Health & Safety Report 2018

Figure 28: Fatal and All Accident Rates per 100,000 Flying Hours

5

Five-Year Average Fatal Accident Rate

4

Five-Year Average All Accident Rate

3

2

4

1

Accident Rate per 100,000 Flying Hours

0

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Source: Oil & Gas UK

4.4 Accident Analysis

A breakdown of reportable accident causes from 1997 to 2017 is provided in the following charts. As 2017 was an incident-free year, the data below is unchanged from last year.

From 1997 to 2017, operational causes (flight and ground) accounted for 35 per cent of accidents, 40 per cent were due to technical failures and 25 per cent caused by external factors.

All the operational accidents that occurred during flight were attributed to pilot error. Eighty-seven per cent of the technical failures were attributed to dynamic component failures (main rotor gear box, main rotor blade and tail rotor). A structural issue accounts for the remaining 13 per cent.

Of the 25 per cent of accidents caused by external factors, all resulted from weather-related events, including four lightning strikes and an encounter with a water spout.

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