Meteorologists Andrew Fultz and Walker Ashley in 2016 undertook a comprehensive review of NTSB data and published their findings in Physical Geography. The researchers looked at almost 60,000 general aviation accidents between 1982 and 2013. They identified 25 percent of the accidents as weather-related. Out of those accidents, 26 percent were fatal. One sobering finding was that 35 percent of all fatal GA accidents are due to weather. The 31-year period saw 3972 accidents and 8052 lives lost in GA weather accidents. In 1982 things were grim, with an average of three crashes and two fatalities per day from weather. Through efforts of flight instructors, meteorologists, the FAA, and the NTSB, we've seen a fourfold drop in these numbers, but still with over 200 weather accidents each year, there's much work to be done.
展开▼
