According to that report, 2011-2012 was the second-safest year for general aviation in the past 30 years.
Aviation safety is a key consideration for prospective flying students. The most current aviation accident statistics are contained in the 22nd Joseph T. Nall Report, which covers accidents through 2011. According to that report, 2011-2012 was the second-safest year for general aviation in the past 30 years. The last 10 years have shown a steady decline in the number of fatal general aviation accidents, and the years with the fewest accidents have been the last five. In fact, each decade since 1972 has shown dramatic improvements (as high as 27%) in safety over the previous decade. Looking at raw statistics, there were 216 fatal general aviation fixed-wing accidents in 2012, resulting in 333 fatalities. The accident rate is about 6.30 per 100,000 hours of flying.