Five Accident-free Years for Part-135 Operators

Commercial fixed wing general aviation operators—those whose aircraft carry nine or fewer passengers—are celebrating a period of five years free of fatal accidents, while it is some nine years since the last fatality involving equivalent commercial helicopter operations.

Irene King, the chief executive of the Aviation Industry Association (AIA), said, “This is a great record but one that we are now coming to expect from our general aviation operators.” She praised operators for having “invested heavily in putting in place the right safety strategies” and said it was about “walking the talk and understanding that being safe is a lot less expensive than an accident.”

King said she considered the record to be “quite remarkable” in view of the diversity of this sector’s operations, in which many perform different operations every day. She pointed out that this necessitated excellent safety planning by operators in assessing risk and understanding how to mitigate it to provide the safest possible environment for crews and passengers.

“The challenge, as always, will be to ensure we keep our businesses performing at that level,” King said. “In recent years, we have seen a much greater alignment between regulatory compliance and safety strategies in this sector of the industry. The knowledge, experiences and practices of larger scheduled operators are now being translated into the general aviation industry.”

The AIA encourages safety in numerous ways, including the recognition of safety performance in the industry through its safety recognition awards. Members of the general public are able to review the safety performance of a number individual companies through the AIA’s website: aia.org.nz.