Who doesn’t love helicopters? Today, we hardly bat an eye at a commercial airliner, a modern marvel, safely transporting hundreds of passengers. However, should you hear the characteristic whomp, whomp, whomp of a helo traveling overhead, it almost demands an investigatory glance. Still, helicopters scare would-be passengers off after stories, footage, and Hollywood depictions of disaster. So, just how often do helicopter crashes happen?

Believe it or not, helicopter crashes aren’t a common occurrence

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) exists to make air as safe and efficient as possible. Unfortunately, that includes analyzing the dangers of flying on small airplanes and helicopters. However, the FAA doesn’t evaluate these dangers to make small aircraft and rotary-wing applications into some sort of boogeyman. 

No, no– quite the opposite. Through the data that the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) gather about helicopter travel, we can breathe a little bit easier about the likelihood of a helicopter crash.

Helicopter crashes aren’t at all a common occurrence, per AFAR Magazine. “It’s safe enough so that when one of these events happens, it’s a major story,” says John Goglia, an aviation consultant for the NTSB. According to the U.S. Helicopter Safety Team, the rate of fatal accident rate wherein one or more occupants of a helo perish in an incident was around 0.73 per 100,000 flight hours.

Compared to the rate for general aviation incidents involving non-commercial aircraft, helicopters are the safer option. Specifically, the statistics for general aviation safety put the fatal accident rate at closer to 1.049 per 100,000 hours of flight time.

That said, any driving, flying, or boating carries with it a certain amount of risk. Of course, we all remember the infamous and tragic 2020 crash that claimed the lives of Basketball icon and All-Star Kobe Bryant and the rest of the aircraft’s occupants.

Near misses are also a reality. A “hard landing” refers to an event wherein, for one reason or another, an aircraft lands in an often violent, other-than-ideal manner. Many helicopter flights, one of my flights with the Marines included, experience hard landings due to circumstances like mechanical failures. However, helicopters remain a low-risk flight option, especially when compared to the likelihood of a fatal crash on our nation’s roads.