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01-06-2010, 05:22 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Nashville, TN
Posts: 54
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2009 Fatal RV Accidents
EAA Chapter 162's President, Dan Masys compiled an excellent overview of the causes of accidents in the GA fleet in our 2009 Second Quarter Newsletter. Here is the link to our newsletter page EAA 162 Newsletters
"FAA Examines Homebuilt Safety" - - Take a look, there are some interesting common threads to the accidents.
Last edited by rvaitor : 01-06-2010 at 05:25 PM.
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01-06-2010, 09:35 PM
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: Arlington, TX
Posts: 78
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RV Safety
I have been in the process of building / finishing a 10 over the past couple of years. I know that in my own experience, I have not flown nearly enough to remain current. My last flight was 4 months ago and that was as a passenger for a demonstration flight with a friend. Any free time I have, I am in the hangar building. With previous planes I have owned, I always flew at least once a week and felt very comfortable and confident in piloting a plane. I think it will take a while to get that back.
Mark
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01-07-2010, 06:20 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Louisville, Ga
Posts: 7,840
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Mark, you're very honest.....
....about your rustiness and more should be that forthcoming.
I trained roughly 80 transition students in my -6A and some were really terrible....hadn't flown in months/years, since all their time and money was spent building and the flying neglected.
I then started recommending that they get some dual in a 150 or other airplane with light, quick controls before coming to see me. This helped a lot but the original intent for transition training was to take up-to-speed pilots and help them learn the RV's so that their first flight in it would have minimal risk and the program as a whole is really successful.
Best,
__________________
Pierre Smith
RV-10, 510 TT
RV6A (Sojourner) 180 HP, Catto 3 Bl (502Hrs), gone...and already missed
Air Tractor AT 502B PT 6-15 Sold
Air Tractor 402 PT-6-20 Sold
EAA Flight Advisor/CFI/Tech Counselor
Louisville, Ga
It's never skill or craftsmanship that completes airplanes, it's the will to do so,
Patrick Kenny, EAA 275132
Dues gladly paid!
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01-07-2010, 06:37 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 358
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Flydoc's post highlights another interesting note... There were no first flight accidents in RV's... This is typically a very high risk activity in the homebuilt world. Anyone wonder why that is?
I would wager this is a place where the RV culture is a good thing rather than a bad thing. Generally the construction quality is higher than other homebuilts. I believe this is because within our community the culture is that builders help other builders and that raises the level of quality....
If we could adapt the culture of low tolerance for poor workmanship into low tolerance for poor airmanship, there would be fewer accidents....
Tailwinds,
Doug Rozendaal
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01-07-2010, 08:31 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Savannah, GA
Posts: 1,849
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Quote:
Originally Posted by B25Flyer
Flydoc's post highlights another interesting note... There were no first flight accidents in RV's... This is typically a very high risk activity in the homebuilt world. Anyone wonder why that is?
I would wager this is a place where the RV culture is a good thing rather than a bad thing. Generally the construction quality is higher than other homebuilts. I believe this is because within our community the culture is that builders help other builders and that raises the level of quality....
If we could adapt the culture of low tolerance for poor workmanship into low tolerance for poor airmanship, there would be fewer accidents....
Tailwinds,
Doug Rozendaal
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This should be our motto for the year!
__________________
Todd
N110TD
RV-10 Vesta V8 LS2/BMA EFIS/One formerly flying at 3J1 Hobbs stopped at 150 hours
Savannah, GA and Ridgeland, SC
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01-07-2010, 09:52 AM
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Chesterfield, Missouri
Posts: 4,514
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If we could adapt the culture of low tolerance for poor workmanship into low tolerance for poor airmanship, there would be fewer accidents....
Quote:
Originally Posted by TSwezey
This should be our motto for the year!
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I could not agree more.
Piloting an airplane is not like riding a bicycle. One can have years of experience and after a 6 week lay off, it takes an hour or so to get the gyros spun up and begin to feel comfortable again in the air. A weekly flight, if just to shoot a few landings, goes a long way toward keeping fit to fly.
This is a major problem due to time and money constraints and I do not have a ready answer. Perhaps an awareness of the need to get a thorough check out when resuming flying is part of the answer.
__________________
RV-12 Build Helper
RV-7A...Sold #70374
The RV-8...Sold #83261
I'm in, dues paid 2019 This place is worth it!
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01-07-2010, 10:02 AM
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been here awhile
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: North Alabama
Posts: 4,301
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David-aviator
If we could adapt the culture of low tolerance for poor workmanship into low tolerance for poor airmanship, there would be fewer accidents....
I could not agree more.
Piloting an airplane is not like riding a bicycle. One can have years of experience and after a 6 week lay off, it takes an hour or so to get the gyros spun up and begin to feel comfortable again in the air. A weekly flight, if just to shoot a few landings, goes a long way toward keeping fit to fly.
This is a major problem due to time and money constraints and I do not have a ready answer. Perhaps an awareness of the need to get a thorough check out when resuming flying is part of the answer.
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Many, many of the avoidable RV accidents I'm aware of are not due to rusty stick-n-rudder skills but instead are the result of reckless airmanship on the part of someone who should have known better...
The demarcation between aviation exuberance and destructive behavior is often unchallenged until after we have lost another pilot......
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01-07-2010, 11:39 AM
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: NorCal
Posts: 565
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Buchanan
Many, many of the avoidable RV accidents I'm aware of are not due to rusty stick-n-rudder skills but instead are the result of reckless airmanship on the part of someone who should have known better...
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Amen, and amen, brother Sam. IMO most accidents are the result of attitude, not lack of skills or knowledge. The real cause of many accidents is long in the past, and an accident is merely the manifestation of a careless or reckless attitude and behavior.
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01-07-2010, 12:52 PM
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VAF Moderator / Line Boy
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Dayton, NV
Posts: 12,256
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Those last couple of posts have hit the nail squarely on the head in my opinion. If you look at the nine or ten fatal accidents that started this thread, only a couple might have been prevented had the person at the controls been better with the old stick and rudder. Most were failures of judgment, which to me is the single most important attribute of a good aviator.
Most of the top test pilots I have known have been very quiet, reserved guys - you'd never knew what they did for a living if you met them at a school or church function. They know how dangerous aviation can be if you don't treat it with respect, and have long ago given up taking chances for thrill's sake. They also have studied (extensively) the things that kill pilots - forewarned is forearmed, but you have to pay attention to the lessons!
Paul
__________________
Paul F. Dye
Editor at Large - KITPLANES Magazine
RV-8 - N188PD - "Valkyrie"
RV-6 (By Marriage) - N164MS - "Mikey"
RV-3B - N13PL - "Tsamsiyu"
A&P, EAA Tech Counselor/Flight Advisor
Dayton Valley Airpark (A34)
http://Ironflight.com
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01-07-2010, 01:37 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Mojave
Posts: 4,652
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ironflight
...If you look at the nine or ten fatal accidents that started this thread, only a couple might have been prevented had the person at the controls been better with the old stick and rudder. Most were failures of judgment, which to me is the single most important attribute of a good aviator...Paul
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I've followed this thread for a while and have seen some pretty good advice mixed in with a bunch of... shall we say, not so good (adding 10 knots to the approach speed, for instance). Your post above has me pretty confused. Using the data from your earlier post (below), I see only the first 3 (VFR to IFR) as "poor judgement" - all the rest should have been accomplished safely (i.e. without death or injury) with the appropriate stick and rudder skills.
So before I insert my foot prematurely, can you elaborate?
VFR in IFR conditions - 3
Loss of Control on takeoff - 2
Los of Control on Landing - 1
Low Level Aerobatics - 2
Low Level Stall - 4
Formation gone wrong - 1
__________________
WARNING! Incorrect design and/or fabrication of aircraft and/or components may result in injury or death. Information presented in this post is based on my own experience - Reader has sole responsibility for determining accuracy or suitability for use.
Michael Robinson
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Harmon Rocket II -SDS EFI
RV-8 - SDS CPI
1940 Taylorcraft BL-65
1984 L39C
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