Pilot Age and Geographic Region of Commuter and Air Taxi Crashes: A Case-Control Study

Abstract

Previous studies of major airline and general aviation crashes have identified a host of risk factors. We examined risk factors related to crashes involving commuter air carrier and air taxi flights. A matched case-control design was applied to assess the association of pilot age, total flight time, and geographic region with commuter air carrier and air taxi crashes (14 CFR Part 135) from 1983-2002 in the United States. A total of 2033 commuter air carrier or air taxi crashes from the National Transportation Safety Board aviation crash database were identified as eligible cases. Controls were randomly selected incidents from the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) aviation incident database coded under Part 135 operation. Relative to controls, commuter air carrier and air taxi crashes were less likely to occur in pilots under 30 yr of age (adjusted odds ratio 0.68, 95% confidence interval 0.54-0.88) after adjusting for geographic region and total flight time. With adjustment for pilot age and total flight time, the commuter air carrier and air taxi crashes with pilot error were nearly 13 times as likely to be in Alaska as their matched controls (adjusted odds ratio 12.84, 95% confidence interval 5.24-31.45). These results suggest that pilot age may be associated with risk of crash involvement in Part 135 operations. The excess crash risk in Alaska with or without pilot error underscores the importance of environmental hazards in flight safety.