The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has devised some ideas to reduce the accident rate for private planes and corporate aircraft by up to 10% by 2018. FAA chief Randy Babbitt said he is concerned that the accident rate for general aviation (which refers to all types of aircraft excluding airlines) has improved only slightly in recent years. The rate is down from 2001, but there were still 268 general aviation fatal accidents with 457 deaths in 2010.
However, the number of flights logged by general aviation pilots has also declined since 1999, dropping from 29 million to less than 22 million in 2008, in part due to the recession. Babbitt said he is also concerned about a recent trend where planes built form kits are flown mostly for personal use. These planes were involved in 22% of general aviation accidents over the last five years, even though the accounted for just 5% of total general aviation aircraft.
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