Whitaker: FAA and General Aviation community are making the skies safer

WASHINGTON, DC – The United States has the largest and most diverse General Aviation (GA) community in the world and we are all working together to put the right technologies, regulations, and education initiatives in place to improve safety. While the fatal accident rate is beginning to decline, too many lives are still being lost. Last year, 384 people died in 238 general aviation accidents. While we still have more work to do, the GA Joint Steering Committee’s work on voluntary safety measures is making a difference. There’s also no question that ADS-B is one of NextGen’s most important safety technologies, and we’re continuing to work closely with the Equip 2020 team to get it into more general aviation aircraft.

We’ve also made considerable progress on regulations that will enhance general aviation safety with our recent proposed Part 23 rule that will help us decrease the time it takes to get safety-enhancing technologies for small airplanes to the marketplace. Loss of Control remains our greatest concern. Through the Fly Safe education campaign we’ve had 35 million impressions on social media platforms.

Thank you to our industry leaders who participated in today’s GA Safety Summit. Together, government and industry are building on our momentum and commitment to improve general aviation safety.