Study on Rotorcraft Safety and Survivability

During Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF), there were 375 rotorcraft losses with 496 fatalities from October 2001 to September 2009. Mishaps accounted for 81 percent of all losses with combat losses (i.e., aircraft shootdowns) accounting for the remaining 19 percent; 73 percent of the fatalities occurred in a combat theater. The OEF/OIF combat hostile action loss rate is seven times lower than Vietnam. Aircraft vulnerability reduction design and tactics have mitigated the losses. Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG)/rockets account for most of the rotorcraft combat hostile action losses in OEF/OIF. The combined mishap loss rate (both combat non-hostile and non-combat) was 2.71 losses per 100,000 flight hours, slightly exceeding the loss rate due to combat hostile action. The in-theater mishap loss rate was ten times worse, and the out-of-theater loss rate was four times worse than the Congressional and SECDEF goal of 0.5 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours. Loss of situational awareness and other human factors accounted for more than 79 percent of the losses of airframe and fatalities. The primary causal factors are controlled flight into terrain and brownout.