The FAA fiscal year runs from October to September. Part-135 carriers operate aircraft with less than 10 seats, and Part-121 carriers operate aircraft with more than 10 seats.

According to local aviation authorities, this is an unprecedented change for air carrier operations, and Alaska's bad reputation for having one of the highest accident rates in the United States is turning around.

"This is really a big thing and very significant," said Laurel Davis, a management and program analyst with the FAA's System Safety Analysis Branch in Anchorage. "This shows that the carriers are operating at a higher level of safety."

Between 1990 and 1998 there were 229 fatal commuter and air taxi accidents in the United States. Alaska accounted for 49, or 21 percent, of these accidents, according to the journal Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine.

Over the same eight-year period, 100 pilots who were on the job at the time of the aircraft's accident died in Alaska. This statistic is nearly five times the national fatality rate for all pilots, and is almost 24 times the rate for Alaska workers in all fields. This made aviation the highest-risk occupation in Alaska.

Today, the FAA is using the Alaska turnaround as a model for the rest of the nation, according to FAA officials.

Experts agree that the most common cause of Alaska accidents was what the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board refer to as controlled flight into terrain, better known as airplanes flying into the ground or into mountains.

In an NTSB survey in 1995, more than 50 percent of the pilots surveyed said that they had been pressured into flights initiated as visual flight rule missions, that later required switching to instrument flight rules that require dependence on instruments due to poor weather conditions. Pressure to fly in these conditions that require pilots to switch from relying on their eyes to depending on instruments has been identified as the most common reason for fatalities in air carrier crashes, according to a study in 2000 for the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.

Since then, additional awareness, navigational and situational aids have improved flying in Alaska.

Several programs have been credited for the improvement of aviation safety in the state, such as the advent and use of Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, also known as the Capstone Program in Western Alaska, the Medallion Foundation Star and Shield program, the FAA's Circle of Safety passenger safety awareness program and additional recurring training for pilots and flight instructors.

"Several things have led to fewer accidents and fatalities, the use of technology and a cultural change in the pilots," said Dick Harding, vice president of operations for Peninsula Airways.

Harding said that when he first came to Alaska navigational aids were few and far between.

"This is a big state and the reality is we will never have the infrastructure like the Lower 48," Harding said.

Harding credits the Capstone Program's information about weather, terrain and aircraft location using moving map displays in the cockpit with having helped safety. The use of Capstone equipment is helping pilots fly into nearly 60 rural airports when the visibility is marginal.

"This is helping to keep wheels out of the bushes, and wings out of the trees (when pilots are) trying to see the ground," Harding said. "Instrument approaches and knowing when to fly by using the Internet-based weather cams to see what the weather is at your destination has all but eliminated the 'Bush pilot' mentality."

The last fatality involving a smaller Part-135 carrier was in June 2004, according to the FAA's Davis. The last Part-121 fatality was in 1999. While the numbers are improving, Harding and other operators would still like to see the safety record continue to get better.

"I will be happy to see a couple of more years with no fatals, but the Part 135s still need to eliminate accidents," Harding said. "When we see this I will really be happy."

While commercial carriers continue to improve their record, of concern to the FAA Alaska Region is the safety record of noncommercial general aviation.

According to an FAA report, there were two fatal general aviation accidents during the month of January 2006, compared to none in January 2005.

"We are working with several new programs to increase pilot awareness and readiness," said Joette Storm, community relations officer for the FAA in the Alaska Region.

A new FAA program, called the FAA Safety Team, or FAAST, has established a group that works around the state on accident-related issues. The program is based on different regions in Alaska and their flight demands.

"We have hired one manager to work on with FAAST, and will hire others in areas where they are needed," said John Duncan, Flight Safety District Office division manager. "This is a new program that will replace our old program, which sunsets in August of this year. We hope to work with (Part-121 carriers, Part-135 carriers) and general aviation wherever there is a perceived problem so as to systematically try and improve safety."

In the past, the safety inspectors worked out of the Flight Safety District Office offices. Now they may work in areas that have no local FSDO. Duncan said the intent is to try to get more pilots to go to safety meetings and to be aware of their personal limitations in hopes of stopping all aircraft accidents.

Another program, called the Medallion Flyer program, trains pilots through the use of simulators and sharpens their planning skills. The program has more than 1,000 pilots signed up to take the training and can result in a reduction in insurance premiums to those who complete the program.