Last month, a crash involving a business jet at Milan Linate airport in Italy tragically left 118 people dead. The Citation II had drifted off its own runway and into the flight path of an oncoming SAS airliner with catastrophic consequences.

It is, to the best of my knowledge, one of the worst accidents involving a business jet and as such is an extremely rare occurrence.

However, just as a large-scale train crash is likely to provoke knee-jerk media reactions calling for complete overhauls of the entire rail network, so accidents involving business jets seem to provoke similar reactions in the press.

Considering the vast number of business flights which take off every day, business aircraft are considerably safer than many other means of transport. However, when they are involved in fatal accidents, bearing in mind the often vip standing of the passengers, it is always easy subject matter for the media to sensationalise.

In 2000, a flurry (by business aviation standards) of two fatal accidents in a month led many laymen to assume that there was nothing more dangerous than boarding a business aircraft. First, racing driver David Coulthard was extremely lucky to walk away from a crashed Learjet which left the two pilots dead; and then jockeys Frankie Dettori and Ray Cochrane escaped from a burning Piper Seneca, which also cost the pilot his life.

The pictures form these crashes were draped across the world’s front pages and the public were left to draw their own conclusions. Yes, they are stories which will sell newspapers and magazines; no,

they are not stories which accurately reflect the overall safety record of the industry – particularly

when compared to other means of transport.

There are more deaths from car accidents than from any other means of transport. However, they are not nearly as newsworthy and if you tried to cover each and every one, there’d be no room for any other news. This fact, though obvious when pointed out, is one which tends to be forgotten in the heat and hype of the moment.

America’s National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has compiled statistics for the year 2000, stating: “The year 2000 shows one of the best corporate/executive (pro-flown) accident record ever – 0.125 accidents and 0.06 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours.

“Business aviation (non-pro-flown) also has compiled in 2000 the best record in more than a decade – 1.28 accidents per 100,000 flight hours.”

These statistics, and many others besides, speak for themselves. The industry monitors itself extremely closely, it investigates very fully any accident involving its aircraft and it strives always to discover safer means of operating in the future.

Let’s make sure this is never overlooked.

Richard Evans, editor, richard.evans@gbjtv.com