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there is not much (any) data left to support you thoughts that there is >a "high rate of unexplained engine failures". Unless there is data to >show otherwise, your perceptions are simply incorrect.
First of all, if turbines are more apt to fail this would be the case in the general aviation non-experimental fleet as well. It is not so. So we have to look at the specific engines being used in the Lancairs and the specific pilot pool.
Overall, #1 cause of light plane crashes and fatalities is pilot error (and
has been historically). .... It would be interesting to be able to factually >review historic accident statistics (especially the pilot error ones), >relative to the amount of recurrent training the pilots had.
This is true and quantifiable. It doenst take a study on this. I have seen this over and over again. The company I fly for professionally has this problem as the owner has the money to be a pilot, and the idea that since he is successful in business he is bullet proof, and the inability to understand that he is not safe nor bullet proof. He scares me and my family will never fly with him, nor will I ever sign him off for anything.
My experience as a professional is this: 1) The more successful a person is in other areas of life, and the greater difficulty he has in properly evaluateing his abilities in the area of flight safety.
2) The more financially successful, the more a person percieves his time to be valuable, and the less he is able to percieve his need for spending some of that time in training, and some of that precious time sitting on the ground due to weather etc.
3) By and large lancair pilots fall into the above catagories and as such are more prone to these dangers. No offence, but pilots with 100 hours flying around in Lancairs scares the dickins out of me! Did I misunderstand someone? Maybe they meant 100 hours in type.
Seems each of these is easily over-come-able with rational
thinking/behavior.
One would think this to be true, but 23 years of professional experience tells me it is not. Lots of pilots wont get more training unless absolutely required (ie. insurance co. demands it for coverage). Even then I have seen owner/pilots fly without insurance coverage to avoid dealing with the issue.
Congrats Rick., Jeff and other on being able to see that in many cases the emperor has no clothes.
Nathan Kanagy
ATP CFII MEI C500, LR-JET, C52A
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