady drop from 744 fatalities in 1993 to 432 in 2012.
And our own statistics, based on NTSB reports, show that 2013 will record the lowest number of fatalities — 395 — in decades. You can check the source for these numbers at ntsb.gov/data/aviation_stats. Yet Frank did not mention these numbers in his piece — perhaps because they would have undermined its premise.
A chart that ran with the third part of the series also showed declines in both the accident and fatality rates, but the chart’s incorrect headline read: “General aviation crash rate remains steady.” This sloppy reporting has not only unfairly damaged general aviation’s reputation, but, by extension, the reputations of the 64 other Gannet papers that posted the articles and/or videos.
Steve Hedges
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
Frederick, Maryland
Opinion: http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com
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