Hard Deck

On Friday, February 2, 2018 at 7:32:47 AM UTC-5, wrote:
Our gliders have evolved allot in the past 5 decades - I know as technology advanced in a bunch of high speed sports ( cars, bobsleds, skiing....) the playing field and/or the rules had to adapt.


Today's gliders are safer. They handle better with more benign stall/spin characteristics (though most will still spin if provoked). Gliders in general and Schleicher gliders specifically are safer in crashes due to stronger materials and newer impact-absorbing cockpits and landing gears (they won't save you if you go straight in, of course). DG has done some good work on safety and I think all the glider manufacturers are paying much more attention to it.

We're carrying more safety equipment: e.g., ELTs, FLARMs. We're more aware of the hazards of dehydration, medications, etc. We're flying fewer hours (shorter tasks) and with more sleep (fewer, often no long retrieves).

I'd say that audio variometers have contributed to safety because they help keep our heads out of the cockpits but the proliferation of electronics in our panels has pushed us in the wrong direction, even allowing for the benefit of not having to study a Sectional chart closely.

I don't have data on earlier accident and fatality rates but it would be great if someone smart who's inclined that way could analyze it (9B???).

It's a tiny sample but here are the stats for pilots I have been able to recall I knew who were killed in glider crashes, by year:

1979
1980 (2)
1981
1984
1986
1992 (2)
1994
1999 (3 pilots, in two incidents)
2004
2010
2012

I wouldn't want to draw any real conclusions, not least because these are just pilots I knew/met. And in my early years, I simply hadn't met as many. Plus I don't know how many total pilots and contest days are involved, and not all of these deaths occurred during contest flights. But my sense is that it's not getting worse, and perhaps a bit better.

Chip Bearden