Written by: jhadmin
5/6/2010 9:33 AM

The debate over which helicopter is safer, twins or singles, has raged on for years with all kinds of voo-doo used to make the case for each. I have always found the debate to be interesting and I often wondered, from a technical standpoint, which IS safer? So in a few minutes of spare time, I looked for some objective data to see if we could truly point our finger at one or the other and say which one is safer. So here is my spin……..

Presently we can only make statements of fact based on hard data. On what IS defined. On what data IS collected. On how the data IS measured.

"Accidents" are defined. The data is collected and presented by the NTSB, FAA, and HAI. With respect to Single Turbine v. Twin Turbine, the data is collected and measured two ways.

1. Number of civil helicopter accidents by engine type (single turbine v. twin turbine).

2. Helicopter accident rate per 100,000 flying hours by engine type.

For category number 1 the accidents are MUCH higher (from 3:1 to 7:1) for single engine helicopters in every category which includes total number, total number which had fatalities, and total fatalities......YES less people die in twins than do singles. That is a fact. Now, I think category 1 above is the most subjective in that it does not factor the number of singles out there v. number of twins.

Therefore, category number 2 would be a more objective measurement. Here are the numbers since 2003 through December 2007. Accident rate per 100,000 hours by engine type:

So, based on the facts what can we really say that would not be considered B.S. or mere speculation?

A. From the stand point of being involved in an accident, you would be more likely to have one if flying a single engine helicopter.

B. From the stand point of dying in a helicopter as a result of an accident, you would be more likely to be killed in a single engine helicopter.

As you can see below, in the 5 year reporting period from 2003 – 2007, 138 people were killed in singles vs. 41 were killed in twins.

I think the facts state, statistically speaking, that twin engine helicopters reduce the risk of accident and fatality by a slim margin. The question ALWAYS becomes how much more are you willing to PAY to reduce that risk.

In other words, would you be willing to pay 3 or 4x the cost to reduce that risk say.... 10%.? Now apply that to other things in your everyday life and pretend it is your money for a second. How often do you pay 3 or 4x $$ for something on something with a little better safety rating?

These stats represent only turbine helicopters. If we were to include the single pistons, the SE numbers go through the roof. Sorry, but these are the facts. No guess work, no "what ifs", and no "what about this and that". Just the facts from the data collected and measured by our industry.

And that is My Two Cents - Lyn

What say you?

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Location: Blogs My Two Cents - By Lyn Burks of Justhelicopters.com

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