Improving Naval Aviation Safety - Rotary Wing Examples for Reducing the Stalled Safety Record

The All Navy/Marine Corps mishap rate has been approximately stable at 2.0 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours for the last fifteen years, and the cost of mishaps have been increasing. Aggressive goals to reduce the mishap rate of DoD aviation have been established by the Secretary of Defense. Two recent studies have provided detailed analyses of rotary wing accidents, but the recommendations are focused on post-crash mitigation efforts. Proactive measures for increasing the safety record of the USN/USMC toward meeting the Secretary of Defense goal are presented. Heavy emphasis on gathering and analyzing data is made. Studies have shown that roughly 80% of all mishaps are related to human factors, or human error. As such, eliminating the causes of human error represents the target area for the maximum opportunity for improvement. Military Flight Operations Quality Assurance is the sanctioned program for gathering data, and studies have shown that similar systems are effective at improving helicopter safety.