Safe areas of general aviation

[willNOTfly4free]

When I fly my company's Cessna 310, I feel just as safe as I would flying as a passenger in your shiny RJ.

 

[USMCmech]

It can be as safe or as unsafe as you make it.

Day VFR can be flown in a manner that is completely unsafe.

Conversly

Night IFR can be flown in a manner that is well within what most of us call safe.



The difference between the airline world and GA is personal involvement, and controll.

At Delta, a dipatcher prepares the flight plan, maintence did the A check, the ground crew loaded the freight, ect.

All these profesionals are working hard to allow you to make a safe flight. However each one of those people hold the opportunity to make an error, that you as PIC have to catch. You also have the duty to fly the trip if it can be leagely and safely done (200 and 1/2 mile in blowing snow). Would you have a clue if a mechanic forgot the saftey wire the squib on a fire bottle?


In GA it's all on you, you have to do everything, however you have all the controll.

You make the plan, you preflight the much more simple aircraft, you load it, ect. You can get involed with the maintence if you want (it won't save you any money). You can add equipment that you feel will improve your safety in the air. You can decide to not fly if you think it would push your idea of what would be safe.

 

[NW_Pilot]

If you move yourself faster than a walking pace it has risk's. I myself feel safer flying then driving the DMV or DOL should replace their name on the building to "Box of Cracker Jack's"

 

[flyf15]

Airline pussies

I have had a lot more friends who have died flying small airplanes than airliners and it doesn't look like that statistic will be reversing itself any time soon.

Yeah, I'm a *************************. But I'm also simply someone who wants to engage in general aviation with no "need" to do so... purely as a fun hobby. A fun hobby that is as safe as it can be.

 

[Huggyu2]

To start with, consider buying an aircraft with a ballistic parachute in it. Maybe that will add to your piece of mind.
Some of the new LSA offerings have these.
http://www.brsparachutes.com/default.aspx

 

[TrafficInSight]

I've been in both worlds, and can say that I feel safer in the airline world then I do in the GA world. Statistics prove that. You get these weekend warriors that fly twice a year and are completely clueless once they get in the air. Very scary.

You make no sense.

I say go rent a 172... Cherokee... whatever... and depending on how long it's been, an instructor as well. Go shoot some landings, see a sunset, whatever. Get back into flying.

 

[LJDRVR]

You do what you can to mitigate the risk.

I'm in the process of puchasing a J-3. Although I've got hundreds of hours in this particular airplane, J-3's as a whole have a poor accident rate, especially in the fatalities per 100K hours flown.

So, I can sit on the sidlines, fly the Boeing for cash and miss out on enjoying many of the things that attracted me to flying in the first place. Or, I can (and have) purchase seat belts and shoulder harnesses that will be installed before I fly the Cub. I will also exercise extreme caution in the low speed area of the envelope when close to the ground, as that's where many Cub fatalities occur.

You're the PIC, you accept the amount of risk you're willing to based on your abilities, knowledge and the rewards.

I no longer fly single-engine night or IFR. And I used to.

Airline Pu**ies?

Whatever, buddy.

 

[QueensPilot]

"One of the major causes of GA accidents is running out of gas."

Really? Now where did you hear that? I thought running out of gas was a pretty rare(but inexcusable) reason for GA crashes. I read somewhere that it was one fuel exhaustion accident a month(that involved fatalities?).

What is the name of that report that comes out every year on GA accidents that would have more reliable info?

Avweb I have a ton of respect for your insights and experience. But what about a situation like the Ellmendorf(?) crash in Alaska, where four engines stop because of bird ingestion after takeoff? I can think of scenarious where the universe manifests things that are not in your control, at the worst possible time.

Of course, you may be ultimately right, just fly a small cub out of a flat strip somewhere on beautiful days and always have an out.

 

[say again]

You make no sense.

I say go rent a 172... Cherokee... whatever... and depending on how long it's been, an instructor as well. Go shoot some landings, see a sunset, whatever. Get back into flying.

I make plenty of sense!!!

 

[pilotyip]

"One of the major causes of GA accidents is running out of gas."

Not necessarily fatal, but go throught the NTSB data base there are a ton on SEL GA airplanes that go down due to fuel stravation, contaminated fuel, improper fuel, no fuel in the tank feeding the engine with the gas gauge selected to the full tank. My insite into this came from an GA Aviation Safety flyer I saw back in the 90's