Fatal accidents
 

Can someone convince me flying is still safe?
Look at the daily fatal accidents in the US:
Preliminary Accident and Incident Reports

It's not to us, it's up to you.

I am well trained and fly a well maintained aircraft. I consider it as safe as any other hobby, or mode of transportation.

Do you drive a car?

Gotta agree with Shunter. I drive a motorbike, and if I only took up pastimes that I had been convinced were safe, I'd never get on the damn thing.

but yes, a combination of training, care, not trying to show off, and a balanced approach to quality of life all go into it.

If you want to know the truth, flying isn't safe, in as far as once you are more than about 10 foot off the ground, if you drop out the sky, you could be in real trouble. Of course, leaning out a window isn't safe, nor is crossing the road or eating in a restaurant. Just got to balance any risk in life with reward.

I know a chap that skis 3 or 4 times a year at least. The idea of bombing down a hill at breakneck speeds with a small plank on each foot doesn't sound safe to me, but that's because it doesn't appeal. I go sailing, and he thought it was the daftest thing ever, because if a storm hits, you can't just get off in the middle of the ocean. Fair comparison, I think! (oh yes, and we both love flying, and have motorbikes!)

The stats only give the number of incidents/fatalities. You really need to know the total number of flights each day to turn this into a percentage so you can calculate the risk of this happening to you. My estimation would be less than a fraction of 1%

More chance of winning the lottery than having an accident with an aeroplane. That is if you survive driving to the airport.

Who ever told you that private flying is safe? It's not. That's why we spend so much time thinking about what might go wrong, training for it, discussing accidents and considering how we might react, and trying to learn and better prepare ourselves.

If you think flying is safe, then get that out of your head, and start to consider how you'll mitigate the risks.

Some good starts would be:
Train for poor weather, but avoid the poor weather.
Always carry enough fuel for all contingencies, plus a bit extra.
Pay attention to your preflight.
Don't ignore something that seems/looks/sounds different than normal.
Fly as high as possible.
Always have a way out.

That should go a long way to reducing the risks to you.

Good post, dublinpilot :ok:

Kai Tak,

As appropriately stated earlier, it's not up to us. You are entitled to think whatever you like about the safety of flying. As with anything, the depth of knowledge about something, will affect the opinions a person holds about it. You are welcomed to deepen your understanding about flying, to further assure yourself, but in doing that, allow for the fact that those who are more familiar, will have a different idea of what "safe" is, and are very relaxed about it.

Is it safe to coast to a stop in an airplane, while approaching other parked, and while having very limited steering, and no brakes whatsoever? Some would say no, but it's done hundreds of times a day in floatplanes and ski planes.

Is it safe to land VFR at night, on a runway which has only reflectors, and is surrounded by trees, but with nearly no lights anywhere in sight? It's regularly done with no problems.

I could go on.....

You can interpret statistics any way you want. If you allow them to convince you that flying is not as safe as you would like it to be, then don't fly. It doesn't matter to us! The only person I'm trying to convince flying is safe, is the guy who sets the rates for my insurance! (and he seems pretty happy - it costs less to insure my plane than my car, and the plane is insured for more!)

Dublinpilot
That's a terrific mantra! It ought to be a compulsory pre-flight check! :D:D

To be truthful to the OP, how many times have we ourselves been reiterating the old "it's safer than driving a car"? That is only true for airline travel. GA aviation has about a 20-40 times worse record than traffic incidents and it's our responsibility to to not try to misinform or brush this off. It's on par with riding a motorcycle, or worse. Paul Bertorelli wrote a very good article about it couple of months ago on AvWeb:

Fatal Accidents

Is GA unsafe? No, I don't think so, but it's certainly riskier than driving a car. I'm all for making it safer, as long as it doesn't mean new burdens on pilots and students. And like he mentions, it's a balance we have to strike. It's hard enough already as it is and we don't want to make it impossible for new pilots to join this wonderful thing. In another article, I read that 46% of the fatalities are stall related. So here the work obviously continues. In a panic with a mountain or trees filling the screen, I can see that instincts and reflexes can make this one a hard thing to eliminate completely, i.e. I don't think it can be trained away fully .Perhaps a longer period of solo time before you're allowed to take passengers? Or a higher minimum age to get rid of the hot rod mentality? Or more instrument time incorporated into the basic training? I don't know, but the debate continues.

I know I have a bit of a UK-centric view of the world, but I find these figures hard to accept. I was looking at the stats recently of the number of fatalities on microlights in the UK. When you compare that to the number of microlight owners, its tiny. Certainly not anything like as dangerous as riding a bike. But then, I will happily admit I am going on anacdotal information, so someone out there know anything more?

Strangely take comfort from the accident statistics.

Controlled flight into terrain remains one of the biggest killers, as does loss of control in IMC.

Poor weather planning is up there, and so is poor maintenance.

Lack of currency is a factor.

So if you remain current, ensure the aircraft is well maintained, avoid IMC unless instrument rated and dont take liberties with the weather you have probably eliminated 80% or more of all accidents.

There are a few accidents which are almost unavoidable, but I bet you can count these on one hand over a very long period of time.

Adam, can't agree completly.

Fair enough airline travelling.

But private AG depends on the pilot. Dublinpilot sums it up. When flying yourself you are in charge and you can reduce the risks.

When driving a car, however careful you are, you are always at risk from others. And we spend more time driving than flying, unfortunately.

I agree. It can be almost eliminated by not doing the three big things: CFIT in bad weather, stalls and poor fuel management.

Yet, I also see a lot friends, good friends I trust and respect, drive cars awfully. Just basic skills lacking. They don't have the feel for it and they never will, no matter how much they drive. How can you ever get rid of that? If they're good enough, they'll pass a skills test.

I was just having a look on the CAA website, and it reckons GA fatality rates are around 10 fatalities per million hours of flying across the country. That doesn't sounds anywhere near as bad as car accidents!

"Safety is No Accident"

My father was a veteran light aircraft instructor. His advice to me was "If you're going to hit anything, make sure you're under control and the wings are level"

In other words, do not stall/spin as they are often the fatalities near the ground.

He was always keen on using the full length for take off and he was totally opposed to turning back when faced with an engine failure after take off - recall him falling out with a CFS instructor over this that came to examine the instructors at the school to teach the flying scholarship cadets (btw he passed the check!).

The other bit of advice he often said was "You're much better down here wishing you were up there than up there wishing you were down here".

Great post! :D

I believe there would be a lot less fatal motor vehicle accidents if people treated driving in the same manner they do flying.

My 2p
 

I think most people see (GA) flying as generally safe.

I am currently a PPL(A) student with a fair few hours as P2 with the old man flying microlights over the last 20 years or so. We are expecting our first child in October so the O/H was over the moon when I told her I was selling the motorbikes in order to (finally) learn to fly. Something I largely justified with the safety argument, and also it was something that we could all do together. This is in spite of several EFATOs and other such incidents in the microlights over the years.

I'll admit I haven't looked at any accident statistics comparing driving/motorbikes/flying, but certainly my family were pleased when the bikes went, and generally unconcerned with the flying lessons. I think this largely comes from the fact that one takes more responsibility for one's own safety when flying, whereas the perception of riding bikes on the road is seen as risky due mainly to other traffic*

(*this however is not the case as most bike fatalities are a single vehicle leaving the road with excessive speed - i.e running out of talent mid corner, but people like to blame traffic/diesel/mud etc. and such is the perception.)

I am a professional yachtsman, which in itself carries a small risk, but this barely registers any more after 12 years, yet I have seen more injuries at sea - some very serious, than at any time flying or riding bikes.

As with many things in life, the perception is often at odds with the reality.

Brilliant. I've taken the liberty of printing that if you don't mind and sticking it in the top of my flight bag so I see it every time I open it. I've also added 'QDM and 121.5 are there to be used.'