Every year I compile the data on Fatal Warbird accidents. I have over 20 years collected.
Today was the day. I went to the NTSB site and searched for fatal accidents. Normally that yields just over 300 reports. This year it was 258. There may be a few end of the year stragglers come in, but doubtful any are warbirds. It figures, flying was down, so were the accidents.
This year there were 6 fatal Warbird accidents that claimed 7 lives... The average over the last 20 years is about 10. Way too many!!!!
Last year for a presentation I did for the MN RVators I searched the RV fatals and found 10 accidents with 11 fatalities in 2008. For '09 I found 12 Fatal accidents claimed 18 lives in RVs this year....
This is not a good trend. The next logical question is, "What caused all these accidents?" I did not read all the reports. I don't know what lessons they hold but should some seek to learn those lessons, do it with this admonition.
Read accident reports looking for the things that you do, not looking for the things that you don't do.... Looking for the things that the accident victim did, that you do not, is a counter-productive exercise in rationalization.
John and Martha King talk about, "The Big Lie." Telling ourselves that flying is safe is a lie. It is not, it is dangerous, and we should approach it that way. Flying GA airplanes is about as dangerous as riding Motorcycles on the highway. And while I don't have exact numbers, flying RVs is more dangerous than that.
Don't take this as a suggestion that anyone stop flying, but simply as a push to acknowledge the risks honestly and act appropriately.
Fly Safe in '10
Doug Rozendaal
Today was the day. I went to the NTSB site and searched for fatal accidents. Normally that yields just over 300 reports. This year it was 258. There may be a few end of the year stragglers come in, but doubtful any are warbirds. It figures, flying was down, so were the accidents.
This year there were 6 fatal Warbird accidents that claimed 7 lives... The average over the last 20 years is about 10. Way too many!!!!
Last year for a presentation I did for the MN RVators I searched the RV fatals and found 10 accidents with 11 fatalities in 2008. For '09 I found 12 Fatal accidents claimed 18 lives in RVs this year....
This is not a good trend. The next logical question is, "What caused all these accidents?" I did not read all the reports. I don't know what lessons they hold but should some seek to learn those lessons, do it with this admonition.
Read accident reports looking for the things that you do, not looking for the things that you don't do.... Looking for the things that the accident victim did, that you do not, is a counter-productive exercise in rationalization.
John and Martha King talk about, "The Big Lie." Telling ourselves that flying is safe is a lie. It is not, it is dangerous, and we should approach it that way. Flying GA airplanes is about as dangerous as riding Motorcycles on the highway. And while I don't have exact numbers, flying RVs is more dangerous than that.
Don't take this as a suggestion that anyone stop flying, but simply as a push to acknowledge the risks honestly and act appropriately.
Fly Safe in '10
Doug Rozendaal