uh-oh...

On Thu, 12 Apr 2007 15:57:46 GMT, Larry Dighera
wrote in :

On Thu, 12 Apr 2007 15:21:25 GMT, Larry Dighera
wrote in :

On Thu, 12 Apr 2007 15:01:23 GMT, Larry Dighera
wrote in :

no e-mail address was provided for the author of the article.

But you can submit a response to this e-mail address:



You can send your comments on this "research" directly to the Johns
Hopkins University researchers:

Guohua Li, MD, DrPH:
Susan P. Baker, MPH:

=============================================== =


I received the reply below in reply to my rebuke from one of the Johns
Hopkins University researchers. You will find the researchers'
original article available in its entirety at:
http://download3-5.files-upload.com/...l_Aviation.pdf



Dear Mr. Dighera, Thank you for writing to us. It appears that your
anger is based on reading the news report rather than what we wrote in
the commentary. Attached for your information is the commentary we
published in JAMA. Your points are well taken if used for explaining
why GA has a much higher crash rate than airlines. Please feel free
to contact us should you have any comment or question after reading
our commentary.

Sincerely,

Guohua Li, MD, DrPH
Professor and Director of Research
Department of Emergency Medicine
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
5801 Smith Avenue
Davis Building, Suite 3220
Baltimore, MD 21209





Larry Dighera 4/12/2007 6:07 PM


Dear Guohua Li, MD, DrPH, and Susan P. Baker, MPH:

I read with interest this Reuters summary of your research:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N10403256.htm

Researchers fault US small airplane flight safety
10 Apr 2007 20:00:21 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON, April 10 (Reuters) - Private U.S. flights, usually
involving small airplanes, are 82 times more likely to be involved
in a fatal crash than major airlines, researchers said on Tuesday.

Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association,
researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore said these
non-commercial flights account for most U.S. aviation crashes,
injuries and deaths.

They called these so-called general aviation flights a public
safety problem and urged the Federal Aviation Administration and
the National Transportation Safety Board to do more to improve
safety of small airplanes.

The general aviation rate of 1.31 fatal crashes per 100,000 flight
hours is 82 times greater than for major airlines, said the
researchers, who analyzed government statistics...

The above conclusion drawn by the Johns Hopkins University researchers
clearly shows their lack of comprehension of GA vs Airline flight
missions and which flight operations constitute the greatest hazards.
Airline flights:

* Long distance legs require lots of hours but only one takeoff
and one landing
* Two professional pilots at the controls
* An FAA certificated Dispatcher on the ground influencing flight
decisions.
* Able to fly above the weather
* ...


General Aviation flights:

* Short distance legs mean many more landings and takeoffs are
performed per hour than on airline routes.
* Usually a single pilot at the controls
* Often the pilot holds only a student certificate.
* During training flights, which constitute a large percentage of
GA flight hours, the corners of the flight envelope are
routinely explored.
* Flights conducted entirely within the Troposphere where weather
exists.
* ...

Questions:
Is it reasonable to expect the fatal crash rate per 100,000 flight
hours of short training flights conducted by single, often student,
pilots with an emphasis on landing and takeoff operations to compare
favorably to long duration flights conducted by usually three FAA
certified professional personnel with only a single takeoff and
landing?

Should the Johns Hopkins University researchers be chastised and
dismissed for their fundamental errors leading to their faulty
analysis of a subject of which they obviously possess little knowledge
and understanding, yet proffer themselves as experts?