By the Numbers

3.67

Accident rate per 100,000 hours flown in civil helicopters in 2008

6.86

Accident rate per 100,000 hours flown in noncommercial planes in 2008

0.147

Accident rate per 100,000 hours flown on commercial airlines in 2008

25

Percent decline in United States traffic deaths since 2005, to the lowest levels in 60 years

32,788

Number of people killed in U.S. traffic accidents in 2010

1.09

Deaths per 100 million miles traveled in 2010, down from 1.46 in 2005

7.13

Deaths per 100 million miles traveled in 1949

200,000

Government contractor employees working in Iraq and Afghanistan, roughly the same number of military personnel stationed in those countries

$177 billion

The amount paid to contractors for services in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002, tens of billions of which was wasted, according to a bipartisan Congressional commission

Sources: Federal Aviation Administration; New York Times; “At What Risk? Correcting Over-reliance on Contractors in Contingency Operations”