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Posted for "Mark & Lisa" <marknlisa@hometel.com>:
Listers,
Take a look at the following graph from the Nall Report. This info is
specific to homebuilt aircraft.
The following graph is for the GA population as a whole:
Using my tiny, little pea brain for some comparison shopping, I note that
accident rates for most phases of flight are about equal between the two
groups, except for maneuvering and landing. Hmmmmm.
Here's the Nall Report definition of maneuvering flight:
Maneuvering — Includes the following: aerobatics, low pass,
buzzing, pull-up, aerial application maneuver, turn to reverse
direction (box-canyon-type maneuver), or engine failure after
takeoff and pilot tries to return to runway.
In addition, it seems ANY accident in a homebuilt is more likely to be
fatal. I believe that deserves another hmmmmm.
The other interesting part of the report (for me) was the special emphasis
topic: Thunderstorms and ATC. Specifically, the report notes that ALL of
the accidents related to thunderstorm penetration occurred with the pilot in
contact with ATC. This would seem to indicate that the pilot's involved in
these accidents were unaware that ATC only provides weather avoidance
service on a workload-permitting basis. One particular accident involved a
pilot told to proceed to his destination "when able" following a hand off
from one enroute ATC facility to another. Since he was receiving weather
avoidance vectors from the previous controller, he apparently interpreted
the clearance from the new controller to mean there was no significant
weather between his present position and destination. The pilot and two
passengers perished, and the aircraft was destroyed, when they penetrated an
area of LEVEL 6 (extreme) thunderstorms.
The report emphasized that even though ATC has upgraded all enroute
facilities with new equipment much more capable of showing weather, it's up
to the pilot to request weather avoidance -- even (especially?) after a hand
off. Additionally, it's good to remember that the radar is data-linked and
represented as an overlay on a traffic radar display. That means there's a
6 to 11 minute delay from what the controller is seeing and what's actually
there. You should get your proverbial poop in a group early if you expect
this service to be of value.
Something to think about on a stormy Sunday in southwest Illinois...
Fly safe,
Mark & Lisa Sletten
Legacy FG N828LM
http://www.legacyfgbuilder.com
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