Preliminary 2009 aviation accident statistics released by the NTSB late last week show an overall decrease in aviation accidents for general aviation and on-demand Part 135 operations. According to the Safety Board, on-demand Part 135 operations had the lowest number of accidents and fatal accidents last year compared with any other time in the past two decades. General aviation accidents decreased from 1,566 in 2008 to 1,474 last year, though the accident rate increased to 7.20 per 100,000 flight hours last year from 6.86 in 2008 due to the decrease in the total number of flight hours. Fatal GA accidents edged down to 272 last year from 275 in 2008. Although fatalities decreased to 474 from 494, the fatal accident rate increased to 1.33 from 1.21, also because of fewer flight hours last year. On-demand Part 135 operations reported 47 accidents, down from 58 in 2008, while fatalities also decreased to 17 in 2009 from 69 in 2008. Despite the lower flight activity last year, the on-demand accident rate decreased to 1.63 per 100,000 flight hours from 1.81 in 2008.