Air show accidents
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An interesting question. Perhaps pilots are more tired, or more confident on the second day? Knowing dates of airshow accidents, it would be easy to determine Saturday/Sunday, and the data would present itself!
Gnome de PPRuNe
Out of the six flying display accidents I've witnessed, three were on Saturday, three on Sunday - I prefer to go Saturdays usually, so I suppose that might slightly support the view that accidents are more likely on Sunday...
For this data to be meaningful the cause of each accident would have to be considered. For example, weather and technical malfunctions would make such data irrelevant. Was it a one or two day show? Was their a practise day before (Friday)? Did the pilot fly on both days of the event? Was he flying into the slot, landing from the slot, flying off the slot? How about mid week displays? There are many variables and looking at just a single factor such as Saturday or Sunday can lead to very misleading statistics.
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For this data to be meaningful the cause of each accident would have to be considered. For example, weather and technical malfunctions would make such data irrelevant. Was it a one or two day show? Was their a practise day before (Friday)? Did the pilot fly on both days of the event? Was he flying into the slot, landing from the slot, flying off the slot? How about mid week displays? There are many variables and looking at just a single factor such as Saturday or Sunday can lead to very misleading statistics.
It's because of mid week, three and one day displays that I particularly referred to most displays being over a weekend.
Dr J,
Fair comment on the technical aspects but my point on weather was that it could be a random variable, as you have said, that influenced the accident.
I had interpreted your original post slightly differently and hadn't realised that you wanted deliberately to exclude one day shows etc, hence my comments. I am not sure on the statistics as to whether most airshows are over both days of a weekend but instinctively I suspect not. The only other comment that I would make is that you are dealing with, thankfully, a fairly small sample size and so any apparent trends must be treated with caution.
Rgds
L
Fair comment on the technical aspects but my point on weather was that it could be a random variable, as you have said, that influenced the accident.
I had interpreted your original post slightly differently and hadn't realised that you wanted deliberately to exclude one day shows etc, hence my comments. I am not sure on the statistics as to whether most airshows are over both days of a weekend but instinctively I suspect not. The only other comment that I would make is that you are dealing with, thankfully, a fairly small sample size and so any apparent trends must be treated with caution.
Rgds
L
Awesome but Affordable
If you really want to know which day of the week produces most airshow accidents then I would refer you to that excellent tome "Zero Error Margin" by Des Barker where he analyses all, or as many as he could find, of the airshow accidents since man started flying back in 1903. The dates will be there and you would have to correlate date with day using calendars or diaries.
I wish you well in your research, that could well take you a decade of tedious work. If and when you succeed, then do please publish the answer here or in some learned RAeS journal. We are indeed desperate to know since they speak of little else in Barnsley.
Bon chance............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wish you well in your research, that could well take you a decade of tedious work. If and when you succeed, then do please publish the answer here or in some learned RAeS journal. We are indeed desperate to know since they speak of little else in Barnsley.
Bon chance............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome but Affordable
Des provides me with his collection of the years airshow related accidents in the early spring each year. He gathers the information from his contacts world wide, including me. I use this to prepare a powerpoint presentation to give to the HAA annual AGM and safety forum, usually held at Old Warden in March. The CAA also requests a copy from me to aid their own deliberations. For Des it is an arduous task, but he really believes that knowledge of the world wide situation can promote increased safety in the airshow community. So do I, though I recognise there are no new accidents, only new pilots having old ones. Ah well...!!! Have a safe and prosperous New Year in 2017.
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I have been pondering over the reason for this question. Could it be something to do with safety. If so then if someone comes up with some stats that show more crashes on a Sunday, then what, restrict all shows to Saturdays or days of the week without the letter "N" in the day. Or carry out some more research to find out if the earth`s gravitational force is stronger on Sundays.
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I doubt you would see any difference. Weather is random, technical malfuntions are random. Why would pilots be more tired on Satudays or Sundays, if they already arrived on a Thursday and practiced for the show on Friday?
The only thing I am sure about, is that their damn planes will take off from any conveyor belt, even if the tyres burst in the process.
