Chad is the editor of AINalerts, AIN's daily business aviation newsletter, and is also the news editor at AIN Media Group.&nbsp;He has been writing about aviation, with an emphasis on business aviation, since 1994. Chad started his writing career at The Avion,&nbsp;the&nbsp;student newspaper at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, serving as editor-in-chief before graduating with a bachelor's in aeronautical science. After a stint as managing editor at Professional Pilot&nbsp;magazine, he joined&nbsp;AIN in late 1998. Chad holds a commercial pilot certificated with instrument and multi-engine ratings, and he also is a CFI/CFII. He lives and works from his home in Venice, Florida.

Online Editor

Chad Trautvetter

Aviation alphabet groups slammed USA Today’s “sensationalistic” story published yesterday about general aviation safety. The story, “Unfit for Flight,” “fails to acknowledge the significant progress general aviation manufacturers have made to improve safety,” noted GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce. “The reality is that the number of fatal accidents in general aviation aircraft has declined substantially in recent years. In fact, the goal of one fatal accident per 100,000 hours flown by 2018 now appears increasingly likely.”


NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen called the story “one sided,” saying it “mixed a lot of data and information, some of it inaccurate, and in the process left readers with the false impression that the general aviation industry is less than totally committed to the safety of flight.” Bolen noted that omitted, but available, information “illustrates the industry’s focus on safety. Contrary to the writer’s assertion, the safety trend for general aviation over the nearly 50-year period the story’s author referenced has been one of significant improvement, as government data shows.”


AIA president and CEO and former FAA Administrator Marion Blakey charged that the story “ignores overwhelming evidence of improving general aviation safety in a misguided effort to paint aerospace manufacturers in a bad light.” She said that going back through five decades of accident data “significantly” distorts the marked decline in both fatal and nonfatal accidents that occurred from 1999 to 2011, with fatal accidents falling 24 percent and nonfatal accidents falling 29 percent over that period.

Aviation Groups Slam ‘USA Today’ Story on GA Safety

Story “fails to acknowledge the significant progress general aviation manufacturers have made to improve safety,” noted GAMA.

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