Commercial Aviation in Alaska

A disproportionate number of all U.S. aircraft crashes occur in Alaska. Between 1990-1999 there were 915 commuter and air taxi crashes in the U.S. (comprising the 50 states and District of Columbia) of which 234 (26%) were fatal, resulting in 708 deaths. Alaska accounted for 357 (39%) of the total U.S. crashes, 55 of which were fatal (24% of the U.S. fatal crashes), resulting in 149 deaths (21% of all U.S. deaths). Alaska’s aircraft crash rate (crashes per 100,000 flight hours) for air taxi and general aviation during 1992-1994 was 2.5 times higher than the U.S. average.

Why is the commercial aviation fatality rate so high in Alaska? In part, it's due to Alaska's dependence on aviation to move people and goods throughout the state. Even though Alaska is very large, it has only 12,200 miles of public roads, approximately the same mileage as Vermont, a state with less than 2% of the land area of Alaska. Furthermore, 90% of Alaska’s communities are not connected to a highway system.  Even if a road is in place, it may not go any farther than the edge of town or may be an ice road (frozen river or stream) that is only usable during winter. Because of this, commuter and air taxi flights must often serve in lieu of a traditional road system. This makes aircraft essential for personal and commercial transportation of passengers, cargo, and mail to outlying communities.

Between 1990-1999, aviation crashes in Alaska caused 106 civilian occupational pilot deaths. This is equivalent to 410/100,000 pilots/year, approximately 100 times the mortality rate for all U.S. workers.  During the 1990s there were a total of 1,684 general and commercial aircraft crashes in Alaska, equivalent to a crash every 2 days. Of these crashes, 188 were fatal and resulted in 402 deaths. On average there were 19 fatal crashes per year with 2 fatalities per crash and 40 fatalities per year, equivalent to a fatality every 9 days.

The high fatality rate associated with commercial aviation in Alaska has extended in the past to occupations associated with helicopter logging in the state.  However, in this industry, a comprehensive approach to safety has demonstrated remarkable success.  Crashes in the helicopter industry killed nine Alaska workers, including pilots, co-pilots, and loggers, and seriously injured 10 others during 1992-1993.  Interagency efforts led to improvements in regulatory oversight, helicopter logging safety workshops, and in 1994, an international helicopter logging safety committee was formed.  Since then, Alaska has only experienced two additional helicopter logging-related fatalities, through 2002.  These efforts have lead to major national  and international government-industry collaborative efforts to improve safety in helicopter logging operations.

The successes in improving safety in helicopter logging operations demonstrate that collaborative efforts can be very effective. 

• The NIOSH DSR Alaska Field Station has formed an aviation safety partnership with several organizations:
• National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)


• Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)


• National Weather Service (NWS)


• Alaska Air Carriers Association


• Alaska Airmen’s Association


• University of Alaska Anchorage


• The Alaska Field Station has conducted research that has contributed to the implementation of several intervention strategies from the aviation safety partnership, such as:
• Air Carrier Operator and Pilot Surveys. (Commuter and air taxi pilots and operators in Alaska were surveyed to determine the level of flight activity, safety issues that concerned them the most, and possible intervention strategies that they thought would be most effective.)


• Five Star Medallion Program (voluntary higher standard for air carrier operators)


• Capstone Program evaluation ( State-of-the-art aircraft navigational avionics equipment)


• Circle of Safety (educational program to increase safety awareness among occupational passengers)


• The aviation safety partnership is now focusing on reducing the number of work-related aircraft crash injuries and fatalities through:
• Epidemiologic analysis of aircraft crashes


• Evaluation of aviation safety interventions


• Cooperation and collaboration between industry and government


• The overall goal is to reduce occupational aircraft crash injuries and fatalities by 50% by the end of 2009.