According to the National Transportation Safety Board, there have been 913 aircraft accidents in Maine over the past 50 years, not including the one Friday at Owls Head. Friday’s plane crash is the 10th aircraft accident in Maine in 2012 and the second such accident this year that has been fatal.
A publicly accessible NTSB online database indicates that of those 913 accidents that have occurred in Maine since 1962, 133 of them have been fatal. In those 133 fatal accidents, a total of 268 people have died.
Maine ranks seventh out of 11 states in the Northeast for number of plane crashes since the early 1960s, according to the NTSB database. Crashes listed in the database go back to 1962, 1963 or 1964, depending on the state.
Of those 11 states, New York has had the most airplane crashes with 4,487 since 1962. Massachusetts has had the most aircraft accidents in New England, with 2,001 since 1963.
Friday’s accident at Owls Head is the deadliest aircraft accident in Maine since June 22, 2006, when an Air Force Junior ROTC cadet orientation flight crashed into a mountainside near the Sunday River ski area in Newry, Maine. Four people died in that crash — the instructor and three students from Lewiston High School.
Since 1972, there have been 15 accidents at Knox County Regional Airport, not including the one Friday, according to the NTSB database. Three of those accidents have been fatal, resulting in the deaths of a total of 20 people. One of those accidents was the deadliest in Maine aviation history, when 17 people died on May 30, 1979, as a plane flying in from Boston crashed as it was making its final approach for landing.
In 1999 there were 181 fatal car accidents in Maine, and in 2000 there were 169. So even though flying is very unforgiving (maybe second only to boating), it is still the safest mode of transportation. The media makes a big story out of any plane crash, fatal or not, because it is rare enough to sell a few copies. The accident this week at Owls Head was a preventable tragedy, and I am sure appropriate steps will be taken to see that it never happens again, but the majority of accidents at this airport are weather related. It’s an airport situated in an area where fog is common, and unless we pilots are extremely careful in all aspects of the flight into there, it can be a problem.
We only hear about the ones that crash, not a word about the thousands that don’t. LOL
Flying may or may not be the safest mode of transportation, but your misuse of statistics does not indicate anything.
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If you calculate and compare traveled miles and total number of trips taken for each mode of transportation, THEN state fatalities as a % – the numbers will be somewhat comparable.
Superman has said that flying is the safest way to travel in several major motion pictures, and that’s good enough for me.
And this was worth pointing out for what reason? 40 years is quite a stretch and there are likely as many car accidents in ME during the summer.
I agree. This tells me NOTHING!
“Maine ranks seventh out of 11 states in the Northeast for number of plane crashes since the early 1960s,”