Despite a string of highly publicized near-misses at U.S. airports to start 2023, total incidents of close calls in American aviation remain rare and far fewer than just a few years ago, according to two decades' worth of FAA data analyzed by the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit. Data on runway incursions available online show the total number of such incidents in 2022 was a third lower than just five years before, at 1,633 at all U.S. airports, from massive commercial airfields to much smaller ones. However, the most serious types of incidents have more than doubled in the same time period, from eight in 2017 to 18 last year, the agency said. There has not been a passenger fatality in U.S. commercial aviation in 14 years. Hassan Shahidi, CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation, said federal investigators would likely try to determine if there was a pattern connecting the incidents."What were the root causes, what were the factors involved, and make sure that the solutions are put in place so that they don't happen again," Shahidi said in an interview. Shahidi said his foundation had been invited to participate in an FAA safety summit on March 15 that aims to bring together aviation industry stakeholders to examine recent incidents. Watch our "Get the Facts" installment above for more. Mark Albert is the chief national investigative correspondent for the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit, based in Washington D.C. Tamika Cody and David Postovit contributed to this report.If you know of aviation security concerns you want us to investigate, please send confidential information and documents to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com.