George,

I myself find postings of recent accidents helpful. It is a good
reminder or warning flag especially for weather-related accidents be it
icing, fog, high-density altitude etc.

We flew over western PA on our last three trips to MI. I can
certainly relate to one recent accident where the pilot encountered
unexpected IMC condition when the nearby ATIS reported VMC. This
particular accident reminds me of the fact that going West, one may
encounter strong headwind. If something unexpected happens, one could
easily mismanage the fuel situation. In our second trip to Michigan,
we had to stop earlier because of a broken alternator wire. We fueled
earlier than planned. The stronger than expected headwind cost us some
extra time. I kept watching the fuel gauge and urged Rick to land but
he wanted to get out of the busy B/C airspaces first. By the time we
stopped for fuel, we had about 40minutes of fuel left. We were
certainly within the legal limit (30 minutes in VFR day time) but it
was not a comfortable feeling. After the trip, we agreed than we would
try to monitor the fuel more closely and whoever more conservative
would win (only in flying not in politics ;-)).

We attend Wings Safety Seminar quite regularly. Before each
meeting, Bob Martens (Windsor Locks) always give a brief review of
local accidents. We learned quite a bit about the hazards associated
with certain airports in certain weather conditions such as very
localized low ceilings and fog in coastal airports. I do read NTSB
reports but it is not something that I read everyday. We will be
flying to Denver this weekend and will most likely land at Centennial
airport. So a plane crash at that airport is of interest to me. We
may not know the cause of the crash for many months but reading such
accidents helped me to be more cautious in our planning.

Hai Longworth