U.S. military crashes average more than 1 a week

By CNN Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon says U.S. military aircraft are involved in major accidents more than once a week on average.

Pentagon statistics show there were 57 major military aircraft accidents in fiscal year 2000, and 73 the year before.

But the Pentagon insists that U.S. military aviation is getting safer all the time.

In fact, fiscal year 2000, which ended September 30, was one of the safest years on record, because the accident rate of 1.23 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours was 20 percent lower than the year before.

That rate was the lowest ever recorded for "Class A Mishaps," which are accidents in which there is a death, permanent disability or more than $1 million in damage.

So far this fiscal year, accidents are occurring about the same pace, with 25 accidents (not including Monday's incidents) compared with 25 last year at this time.

Before Monday's accidents, the rate for this year was 1.22 accidents per 100,000 of flight hours.

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