Population-based description of aircraft accident mortality, U.S. military, 1980-90.

BACKGROUND

Aircraft crashes are an important cause of premature and preventable mortality. The nature and missions of the U.S. military services place active duty members at risk for aircraft accidents.

METHODS

Mortality data on Department of Defense active duty service members were obtained from the Worldwide Casualty System (WCS), an automated data base of active duty military personnel casualty information. Military service population data were obtained from the Defense Manpower Data Center. Aggregate and service-, sex-, rank-, and race-specific mortality rates were calculated.

RESULTS

Between 1980-90, the U.S. military services reported 22,753 deaths (98.2 deaths/100,000 active duty service members) due to all causes combined, 14,100 deaths (60.9 deaths/100,000) due to accident causes, and 2,258 (9.8 deaths/100,000) due to aircraft accident causes. The Marine Corps had the highest service-specific mortality rate, 16.3 deaths/100,000, while the Navy had the lowest, 7.5 deaths/100,000. The male to female mortality rate ratio was 6.6:1. Aircraft crash mortality rate for officers, 39.7 deaths/100,000, was higher than that for enlisted persons, 4.8 deaths/100,000. The Navy had the highest officer-to-enlisted mortality rate ratio, 17:1, while the Army had the lowest, 3.9:1.

CONCLUSIONS

Aircraft crashes are an important cause of mortality among the military services. There are differences in mortality rates between the services with an overall trend of mortality decline.