There are two conditions involving the military, lurking in the background of the investigation into the collision of a U.S. Army helicopter and American Airlines Flight 5342 over the Potomac River on the night of Jan. 29. One of those conditions is the surge in aviation-related accidents in the Army over the past two years.
In 2024, Army Aviation recorded the highest number of Class A flight mishaps—the most serious type of aircraft accidents—since 2014 and the worst Class A flight mishap rate per 100,000 hours since 2007, according to new statistics from the Aviation Division of the Directorate of Analysis and Prevention at the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center, according to Nick Turse in the The Intercept. Class A mishaps are those that result in at least $2.5 million in property damage, the destruction of a manned aircraft, and/or a fatality or a catastrophic injury.
The Army suffered 15 Class A flight mishaps and 2 Class A aircraft ground mishaps last year, compared to 9 flight and 1 aircraft ground accidents in 2023, and just 4 flight and 4 ground mishaps in 2022. (The Army measures all years by fiscal year.) Nine soldiers, one contractor, and one civilian died in flight mishaps in 2024. Another contractor died in an aircraft ground mishap.
