When FAA Administrator Michael Huerta told attendees at the agency’s October 24, 2017, General Aviation Summit “it looks like 2017 will end up being our safest year yet,” he also took something of a victory lap. As Huerta’s five-year term nears its end in January, he and his team are taking some credit for what everyone hopes will be a distinct improvement in aviation safety. And since the airline accident rate essentially is zero, that means identifying real safety improvements in general aviation.
Huerta’s victory lap isn’t without merit. Under his management, the FAA has taken a number of steps—including ADS-B implementation, streamlining the approval process for non-required safety enhancing equipment and completing its rewrite of Part 23’s aircraft certification rules—designed at least in part to help reduce GA’s accident rate. While some preliminary numbers comparing 2017’s accidents and activity should be available from either the NTSB or FAA in a few weeks, it’ll be long after Huerta leaves the agency before the final, official numbers are in.
