DoD and Army mishap classes A through E, explained

A mishap class is the severity grade the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Army give an accident, from Class A, the most severe, down to Class E in the Army's scheme. The class turns on two things: the total cost of property damage and the worst injury. AR 385-10, the Army safety regulation dated July 24, 2023 and effective August 24, 2023, sets Class A at $2.5 million or more in damage, a destroyed, missing or abandoned manned Army aircraft, or a fatality or permanent total disability. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports that DoD last raised the cost thresholds in October 2019.

The five classes in AR 385-10

AR 385-10 says mishap classes determine the safety investigation and reporting requirements. Paragraph 3-9 defines them:

Class	Property damage	Injury and other triggers
A	$2.5 million or more	Fatality or permanent total disability; manned Army aircraft destroyed, missing or abandoned
B	$600,000 to less than $2.5 million	Permanent partial disability; three or more personnel hospitalized as inpatients from one occurrence
C	$60,000 to less than $600,000	Nonfatal injury or illness with one or more days away from work or training beyond the day or shift of the event
D	$25,000 to less than $60,000	Restricted work, job transfer or treatment beyond first aid, among other listed cases
E	$5,000 to less than $25,000	None listed; property damage only

The regulation adds a Class F aviation incident, limited to aircraft turbine and drone engine damage from unavoidable foreign objects, and Classes G and H for biological and chemical mishaps. Initial classification uses the estimated cost of damage, which the actual cost later overrides. Scrap or residual value may not be used to lower a class. An Army Combat Readiness Center (USACRC) classification chart adds that unmanned aircraft are classed by repair or replacement cost, so a destroyed one is Class A only at $2.5 million or more.

Where the thresholds come from

AR 385-10 says its mishap chapter implements DoD Instruction (DoDI) 6055.07, Mishap Notification, Investigation, Reporting, and Record Keeping, along with 29 CFR 1904.39. GAO's March 2023 report on National Guard helicopters reproduces the DoD thresholds and cites two sources for them: DoDI 6055.07 of June 6, 2011, incorporating Change 1 of August 31, 2018, and an Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness memorandum of October 15, 2019, titled Revision to Accident Severity Classification Cost Thresholds and Recording of Injury and Fatality Costs. The USACRC flight surgeon guide cites the same October 15, 2019 memorandum for its class definitions.

The procedures sit in DA PAM 385-40, Army Mishap Investigations and Reporting, also dated July 24, 2023. The pamphlet's injury and fatality cost table is labeled for fiscal year (FY) 2020, and the pamphlet states that total injury cost does not change the original Class A through D. It points readers to the USACRC website for current cost tables.

How the thresholds changed

A memorandum from the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, dated October 5, 2009, gives the older history. It says the Class A threshold rose from $500,000 to $1 million in the 1989 revision of DoDI 6055.07. The memo then directed DoD Components to apply new floors effective October 1: $2 million for Class A, $500,000 for Class B and $50,000 for Class C. The memo kept the other Class A triggers, such as any fatality or destroyed aircraft. To keep trends consistent, it directed DoD Components to recalculate their FY2002 baseline mishap rates under the new thresholds.

GAO's 2023 table shows the next step. For FY2012 through FY2019, Class A began at $2 million, Class B at $500,000, Class C at $50,000 and Class D at $20,000. For FY2020 and FY2021, the floors were $2.5 million, $600,000, $60,000 and $25,000, the same figures AR 385-10 carries today. GAO says DoD most recently adjusted the thresholds upward in October 2019.

How USACRC reports aviation mishap rates

AR 385-10 splits aviation mishaps three ways. A flight mishap involves intent for flight and damage to a DoD aircraft. A flight-related mishap involves intent for flight and injury or other damage but no reportable damage to the aircraft, and it is not counted in flight mishap rates. An aviation-ground mishap has no intent for flight. GAO describes the rate as accidents per year divided by flight hours per year, multiplied by 100,000.

The USACRC FY2025 annual assessment, using data as of November 19, 2025, counts five manned Class A flight mishaps in FY2025 against 15 in FY2024. The FY2025 rate was 0.66 per 100,000 flying hours, below the five-year average of 1.00. The Class A through C flight mishap rate, 10.06, was the highest of the last 10 years. GAO's data for FY2012 through FY2021 give the active Army Chinook 12 Class A accidents in 405,423 flight hours, a rate of 2.96.

The current USACRC classification chart, updated October 9, 2024, requires immediate telephone notice for Class A, Class B and aviation Class C mishaps, final on-duty reports within 90 days, Class D reports within 30 days, and Army Safety Management Information System (ASMIS) reports for Class E.

What to check

• Does a cost figure match the class floors in force on the mishap date: $2 million for Class A before the October 2019 change, $2.5 million after?
• Does a document cite AR 385-10 of July 24, 2023, or the 2017 edition it superseded?
• Is an unmanned aircraft loss called Class A without a repair or replacement cost of $2.5 million or more?
• Does a flight mishap rate leave out flight-related mishaps, as AR 385-10 requires?
• Does a rate give its data date, such as the FY2025 assessment's November 19, 2025 cut?

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Sources

1. 1AR 385-10, The Army Safety and Occupational Health Program · Headquarters, Department of the Army (July 24, 2023)
2. 2DA PAM 385-40, Army Mishap Investigations and Reporting · Headquarters, Department of the Army (July 24, 2023)
3. 3Revision to Cost Thresholds for Accident Severity Classification · Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, via DENIX (October 5, 2009)
4. 4GAO-23-105219, National Guard Helicopters: Additional Actions Needed to Prevent Accidents and Improve Safety · U.S. Government Accountability Office (March 2023)
5. 5Army Flight Surgeon Guide to Safety and Mishap Investigation · U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center
6. 6Mishap Class Definition · U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center
7. 7Mishap Classification Chart (updated October 9, 2024) · U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center
8. 8Annual Assessment of the Army Operational Safety Program, Fiscal Year 2025 · U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center (ASMIS data as of November 19, 2025)

Where this shows up in our work

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