2007 was safest year for U.S. airlines since '98

WASHINGTON -- For the second time in two decades, the U.S. airline industry did not have a passenger fatality or major accident last year, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Aviation safety has made dramatic strides in the USA and other countries in recent years. Since 2001, only one fatality has occurred in a crash on a major U.S. airline, the 2005 death of a child struck by a Southwest Airlines jet that skidded off Midway Airport in Chicago.

The last time there were no major accidents or fatalities in the domestic aviation system was 1998, but it was in an era when plane crashes regularly killed hundreds of people a year. In 1996, crashes killed 319 passengers, including the 212 passengers aboard TWA Flight 800.

The NTSB defines a major accident as a crash that destroys a plane, kills multiple people or kills at least one person and causes significant damage.

Safety experts said aircraft manufacturers, airlines and regulators have installed new safety equipment and are more closely monitoring flights for early warning signs of safety problems.

"We're dealing with safety problems before they manifest themselves as serious accidents," said Bill Voss, president of the non-profit Flight Safety Foundation.

Voss and other aviation analysts cautioned that much work remains to be done to improve safety. For example, at least three passenger jets last year skidded off runways at high enough speeds to cause significant damage to the planes, the NTSB reported.

Voss testified last year before Congress that runway accidents remain a significant safety challenge here and elsewhere around the world.

Tom Anthony, director of the Aviation Safety and Security Program at the University of Southern California, said the aviation industry also needs to keep careful watch on new technologies and changes in operations to make sure safety continues to improve.

These changes "have the potential of presenting new hazards," Anthony said.

Although there were no airline passenger fatalities, one airline mechanic died July 10 in Tunica, Miss., according to the NTSB. The mechanic fell from a Sky King Boeing 737 to the tarmac while trying to close the door during a rainstorm, said a preliminary report. There were more than 11 million airline flights last year.