Population-based description of air and space transport accident mortality, United States, 1979-89.

The aeromedical literature typically uses fatal accident rates (fatal accidents/100,000 aircraft flight hours) as a measure of aviation-related mortality. Calculation of population-based mortality rates (deaths/1,000,000 population) would permit comparison of aviation-related rates with rates due to other causes of death such as heart disease or motor vehicle accidents. Population-based mortality rates for air and space transport accidents were generated for the years 1979-89 using National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) data sources. The NCHS reported 15,017 air and space transport deaths for an 11-year mean mortality rate of 5.8 deaths/1,000,000 U.S. general population. The mortality rate decreased 41% from 7.8 deaths/1,000,000 in 1979 to 4.6 deaths/1,000,000 during 1989. Highest race/sex mortality rates occurred in white males and the lowest in black females. The highest state-specific mortality rates were clustered in mountainous states of the western United States. There was a 40-fold difference between the state with the highest mortality rate (Alaska) and the state with the lowest rate (Massachusetts). A better understanding of factors which contribute to the geographical distribution of mortality needs to be studied.