In order to make sense of such accident data,and to answer questions posed about "how safe or how risky" you need to be able to estimate the accident rate. To do that you need to know how much flying has been done. Usually, you need flying hours, but number of movements is also useful.
Generally speaking, getting the flying hours/movements for a population is more difficult than knowing about the accidents. You also need to get such data for the same population as you have accident data.
Quite often there are comparisons made between rotary and other types of flying. Usually, helicopters come off worst in such comparisons (i.e. the accident rate for helicopters is higher). However, helicopters do things that other aircraft cannot do. Those extra things often carry a higher risk. Helicopters tend to operate over shorter distances and do more movements. As another generalisation, the ends of movements (i.e. take-offs and landings) are the high hazard parts of a flight. So it is less surprising that helicopter accident rates are higher.
I am always interested to see the individual reports: Both as an analyst and pilot you can learn so much from the circumstances of an accident.
Last edited by Helinut; 10th Oct 2012 at 10:33.