Brazil · aviation data
Brazil helicopter accidents per flight hour
A comparison of observed rates by engine class and model, using CENIPA records and hours reported to ANAC for 2015–2024. These figures describe groups; they do not predict the risk of a particular flight.
What was counted
The extract used here contains 170 helicopter accidents and 2,983,749 flight hours in Brazil from 2015 through 2024. It includes CENIPA records classified ACIDENTE. Incidents and serious incidents are excluded. Another period, source version or definition can produce a different total.
Rate per 100,000 hours = accidents divided by flight hours, multiplied by 100,000. This accounts for how much the group flew. It is not a passenger-injury probability or a directly comparable measure of risk on a road journey.
Rates by engine class
Observed rates differ across the three classes. Engine type, mission, operator, crew and maintenance do not vary independently, however. This comparison does not isolate the effect of the engine or rank operators.
| Class | Hours | Accidents | Rate | 95% interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single-engine piston | 558,656 | 83 | 14.86 | 11.83–18.42 |
| Single-engine turbine | 1,174,800 | 70 | 5.96 | 4.64–7.53 |
| Twin-engine turbine | 1,250,293 | 17 | 1.36 | 0.79–2.18 |
Source: CENIPA counts and ANAC hours, grouped using each source’s engine classification. Calculations by Vanguard Attaché.
Rates by model family
The table includes families with at least 20,000 hours in the window. A wide interval signals uncertainty in the rate estimate. No recorded accident gives an observed rate of zero, with a positive upper confidence limit.
| Family | Hours | Accidents | Rate | 95% interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robinson R44 | 386,528 | 57 | 14.75 | 11.17–19.11 |
| Schweizer 269/300 | 28,274 | 4 | 14.15 | 3.85–36.22 |
| Leonardo AW119 | 21,324 | 3 | 14.07 | 2.90–41.11 |
| Robinson R22 | 143,932 | 18 | 12.51 | 7.41–19.76 |
| Bell 206 | 130,374 | 16 | 12.27 | 7.01–19.93 |
| Bell 407 | 49,129 | 6 | 12.21 | 4.48–26.58 |
| Airbus EC120 | 32,891 | 3 | 9.12 | 1.88–26.66 |
| Airbus AS350/H125 | 641,849 | 34 | 5.30 | 3.67–7.40 |
| Airbus EC145/H145 | 38,259 | 2 | 5.23 | 0.63–18.88 |
| Airbus AS365/EC155 | 38,442 | 2 | 5.20 | 0.63–18.79 |
| Airbus AS355 | 21,513 | 1 | 4.65 | 0.12–25.90 |
| Leonardo A109 | 153,475 | 6 | 3.91 | 1.43–8.51 |
| Robinson R66 | 184,331 | 6 | 3.26 | 1.19–7.08 |
| Bell 429 | 62,346 | 1 | 1.60 | 0.04–8.94 |
| Sikorsky S-76 | 251,595 | 3 | 1.19 | 0.25–3.48 |
| Airbus EC130/H130 | 88,759 | 1 | 1.13 | 0.03–6.28 |
| Leonardo AW139 | 312,055 | 1 | 0.32 | 0.01–1.79 |
| Sikorsky S-92 | 237,137 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00–1.56 |
| Airbus EC135/H135 | 44,453 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00–8.30 |
| Bell 505 | 21,458 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00–17.19 |
| Airbus EC225/H225 | 20,431 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00–18.06 |
How the groups were constructed
CENIPA aircraft and occurrence records are joined by occurrence ID, then filtered to helicopters and accidents in the period. Model text determines the family first, with the ICAO code as a fallback. ANAC hours are grouped into the same families. The cross-source comparison is by family, not individual aircraft registration.
Engine classes use each source’s own classification: engine type and count in CENIPA, and H1P, H1T and H2T in ANAC hours. Family rollups therefore do not exactly reproduce all engine-class totals.
The 95% intervals use the Garwood Poisson method for counts. They are conditional on the statistical model and recorded hours; they do not include all uncertainty in estimated hours or differences between operators.
What changes without estimated hours
ANAC flags estimated or interpolated hours. They account for 10.8% of exposure in this analysis. Removing them while keeping every accident reduces the denominator and raises nonzero rates. The R44 changes from 14.75 to 17.28. The R22 also increases, from 12.51 to 15.55.
This is a denominator sensitivity check, not a count of new accidents. It does not by itself show whether ANAC’s estimates are high or low. The main tables retain the full denominator.
What these data cannot settle
- The safety of a particular operator, pilot or flight.
- A risk comparison between Rio and São Paulo without compatible flight-hour exposure by location.
- The isolated effect of weather, engines or a booking decision.
- Rates for 2025 or 2026 using this 2015–2024 denominator.
- A technical fly-or-cancel decision, which needs professional assessment of the flight conditions.
Corrections and files to inspect
The 21 August review corrected one Schweizer 269C occurrence from turbine to piston. Engine-class rates changed from 14.68/6.04/1.36 to 14.86/5.96/1.36. A Bell 429 previously outside its family mapping was also assigned correctly, with one fatal accident. The earlier claim that the R44 changed most was corrected.
Common questions
Does a helicopter with a zero rate have no risk?
No. Zero means no accident was recorded in that sample. The interval has a positive upper bound and the sample does not cover every future condition.
Do these rates tell me which aircraft to book?
They can inform questions, but they do not replace assessment of the operator, mission and conditions. They are historical comparisons between different groups, not a rule for choosing a flight.