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Annual Safety Review 2014
Worldwide Safety
PAGE
26
Scope
This chapter covers fatal accidents worldwide that involved aeroplanes with a mass greater than 5,700 kg con‑
ducting passenger and cargo operations. The data covers a ten year period, providing both perspective and
relevance to the modern operating environment. Fatalities relating to security issues are covered separately in
Chapter 14 - Emerging Issues.
Review of Fatal Accidents in 2014
Although there were fewer fatal accidents worldwide in 2014 than the average for the last ten years, the num‑
ber of fatalities was close to the average and higher than in recent years.
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Table 1:
World‑wide safety number of fatal accidents and fatalities 2004-2014
Fatal Accidents
Fatalities
2014
16
648
2004-2013 Average
23
638
In 2014 there were 16 fatal accidents and 648 fatalities, while in 2013 there were 14 fatal accidents and 185 fa‑
talities. The biggest change in 2014 was the increase in fatalities when compared with 2013. In 2014 there were
648 fatalities in Fixed Wing Commercial Air Transport compared with 185 in 2013. The 2014 increase in fatalities
was the result of accidents involving larger aircraft carrying more passengers than those in 2013. In 2013 no sin‑
gle accident involved more than 50 fatalities. The number of fatalities in 2014 was 1.5% higher than the average
for the previous 10 years. 517 of the 648 fatalities that occurred in 2014 resulted from just 3 accidents:
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8th March
– Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. B777 missing, presumed crashed in southern Indian
Ocean (239 fatalities);
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24th July
– Air Algerie flight 5017, operated by Swiftair. MD83 stalled and crashed during a night flight
in thunderstorm conditions, with turbulence and icing (116 fatalities). Swiftair is an EASA MS Operator;
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28th December
– Air Asia flight 8501. A320 impacted the sea and was destroyed while flying from
Surabaya to Singapore(162 fatalities).
Presently, the loss of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 in Ukraine is excluded from the data as this occurrence is
considered to be a hostile action, which is outside the scope of the ICAO Annex 13 definition of an accident. This
occurrence and work on aviation safety for aircraft overflying conflict zones is covered in more detail in Chap‑
ter 14. Were MH17 to be included in the accident figures, the number of fatalities would increase to 946.