GASCo Safety Events in the UK

[terry holloway]

On other threads, a terrifying lack of safety knowledge has recently surfaced (downwind turns, unpublished letdowns, and descent below MSA are 3 examples). From other comments elsewhere it is also very clear that many UK based pilots do not understand a wide range of emerging (and existing) regulations which have safety implications, for example: airspace, licensing, medicals, etc etc. I have made a point of encouraging attendance at GASCo "safety evening events" - which happen over the winter months - and offer the thought to all UK pilots that these events are very worthwhile as a means of gaining knowledge from "experts". At "my" Flying School we are giving discounts to our members who have a GASCo stamp in their logbook. Is safety for private pilots, particularly private owners, being managed as well as it could be?

[Capt Kremmen]

No. I do not think so. Due, at least in part, to too little of the more esoteric aspects of flying being discussed during student training and especially during the final period of training just prior to the award of the licence.

[PA28161]

Very well put, Terry.
GASCO evenings are very educational, helpful and entertaining and certainly bring home the critical importance of flight safety. You get a nice green stamp in your log-book as well.

[xrayalpha]

Hi Terry,

Like the idea of discounts for members who attend. Will look into that further for here,

[Crash one]

Gasco safety evenings are very worthwhile.
A discount sounds a good idea.
And if anyone from the Gasco team are looking, I would like to suggest an "honesty slot" for any attendee to relate a particularly relevant cockup they may have made.
Or would that be asking too much?

[Mike Flynn]

I started reading the Gasco bulletins in 1981 and appreciate the excellent work the organisation does.

I suspect the reference to tragic downwind turns is the Mallard that crashed in Perth WA a few weeks ago.

Shoreham is still to be decided.

Whenever tragic accidents occur there is a tendancy to avoid the elephant in the room.

Often the drive that makes a person successful kills them.
Honister mine owner Mark Weir 'not qualified to fly at night' - BBC News (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-19906704)
Colin McRae blamed for fatal helicopter crash - BBC News (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-14803595)

Running in to bad weather or out of fuel is another killer. Why would anyone want to run on nearly empty tanks to get home?
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-30035659

The owner of the above could clearly afford the cost of the fuel that killed him and his partner.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Gasco safety evenings are very worthwhile.
A discount sounds a good idea.
And if anyone from the Gasco team are looking, I would like to suggest an "honesty slot" for any attendee to relate a particularly relevant cockup they may have made.
Or would that be asking too much?
I would argue that such honesty slots belong better in a CRM session, such as those run by Flintstone over on the Flyer forums.

G

[fireflybob]

Is safety for private pilots, particularly private owners, being managed as well as it could be?

A lot of training has now resorted to the tick in the box category without any real depth of understanding.

Exercise 2 "Preparation for and Action after Flight" is rarely taught comprehensively.

I'm all for the GASCO evenings but my perception is that those who really need to attend are rarely there.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Absolutely, preaching to the choir is always a noticeable characteristic of such events.

G

[terry holloway]

Absolutely, preaching to the choir is always a noticeable characteristic of such events.

G
That is the pity of it. Hence my offering discounts on the cost of flying ..........
.......anything to attract more people in and to provide a greater focus on safety.

[ak7274]

At our Club the LAA strut has been running a small series of seminars, which all lead up to a practical trip to France for a weekend.

The first presentation was on Sky Demon/Tablet based Navigation. The second on Reducing infringements and then Planning the flight to Calais using Paper and Sat nav charts avoiding airspace, gliding clubs etc.

The Last one will be Simulating the flight using the facility on Sky Demon and making all radio calls as required during the flight. The emphasis will be on infringements and any gotchas that may arise during the flight. This will include transits, altitudes, flight plan activation etc.

We then hope to fly in company to Calais and St Omer one weekend in the Spring.

As a small strut we expected no more than a dozen to attend, only to be pleasantly surprised that over 30 have been to the first two and hopefully the same amount will be there on the 22nd.

As one of those presenting, it was nerve wracking to stand before so many unexpected peers, but really gratifying to see so many who actually wanted to benefit from the experiences and skills of others.

As a strut we were only hoping to improve our own skills by using each others experiences to extend our flying, but after the number of pilots/ students that are coming to the presentations, is there something we can all do to encourage this?

Reading the forums on this and the other place, we have ideas to develop a further series of seminars.

Remember we aren't professionals, just pilots with a reasonable amount of experience, who want flying to be safe and fun.

Oh and by the way, I pinched lots of stuff from Irv's Fly on Track and the NATS websites for the Infringement presentation.

Also posted on the other side

Alan