Hi Bill

"Terry, thanks for the link but I've had this document for a long time. It says, quote: "The average frequency of winch accidents [in the UK] is 1 in every 13,000 launches." My figures for 2011 show 1 accident every 16,000 launches so you're doing better but nowhere near as good as the Germans at 1 every 180,000 launches. "

"Yes, you have improved but you have a ways to go and denial won't help."

"At this point I'm growing weary of UK denial. Believe what you will. It's your necks your breaking. "
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I think it’s important to recognise how good the improvement has been in the UK – this is actually an example of how a really good piece of (voluntary, BGA led) safety work has saved lives. If only our regulatory authorities could do this.

As you say, you’ve had the document Terry quoted for a long time, and you’re quoting old numbers, which don’t, I think, tell the recent story.

Following an excellent piece of work looking at the stats and analysing the causes of the acccidents, the BGA ran a “Safe winch launching initiative” starting some seven or so years ago. The 2012 stats show a dramatic and statistically significant improvement.

From http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/doc...iew2012web.pdf
“In the 7 years of the safe winch launch initiative there have been just 2 fatal/serious injury winch accidents involving a stall or spin. The average 7-year total from 1974-2005 was 17. The total in the preceding 7 years from 1999-2005 was also 17. Stall/spin accidents have historically comprised 80% of fatal or serious injury winch accidents. These have declined dramatically. “

That's a big change. I can't think of many other places where we've achieved anything so significant. But I don’t think anyone is in denial or complacent – the document goes on to say:

“But in the last 7 years we have had two fatal and one serious injury accident from a wing drop and cartwheel.”

For that reason, the focus in improvement this year has been on avoiding or dealing with wing drops in the first stage of launch. (This has been supported by a good training materials and delivered through the instructor cadre).

I think that demonstrates that a focused piece of safety work can deliver really good results - also that the long term averages don't reflect the current situation.

What’s interesting is that the results don’t necessarily last (I guess unsurprisingly). A previous programme in the UK was successful in reducing the number of tug upsets – but we can now see them creeping back up, as new pilots come along who don’t have the same memory of the problem.

Paul