Is there a skydevil out there?

[spacedaddy]

What's goin on? Has a skydevil woke up and reared its ugly head? (ALL OVER THE PLACE?) Never heard of so many crashes. Should I hang up my headset?

[zssp]

you knw i was thinking that same exact thing its crazy whats been happeing

[spacedaddy]

C'mon, Anyone else? or do you think this is just in line with the 11 year sunspot cycle: maybe bad case of red tide or some other ocean current problem? Just a horrendous couple of months and that's it?

[glimmerman_alpha]

Its a chilling reality...

the beginning of the year saw a couple of helicopter crashes and fixed wing aircraft within 3 weeks of each other. Suddenly, we have the same cycle 6 months down the line.....:confused:

Fly Safe:ok:

[B Sousa]

See " African Trends" Take some of these accidents and look for a trend or what may link some of these together as to causation. You may be surprised to find that if a quick analysis of what happened were made known, one or so more of these may have been avoided.
It was said in some previous thread here that Africa has a 3% or so part of the worlds commercial aviatoion and 26% or so of the worlds accidents. (dont quote the figures)
Management, SACAA and everyone down to the guy putting in the fuel, should be stepping back to see if there is something they can do to make things safer.

[jimmythegong]

**** happens.......... I just think that aviation is going through a bad phase again, as it does from time to time. I don't think any fingers should be pointed per se, but I do think practical training should be stepped up a gear.

[African Tech Rep]

Having been involved in a LOT of aircraft transfers and return to owner projects I honestly belive that sooner or later the cost savings and corner cutting is going to catch up with some people one day and the number of incidents and crashes is going rise.

NO – I am not saying all the recent incidents and accidents have been due to these reasons, some I’m sure were pure “bad luck” – but I will say that around 75% of planes that I’ve done a records review of have had something not done or done wrong, these reviews have involved various airlines from Flag Carriers to Corporate Ops and I’ve found that generally Flag carriers can get “waivers” so that certain items are not applicable to them, other airlines simply “push the boundary” and both will argue black is white rather than admit they missed something – strangely I’ve yet to find a Corporate operator who has deliberately over extended a check or missed one altogether, I have found missed and overdue inspections on Corporate jets but each one found has been treated as an honest mistake with rectifying action taken immediately without argument (maybe I’ve been lucky with the guys I’ve dealt with) but on finding the same thing with many airlines the general reaction is always “prove it – oh we have a dispensation for that – lets see if the manufacturer agrees with your interpretation – or (in the worst cases) whoever I’m contracted to gets a call or mail explaining how overly pedantic their rep is.

Planes are actually very forgiving of missed inspections / unapproved alternative methods and parts etc – but sooner or later the camels back goes and right now there’s too many people who run airlines who only see maintenance as an expense that needs to be minimised – nearly said “as much as possible” but really it’s “to as close to zero as possible – just make sure the insurance is upto date”.

As this is the African forum my fellow Ppruners might be pleased to know that of the two Flag Carriers I’ve dealt with on the continent my opinion is that one has extremely competent technical staff (at least the ones who wear overalls) and the other behaved like a Corporate Operator – ie the minor (very minor) items found were rectified AND they took steps to ensure the same thing couldn’t happen again – without firing anyone.
The last bit I’ve found often to be overlooked – but is probably the most important step.

[Woof etc]

As they say "Safety is no Accident"

It takes a concerted effort and the willingness to learn from the mistakes of others (as well as our own)

"If you think safety is expensive try having an accident" Unfortunately too many operators in Africa only look at the short term return.