Corporate Aircraft Remain Among Safest Travel Modes

Regardless of the intense regulatory scrutiny that follows highly publicized private plane crashes, officials say corporate aircraft remain one of the safest forms of travel.

“There just simply aren’t that many fatal accidents,” said Bob Breiling, whose company in Boca Raton, Fla., tracks aircraft safety.

“Based on a five-year average, corporate aviation is safer than commercial aviation,” said Cassandra Bosco, spokeswoman for the National Business Aircraft Assn. in Washington, which represents about 3,000 business aircraft owners. “In fact, corporate aviation has just about the safest record of any form of transportation.”

Despite the low incidence of accidents, many companies have established corporate travel policies designed to keep several key executives from traveling on the same plane.

“It comes down to individual policy,” Bosco said. “You can’t generalize, but usually, the larger companies are the ones with policies.”

Companies that have policies governing how many executives can fly in the same plane include Carl Karcher Enterprises, Chevron USA and Transamerica. Most of the policies apply only to top-echelon executives.

Former Irvine Mayor Sally Anne Sheridan said she knew from past conversations with In-N-Out executives that President Rich Snyder and Vice President Phil West, who died in Wednesday’s corporate jet crash in Santa Ana, never flew on the same plane in the past. “They had a corporate policy which they abided by,” said Sheridan, who was instrumental in helping persuade In-N-Out to move its corporate headquarters to Irvine.

Other than to confirm the deaths of Snyder, West and business consultant Jack Sims, In-N-Out executives Thursday declined to discuss the crash.

Breiling said it is highly unusual for more than one or two corporate jet crashes to occur in a year. And, while family members and business associates are anxious to learn what factors caused a crash, “the unfortunate thing is that you have to wait until the National Transportation Safety Board makes its determination,” he said.

Air Charters Boast Low Accident Rate

The air charter accident rate is far lower than that of general aviation. In fact, it improved in 1992 over the previous year. Accidents per 100,000 flight hours:

1991 1992 General aviation 6.90 7.20 Private planes used for business purposes* 3.10 2.40 Air charter 2.57 2.20 Commuter airlines 1.05 1.10 Company-owned aircraft (all types) 0.24 0.21 Scheduled commercial airlines 0.23 0.15 Company-owned jets 0.29 0.12

* Flown by non-professional pilots

AIR TRAVEL SAFER THAN AUTOMOBILES

In terms of business travel, flying in a company-owned plane was an extraordinarily safe way to travel last year. Business travel fatalities per 100 million passenger miles, 1992:

Private autos and taxis: 1.18

Trains: 0.07

Scheduled commercial air carriers: 0.04

Company-owned aircraft: 0.04

Source: Robert E. Breiling Associates Inc.; Researched by JANICE L. JONES / Los Angeles Times