Puzzles me too
 

Good question Princepilot, I have been reading through the posts, and all make sense. I fall in the 800 hr category, think I fly as I like to live life, covering ALL the numbers/options. Sometimes though, whilst you are doing that, life has an awful habit of dealing a leftfield curve ball. Experience+judgement+luck (if you are facing a situation), probably either gets you out of the hole, or deeper into it. I view flying with an A plus B plus C building block mentality. Keep in your routine as much as possible, do not attempt anything that is evidently outwith your experience and ability zone. I always do the walk round methodically, shout clear prop:D try and be courteous in the circuit and with R/T, and treat every flight as an hours and experience builder. I watch others with amazement, as they cut me up in the circuit, blast off into IMC, do no walkround nor checks, fly off with no check on weather etc etc. We all see it day in and day out. TIP get as many ratings as you can, and revalidate constantly with the instructor.:ok:

I very much agree with exaviator 4 points above! I believe that 2 of the most common factors in flying accidents are:

1. Bad Luck
2. Exuberance

A catastrophic failure is sheer bad luck.

A low level aeros maneouver that goes wrong is probably exuberance.


I saw the former at an Air Show in RSA - when the Silver Falcons jet lost a wing - then a few weeks later, a C210 performed an impromptu roll whilst departing from an Airshow at Nampula in Mozambique and struck a mud hut, killing the occupants of both the Cessna and the hut.

Oi - Don't discourage us lot just starting out ..
 

Only joking really ..

BUT

It does make you wonder:

Even although you have a love for flying .. is it worth the risk - Reading threads like these always make those words from my beloved fiancee bang loudly in my ears: "Your flight training does concern me sometimes, it's dangerous"

As for bad luck - If you are well prepared, what are common bad luck situations that can't be prevented? - in normal flying not aerobatics

One that springs to mind (if you are well prepared and that can't be avoided) is if some nutter with a faster airplane flies into you from behind.

Vabsie

“As for bad luck - If you are well prepared, what are common bad luck situations that can't be prevented?”

Engine failure, especially on takoff at low level.

In flight fire/Co2 in cockpit

Unexpected medical problem

Structural faliure

ETC

Rod1

Threads like these demonstrate a safety conscious culture, bordering on obsession. They do not demonstrate a high risk, or that flight training is dangerous. :ok:

bjornhall - good reply, feel much better :ok:

At the Display Pilots' Symposium three or four years ago, there was a talk about mid-airs, in short the circuit is the most dangerous place for these. The extensive (global) survey showed that the majority occured with faster aircraft running down a slower aeroplane in front.

To mitigate this, I fly a fast aeroplane with my fingers crossed! :E:E


Stik

Yep. If road accidents were investigated and reported, and all drivers read the accident reports as obsessively as we read the aviation accident reports, the roads might be a safer place, almost as safe as the skies!

Told at a CAA safety meeting that the rate of fatalities in SEP light a/c is 1 in 85000 hours. No room for complacency but that figure hardly justifies the view that flying is dangerous. Microlights have double the fatality rate. Gyroplanes are REALLY dangerous.

Honest question:

Are they, or is it a matter of a realtively safe aircraft type not being operated with due respect to the laws of physics, or maintained so as to assure porlonged safe condition? By the same measure, are helicopters "dangerous"? I can think of many helicopter pilots I know who have flown accident and damage free for decades!

I think it goes back to pilot attitude and preparedness (which is part of attitude anyway)

Pilot DAR

Gyroplanes are REALLY dangerous.

A properly designed gyroplane is arguably one of the safest aircraft one can fly.

Several reasons the gyroplane group have such a high accident rate are.

Improperly designed machines such as the RAF 2000.

Lack of proper training.

Lack of discipline within the gyro flying group as evident by the aggressive low flying maneuvers they are so fond of.

As to the secret of flying for many years and still around I like to think it was learning when to say no that was the most important thing in my career..

The folklore that I have chosen to believe is that helicopters have lots more "Jesus bolts" than fixed wing aircraft, where a "Jesus bolt" is a single point of failure such that if it breaks you've no options but to call upon Jesus.

I expect the helicopter pilots to join in and say that this is a load of ******* and that wings spontaneously fall off fixed wing aircraft just as often as little widgets break inside helicopter gearboxes.

I thought helos had only one Jesus bolt .... Except Chinooks etc...

Lets get a definition right. A danger is a controlled risk. Electricity is dangerous but because of risk controls like insulation, it is safe to use in your house by your children.
All aeroplanes are dangerous, it is the risk-controls that we put in place that make them safe. Omit those controls and they become killers.
My view is one of the greatest risks in aviation is not flying with a sufficient margin for error/failure. That happens for example in low level aerobatics where an error by the pilot or failure of the machine will probably result in a high energy impact. That is not just bad luck.
After you have done everything possible to control risk you have to decide whether you will accept the remaining risk and for instance continue into bad weather, fly low aeros or fly atall. Understanding is the key.

What really worries me is the number of people on this thread relying on luck to keep them alive!!!!
Anyone for a lucky amulet?

Training
 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

There are many good points above, however I believe there is a fundemental missing on this thread.

When I was lucky enough to be taught by HM's finest we flew the lesson with an experienced well trained QFI, we then consolidated the lesson on another sortie, then flew it solo and then consolidated it again with our QFI. All this meant that we had seen quite alot before we were let loose.

Later on when flying the big jets we flew as co-pilots for many years and did not think it was unusual, which meant we had seen most things before having to make the decisions from the LHS.

Much of this is missing when people strive to go solo early, finish their training in minimum time and jump to the LHS after only minimal time.

If more people were patient and content to watch, listen and learn before trying to show that they can do it on their own then there would be many more old pilots.

MM
A slow and careful tutor from the old school