The U.S. Army is finding that the cost of aviation accidents can really add up, having incurred about $4.08 billion in accident costs as a result of 387,000 accidents since the early 1970s, according to an Aerospace Daily analysis of Army-provided service aviation data.

To put that in perspective, that's more money than the Army budgeted to buy or rebuild 22 CH-47 Chinooks in fiscal years 2008-09 and to procure 63 UH-60 Black Hawks in the coming fiscal year.

Those accident-cost figures are not adjusted for inflation, so the cost in current-year dollars would actually be much higher.

The analysis shows, in general, that the overall cost of aviation accidents has increased in later years as the service started to deploy more complex and expensive airframes and equipment.

The Army and other services have been focusing more on safety to cut down on aviation accidents, especially its most serious, or Class A, incidents. Class B and C accidents are less costly.

As of June 15, the Army reports a total of 126 Class A-C aviation accidents in fiscal year 2008 (See charts pp. 6-7). There are 65 flight accidents resulting in an overall rate of 8.62 accidents per 100,000 hours flown within the Army flying hour program. That's a 10 percent drop compared to the 3-year average of the same periods. There are currently 8 Class A aviation flight accidents for the fiscal year so far, resulting in a Class A rate of 1.061, which is 45.1 percent below the rate of 1.931 recorded at the same period last fiscal year.

Class A

Additionally, the Class A rate is 46.7 percent below a 3-year average. The Army has lost six soldiers this fiscal year in aviation mishaps. The current number of Class A-C accidents is 5.9 percent above last fiscal year

For the Navy, the aviation mishap rate through June 10 was 1.86 with 12 mishaps, the 12th best rate in history through this date. The Navy is on pace for its 14th best year.

Still, though, the mishap rate would be the highest since 2.28 in fiscal 2003. Last fiscal year, the rate was 0.95.

The Marine Corps mishap rate through June was 1.65 with 4 mishaps, the 2nd best rate in history through this date, putting fiscal 2008 on pace for the third best year for the service. The Marines' fiscal 2007 rate was 1.9.

The most current information made available by the Air force show a rate as of September 2007 of 1.32, compared to a fiscal 2006 rate of 0.9.