In mid-September, the NTSB released its preliminary aviation accident statistics for 2013, which contained two pieces of good news. First, the preliminary numbers show an overall decline in the number of U.S.-registered civil aviation accidents, which dropped sharply, from 1539 in 2012 to 1297 in 2013. Second, general aviation accidents saw across-the-board reductions in both total numbers and occurrence rates. The total number of general aviation accidents dropped by 249 in 2013, bringing the total number down to 1222. The number of fatal accidents (221), fatalities (387) and the accident rate per 100,000 flight hours (5.85) also declined from the previous year.
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