During 2017, 13 people died in aircraft accidents in Norway. In 2016, the figure was 14, which is significantly higher than during previous years.
‘There have been two special years. 2017 was a year of high workload, especially for the aerospace department,’ said William J. Bertheussen, Director of the Norwegian Civil Aviation Commission for Transport, to Dagbladet newspaper.
It is usually small planes and helicopters that have accidents. The Civil Aviation Authority showed that 14 people died in plane crashes in 2016. That was all the passengers on board in the Turoy accident, and one passenger from another accident.
In 2017, 13 people died in air crashes, eight of them when a helicopter crashed outside Barentsburg on Svalbard in November.
By comparison, three people died in 2015, and five in 2014. In 2013, no one died in an air crash.
‘In general on flights, there were a greater number of accidents last year than has been the norm in recent years. But accounting for a whole decade, there were not unusually high numbers,’ said Wenche Olsen, Director of the Civil Aviation Authority.
She stressed that it is safe to fly in Norway, and that safety is generally good.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
