This story originally appeared in the Dec. 1 Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

U.S. Army aviation incidents and accidents have started to get deadlier and costlier since the beginning of this decade, an exclusive Aerospace DAILY analysis of service mishap data shows.

The number of fatalities spiked 875 percent, from 8 in 2000 to 78 in 2001, when the Bush administration's so-called global war on terror started, the analysis shows. After that, fatalities for the remainder of the decade hovered near or at the top of the list of deadliest years since 1986.

The annual cost of accidents followed the same general trend. Part of the reason, military aviation experts say, is because Army aircraft are more technologically complex and expensive, making even minor mishaps costlier compared with previous years. (See charts p. 7.)

Still, the data is a potentially disturbing trend as military operations look set to stay at a high tempo for years to come. Previously, many of the most expensive and fatal years were during peacetime. Now, however, there have been more fatal or costly accidents as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have worn on -- and even as the number of actual mishaps each year has dropped.

Altogether, the odds are still running against surviving such accidents, on average.

For example, for those involved in aviation accidents or mishaps in 1992 -- which with 1,068 accidents or incidents, ranked among the worst years -- the odds of being killed were about 1 in 38. Throughout this decade, the chance of those involved being killed was roughly 1 in 2, or even almost 1-1.

Furthermore, the top six worst fiscal years by mishap costs are all in this decade.

The worst year under the DAILY's review was fiscal 2005, for which the Army reported about $407.9 million in accident losses after 164 total incidents. For each of fiscal 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2004 -- in order of descending cost -- the Army reported between $337.3 million and $282.2 million per year.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2008, representing available data, there was a reported total of about $11.4 million.