On 2 Dec 2003 03:31:39 GMT, Del Rawlins
wrote:

How many of "all homebuilt accidents" involved an "emergency landing"?
(I don't think we mean "landing" to include "falling to earth in
pieces".)

About 20% of the homebuilt accidents in that period involved a loss of
power due to mechanical failure of the engine or fuel system (vs.
pilot mismanagement of fuel or power system). About 15% engine
related, about 5% fuel-system related.

Is "running out of gas' considered pilot mismanagement of the fuel
system in the accident report data?

It isn't on my analysis. My primary interest is mechanical failures
related to accidents, but I've done some breaking-out of the pilot-related
causes. I have one catch-all category for the pilot losing control or
mishandling the airplane (with subsidiary fields for winds, etc.), and
separately track items like fuel exhaustion, VFR to IFR, pilot
disorientation and Incapacitation, wake turbulence, deliberate maneuvering
at low altitude, failure to recover from aerobatic maneuvers,
builder/manufacturer error, inadequate preflight, out of weight or CG
range, and suicide.

It's all leading to a KITPLANES article, once I'm done refining the output.
Ran a CD backup of the directory last night, it was about 250 Mb. Been a
busy boy.

Also, I realize that the accident
data is what you have available, but data showing the causes for forced
landings (which may not necessarily generate an accident report) might
be more appropriate.

Agreed. About twenty years back, my EAA chapter was having a picnic at an
airpark home of a member. He went to take some passengers up in his
homebuilt, and lost the engine right after liftoff. He got the plane
stopped before going over the bluff at the end of the runway, but had to
ground-loop it and wipe the gear off. The chapter members ran to the
wreck, piled it on a convenient trailer, and had it back in the hangar
(door closed) before the cops got there. "What accident?" :-)

Then there was the case about seven years ago, when a news crew asked a man
coming out of a patch of woods whether he knew anything about a nearby
plane crash. He denied it. But he didn't explain why one arm was in a
sling and there was crumpled Fokker rudder tucked under the other arm....

However, my primary interest is the accident rate of homebuilts vs.
production aircraft, and the relative occurrences of the various causes.

Thanks again to whoever pointed me at the NTSB database files, they're
wonderful. Beats weeding through the online narratives. I thank you, and
my ophthalmologist will thank you. :-)

Ron Wanttaja