Overview

• Introduction
• References

There is little doubt in the commercial aviation community that the addition of flight deck automation has made significant contributions to the safety and efficiency of operations. Accident records corroborate this point. Although it is risky to draw general conclusions from aircraft accident data due to the small numbers of accidents, the uniqueness of each accident, and the fact that we have less service experience with newer aircraft than with older aircraft, the hull loss accident rates for advanced technology (newer generation) aircraft are generally lower than those for comparable conventional (older generation) aircraft (see below).

Boeing Commercial Airplane Group (1997). Statistical summary of commercial jet airplane accidents, worldwide operations, 1959-1996. Seattle, WA: Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, Airplane Safety Engineering.