Helicopter safety ranking
How safe is each helicopter?
Civil helicopters, from the Robinson R22 and R44 to the Bell 206, MD 500, Airbus H125 and Sikorsky S-76, ranked by the chance of a fatal accident on a flight, for tour passengers, student pilots, owners and the crews who fly them.
This ranking uses flights in the United States and fatal accidents in the United States from 2008 to 28 October 2026 only. The FAA counts every registered helicopter and surveys how much each class flies, ADS-B tracks, NTSB airframe hours and FAA hours per model show how much each type flies, and the US accident record is close to complete, so that is where flights and accidents can be matched. We count every fatal accident except deliberate acts and accidents on military, test and illegal flights, and divide by all flights of the type, from take-off to landing. In a helicopter the mission, the pilot and the weather matter more than the type, so each page lists what went wrong. Full methodology
- Airbus H145 / EC145 / BK117, score 70, grade B
- Airbus H135 / EC135, score 67, grade C
- Airbus H130 / EC130, score 65, grade C
- Sikorsky S-76, score 62, grade C
- Leonardo AW109 / Agusta A109, score 59, grade C
- Bell 429 GlobalRanger, score 59, grade C
- Airbus AS355 Ecureuil 2 (TwinStar), score 58, grade C
- Bell 407, score 56, grade C
- Airbus H125 / AS350 Ecureuil (AStar), score 55, grade C
- Bell 206 JetRanger and LongRanger, Bell 505 Jet Ranger X, score 54, grade D
- Robinson R22, score 52, grade D
- Hughes 269 / Schweizer 300, score 50, grade D
- Enstrom F-28 and 280, score 49, grade D
- Robinson R44, score 48, grade D
- MD 500 / Hughes 369, score 43, grade D
- Robinson R66, score 40, grade D
18 families
| # | Type | Fatal risk per flight | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Airbus H145 / EC145 / BK117Airbus Helicopters (MBB, Kawasaki, Eurocopter) · since 1983 | Helicopter | 70B, Good | ||
| 2 | Airbus H135 / EC135Airbus Helicopters (Eurocopter) · since 1996 | Helicopter | 67C, Fair | ||
| 3 | Airbus H130 / EC130Airbus Helicopters (Eurocopter) · since 2001 | Helicopter | 65C, Fair | ||
| 4 | Sikorsky S-76Sikorsky (Lockheed Martin) · since 1979 | Helicopter | 62C, Fair | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Leonardo AW109 / Agusta A109Leonardo (Agusta, AgustaWestland) · since 1976 | Helicopter | 59C, Fair | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Bell 429 GlobalRangerBell Textron · since 2009 | Helicopter | 59C, Fair | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Airbus AS355 Ecureuil 2 (TwinStar)Airbus Helicopters (Aerospatiale, Eurocopter) · since 1982 | Helicopter | 58C, Fair | ||
| 8 | Bell 407Bell Textron · since 1996 | Helicopter | 56C, Fair | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Airbus H125 / AS350 Ecureuil (AStar)Airbus Helicopters (Aerospatiale, Eurocopter) · since 1977 | Helicopter | 55C, Fair | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Bell 206 JetRanger and LongRanger, Bell 505 Jet Ranger XBell Textron · since 1967 | Helicopter | 54D, Weak | ||
| 11 | Robinson R22Robinson Helicopter Company · since 1979 | Helicopter | 52D, Weak | ||
| 12 | Hughes 269 / Schweizer 300Schweizer RSG (Hughes, Schweizer, Sikorsky) · since 1961 | Helicopter | 50D, Weak | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Enstrom F-28 and 280Enstrom Helicopter Corporation · since 1965 | Helicopter | 49D, Weak | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Robinson R44Robinson Helicopter Company · since 1993 | Helicopter | 48D, Weak | ||
| 15 | MD 500 / Hughes 369MD Helicopters (Hughes, McDonnell Douglas) · since 1967 | Helicopter | 43D, Weak | ||
| 16 | Robinson R66Robinson Helicopter Company · since 2010 | Helicopter | 40D, Weak | ||
| Not ranked yet. These types have fewer than 3 million flights and at most one fatal accident counted, so their scores are too unsure to rank: each page gives the likely range. | |||||
| Not ranked | Leonardo AW139Leonardo (AgustaWestland) · since 2003 | Helicopter | 75B, Good | ||
| Not ranked | Bell 212 and 412Bell Textron (Agusta, Subaru licence builds) · since 1970 | Helicopter | 73B, Good | ||