Navy safety boss grapples with '14 spike in aviation mishaps

Fresh off its safest year on record, the Navy saw its manned aviation Class A mishaps — the most serious type of mishap — more than triple

Manned aviation experienced only four Class A mishaps in fiscal 2013, a rate of 0.48 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours. But there were 14 Class A mishaps — those involving a fatality, permanent total disability or upwards of $2 million in damage — in fiscal 2014, according to official summaries.

The head of the Naval Safety Center isn't sounding the alarm yet, noting that "one year, a trend does not make."

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