Source: The Mercury, 17 March, 2001, p.4 Source: The Mercury, 17 March, 2001, p.4
Flying in Australia is twice as dangerous as flying in the US, commercial airline and military flights excepted, a new analysis has shown. The Australian Aviation Underwriting Pool said statistics showed the US was safer in all but the major and regional airlines. "Based on accidents per 100,000 hours flown over a ten year period there have been 45% more in Australia," the insurance body said in its newsletter. Former Civil Aviation Safety Authority chairman Dick Smith said the figures for general aviation were extraordinary. "The US has snow and ice for four months of the year, it has a huge mountain range and twenty times the density of air traffic, yet Australia comes up with worse figures," he said. "Why?" The newsletter said the US accident rate had dropped 32% in the last 15 years but stayed the same in Australia. The Australian Air Transport Safety Bureau said Australia had consistently fewer fatalities than the US.
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