Private and business aircraft safety ranking
How safe is each private jet?
Business jets and turboprops ranked by the chance of a fatal accident on a flight, for charter passengers, owners and companies.
These aircraft fly private, charter, corporate, air ambulance and training trips that no flight statistics tell apart, so we count every fatal accident since 2008 except deliberate acts, attacks on the aircraft and accidents on military, test and illegal flights, and divide by all civil flights of the type since 2008. Most types have flown only a few million flights, so each score comes with a likely range. Types with too little record of their own are listed without a rank. The operator and the crew matter more than the type. Full methodology
- Bombardier Challenger 300/350/3500, score 74, grade B
- Embraer Phenom 300, score 72, grade B
- Cessna Citation Excel/XLS, score 71, grade B
- Learjet 40/45/70/75, score 68, grade C
- Cessna Citation Mustang, score 61, grade C
- Gulfstream IV/G450, score 61, grade C
- Cessna CitationJet (CJ1-CJ4, M2), score 61, grade C
- Learjet 60, score 60, grade C
- Cessna Citation V/Ultra/Encore, score 59, grade C
- Bombardier Challenger 600-650, score 57, grade C
- Hawker 800/900 (BAe 125-700/800), score 57, grade C
- Pilatus PC-12, score 54, grade D
- Beechcraft King Air 300/350/360, score 51, grade D
- Beechcraft King Air 200/250/260, score 49, grade D
- Learjet 55, score 48, grade D
- Learjet 31/35/36, score 48, grade D
- Beechcraft King Air 90, score 39, grade F
- Daher (Socata) TBM 700/850/900, score 38, grade F
33 families
| # | Type | Fatal risk per flight | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bombardier Challenger 300/350/3500Bombardier · since 2004 | Business jet | 74B, Good | ||
| 2 | Embraer Phenom 300Embraer · since 2009 | Business jet | 72B, Good | ||
| 3 | Cessna Citation Excel/XLSCessna (Textron Aviation) · since 1998 | Business jet | 71B, Good | ||
| 4 | Learjet 40/45/70/75Learjet (Bombardier) · since 1998 | Business jet | 68C, Fair | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Cessna Citation MustangCessna (Textron Aviation) · since 2006 | Business jet | 61C, Fair | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Gulfstream IV/G450Gulfstream Aerospace · since 1987 | Business jet | 61C, Fair | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Cessna CitationJet (CJ1-CJ4, M2)Cessna (Textron Aviation) · since 1993 | Business jet | 61C, Fair | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Learjet 60Learjet (Bombardier) · since 1993 | Business jet | 60C, Fair | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Cessna Citation V/Ultra/EncoreCessna (Textron Aviation) · since 1989 | Business jet | 59C, Fair | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Bombardier Challenger 600-650Bombardier (Canadair) · since 1980 | Business jet | 57C, Fair | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Hawker 800/900 (BAe 125-700/800)British Aerospace / Raytheon / Hawker Beechcraft · since 1977 | Business jet | 57C, Fair | ||
| 12 | Pilatus PC-12Pilatus · since 1994 | Business turboprop | 54D, Weak | ||
| 13 | Beechcraft King Air 300/350/360Beechcraft (Textron Aviation) · since 1984 | Business turboprop | 51D, Weak | ||
| 14 | Beechcraft King Air 200/250/260Beechcraft (Textron Aviation) · since 1974 | Business turboprop | 49D, Weak | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Learjet 55Learjet · since 1981 | Business jet | 48D, Weak | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Learjet 31/35/36Learjet · since 1974 | Business jet | 48D, Weak | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Beechcraft King Air 90Beechcraft (Textron Aviation) · since 1964 | Business turboprop | 39F, Poor | ||
| Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary | Daher (Socata) TBM 700/850/900Daher (Socata) · since 1990 | Business turboprop | 38F, Poor | ||
| 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 | Dassault Falcon 2000Dassault Aviation · since 1995 | Business jet | 85A, Excellent | ||
| Not ranked | Bombardier Global (Express to 8000)Bombardier · since 1999 | Business jet | 85A, Excellent | ||
| Not ranked | Cessna Citation SovereignCessna (Textron Aviation) · since 2004 | Business jet | 84B, Good | ||
| Not ranked | Gulfstream V/G550Gulfstream Aerospace · since 1997 | Business jet | 83B, Good | ||
| Not ranked | Cessna Citation Latitude/LongitudeCessna (Textron Aviation) · since 2015 | Business jet | 80B, Good | ||
| Not ranked | Embraer Legacy 450/500, Praetor 500/600Embraer · since 2014 | Business jet | 78B, Good | ||
| Not ranked | Dassault Falcon 7X/8XDassault Aviation · since 2007 | Business jet | 77B, Good | ||
| Not ranked | Gulfstream G650/G700/G800Gulfstream Aerospace · since 2012 | Business jet | 77B, Good | ||
| Not ranked | Beechjet 400/Hawker 400XP (MU-300 Diamond)Beechcraft (Raytheon, Hawker Beechcraft) · since 1981 | Business jet | 77B, Good | ||
| Not ranked | Pilatus PC-24Pilatus Aircraft · since 2018 | Business jet | 75B, Good | ||
| Not ranked | Dassault Falcon 900Dassault Aviation · since 1986 | Business jet | 71B, Good | ||
| Not ranked | Cessna Citation XCessna (Textron Aviation) · since 1996 | Business jet | 69C, Fair | ||
| Not ranked | Gulfstream G200/G280Gulfstream Aerospace (Galaxy Aerospace, IAI) · since 1999 | Business jet | 67C, Fair | ||
| Not ranked | Embraer Phenom 100Embraer · since 2008 | Business jet | 65C, Fair | ||
| Not ranked | HondaJetHonda Aircraft Company · since 2015 | Business jet | 60C, Fair | ||