Introduction

Cirrus Design builds a safe airplane. Yet, despite many safety improvements, fatal accidents continue to occur.

Since the introduction of the SR20 in mid-1999, there have been 55 fatal accidents in production Cirrus SR2x aircraft. In those accidents, 110 people have perished with 13 people injured (including 3 on the ground). In the same time frame, there have been 17 "saves" with the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System in which 35 people survived with 1 fatality.

Cirrus Fatal Accident Rate

Because Cirrus Design collaborates with COPA, we have access to their compilation of fleet flying hours.  This enables COPA to calculate the following fatal accident rates.

Past 36 months: 1.81

We use a 3-year average because, with a modest fleet size of 4,200 airplanes flying about 750,000 hours per year, the accident rate varies substantially with only a few accidents.  By contrast, the GA fleet contains 200,000 airplanes flying about 24,000,000 hours per year, or about 50 times more aircraft flying about 32 times more hours.

Past 12 months: 1.84

In the past 12 months, there have been 14 accidents in approximately 762,000 flight hours for a rate of 1.84 per 100,000 hours.

Lifetime of the fleet: 1.70

During the lifetime of the Cirrus SR2X fleet since mid-1999, there have been 54 fatal accidents in 3.2 million flying hours for a rate of 1.70 per 100,000 hours.

GA fleet: 1.19

This compares to the overall general aviation rate of 1.19 for 2007 (ref Nall report published by the Air Safety Foundation). 

The rate for the entire GA fleet represents a tough comparison for the Cirrus SR2X single-engine aircraft.  The GA rate includes twin-engine corporate jets and turboprops often flown by a crew of two pilots following corporate procedures.  Consequently, they fly a substantial fraction of the GA flying hours and have few fatal accidents.

GA single-engine fixed wing: 1.86

When twin-engine, turboprop and turbine jet aircraft are excluded, the single-engine piston rate was 1.86 fatal accidents per 100,000 hours flown in 2007.

Improving Cirrus Pilot Safety

After two fatal accidents within 5 days in January 2003, the Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association, Cirrus Design and our insurers focused on a concerted effort to improve pilot safety, training and decision making.

The COPA Critical Decision Making (CDM) seminar, the Single Pilot Resource Management module at a Cirrus Pilot Proficiency Program (CPPP), and the Cirrus Design CSIP (Cirrus Standardized Instructor Program) instructor designation all focus on risk management and decision making.

Updated Sept 11, 2009