On 8/26/2011 11:47 AM, John Cochrane wrote:

Final comment on low passes, then I'll shut up: How many documented
accidents, in the US, can be directly blamed on low passes in recent
years (say, since the end of their use in contest finishes)? OTOH,
how many due to botched PTTs, taking off with spoilers open, midairs,
landouts, stall spins on final, botched final glides,etc?

Well, quite a few, actually. Here is the last time I put together the
numbers (see slide 5)

http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/john...est_safety.ppt

Uvalde and Wurtsboro in 2001 were the most recent, both fatal, both
following a low pass.

The much larger danger has been "low energy at the finish" which is
easy to confuse with "screwing up a high speed low pass." The accident
reports are littered with gliders 1-2 miles from the finish line that
didn't quite make it. The excellent UK accident reports on Sailplane
and Gliding continue with a few of these every year. The accident
reports (see above) are also full of pilots arriving at 50 feet and 50
knots with few ideas and then crashing on the airport.

Great Stuff, John..even withOUT the benefit of presentational commentary.
Thanks for posting the link!

Working strictly from memory, most of the crunches John mentions were noted in
some way or other in "Soaring" magazine down the years. Heckuva resource for
readers willing to pay attention to the details...


The accident that started all this sounds now less like "show off low
pass" and more like one of these, "very low energy pattern." Reports
were a very low slow downwind followed by stall spin on base and
final. Perhaps the discussion should move to "you don't have to do a
big square pattern every time."

Here's a start...

http://www.ssa.org/magazine/archive/...nth=11&page=36

Link may not work for non-SSA members.

Regards,
Bob W.