Safety of GA flying

wrote:
You guys here know more so I am asking, don't consider this as some
"attack". I agree its mostly in pilot, just when we look at the
personal airplane as a mode of transportation from point A to point B
with all conveniences it offers, what can I do to keep safety to max
apart from the pilot human erorr (my error). Someone mentioned piston /
turbbine engines, etc. That would be nice to look into more.


Peter D answered your question quite eloquently already when he wrote
about the decision making process. It starts and ends with the pilot.
Safety is an attitude - know your limits (and the airplane's limits)
and never exceed either. Example: JFK Jr was killed by his own poor
decision to fly at night over water in reduced visibility conditions.
There is rarely just one cause behind an accident, normally it is a
chain of events.

GA aircraft are very convenient when it comes to getting you places on
your own schedule. They are not always up to the task when weather is
involved (#1 killer), and sometimes you just have to bag the trip if
the risk involved exceeds your personal limit. The more capable the
aircraft the more options you have. I fly a Pilatus turboprop part time
for a charter company. Last Saturday I flew from NJ up to Maine through
some pretty snotty weather. If not for the onboard radar and Nexrad
satellite weather downlink we wouldn't have been able to pick our way
through the worst of it. Radar and satellite capability is not limited
to turbine powered aircraft, but their performance often allows them to
climb quickly on top of the nasty weather rather than have to slog
through it.

Barney,

Another part of the equation is the reliability of piston engines vs
turbines....


Is it? How many piston accidents are due to engine failure? Is that a
major factor in accidents? In fatal accidents?

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Thomas Borchert schrieb:

Is it? How many piston accidents are due to engine failure?

In Germany alone at least one each month (often more), according to the
BFU Bulletins.

Stefan

Stefan,

In Germany alone at least one each month (often more), according to the
BFU Bulletins.


Accidents? Incidents? Fatal? That's what percentage of all accidents?

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Thomas Borchert schrieb:

Accidents? Incidents? Fatal? That's what percentage of all accidents?

I pointed you to the source, now you can do the required research to
answer your question yourself.

Stefan

Stefan wrote:
Thomas Borchert schrieb:

Accidents? Incidents? Fatal? That's what percentage of all accidents?

I pointed you to the source, now you can do the required research to
answer your question yourself.

Stefan
Heheh, which means you don't have the facts to back up your claim.

Stefan,

I pointed you to the source, now you can do the required research to
answer your question yourself.


One might also say you posted a meaningless number and I asked you to
put meaning to it. ;-)

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Emily schrieb:

Heheh, which means you don't have the facts to back up your claim.

No, which means I'm not going to spend hours to research numbers I'm not
interested in. I know what I've claimed, I'm not interested in exacter
numbers, and certainly not in pecentages. But for those who are, I'll
even post the link with the rough material:

http://www.bfu-web.de/cln_003/nn_414...html__nnn=true

Stefan

Thomas Borchert schrieb:

One might also say you posted a meaningless number and I asked you to
put meaning to it. ;-)

One might. On the other hand, one might also say that you asked a
rhetorical question and are not even interested in the answer, otherwise
you would jump on the source and look for the answer yourself.

Stefan

Stefan,

one might also say that you asked a
rhetorical question


What I really did was ask Mr. Rubble to explain how much of a "part of
the equation the reliability of piston engines" really is - after he
stated it was.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)