UPDATED 17:16 PM EDT, October 12, 2012
Airplane crashes and accidents decreased between 1999 and 2011, and the Federal Aviation Administration has set a goal to reduce further incidents by ten percent by 2018.
However, setting a general goal may distract the FAA from focusing on the area that most needs improvement in safety: small airplanes, said investigators from the Government Accountability Office, Congress' watchdog arm.
Single-engine piston airplanes are disproportionally involved in accidents, investigators said. And amateur-built experimental aircraft were involved in 21 percent of all fatal accidents, despite only having four percent of total flight hours by planes.
