FAA 2024 General Aviation Activity Surveys Released with Hours Flown by Ag and Other Industry Statistics
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently released its General Aviation (GA) Activity Survey of data collected by U.S. GA pilots nationwide in 2024. The information includes total hours flown in the agricultural aviation industry and other important statistics that NAAA uses to determine accident frequency and the effectiveness of industry safety programs such as PAASS. In 2024, agricultural aviation pilots flew a total of 949,149 hours. That was 159,496 fewer hours compared to 2023’s 1,108,645 total hours flown. There were 54 accidents in 2024, sadly, 13 of which were fatal. This resulted in 5.69 accidents per 100,000 ag aviation hours flown and 1.37 fatal accidents per 100,000 ag aviation hours flown.
The average number of hours flown between 1993-1998, before the aviation safety and environmental professionalism education program PAASS came on stage was 1,459,000 with an average of 138.7 accidents per year, 13.3 fatal, with an average accident rate of 9.64 accidents per 100,000 hours flown. The average fatal accident rate from 1993 to 1998 was 0.93. From 1999-2024, when PAASS has been active, the accident rate per 100,000 hours flown was 6.95, a 27.9% decrease when compared to 1993-1998. The year with the lowest number of agricultural aviation accidents was last year, 2025, with 43; and the years with the lowest number of fatal accidents were also last year, 2025, and in 2012 with 4. The fatal accident rate for the industry between 1999-2024 decreased 3.1% when compared to 1993-1998. Drift claims have decreased by nearly 26 percent since PAASS hit the stage.
NAAA’s 2019 industry survey estimates the number of manned agricultural aviation operations in the U.S. is approximately 1,560 and 2,028 manned U.S. non-operator pilots. 1,293 manned pilots and operators took the PAASS program during the 2024-2025 season (before the 2025 aerial application season), or 36% of the agricultural aviation industry.