How Safe is This?
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I believe you're more safe flying than walking across the street.
With that said, I try to not get paranoid with safety. I could get in an accident in my car on the way to the airport for all that matters. But I try to be a good driver, just like I try to be a competent pilot. That starts with a thorough preflight for every flight to make sure you can make it back to earth in one piece. You can make sure you and the plane are legal to fly, or be certain that you and the plane are safe to fly. And this includes knowing many precedures in case of an emergency.
As a primary student, you will have to entrust most of this in your CFI until you develop the knowledge.
With that said, I try to not get paranoid with safety. I could get in an accident in my car on the way to the airport for all that matters. But I try to be a good driver, just like I try to be a competent pilot. That starts with a thorough preflight for every flight to make sure you can make it back to earth in one piece. You can make sure you and the plane are legal to fly, or be certain that you and the plane are safe to fly. And this includes knowing many precedures in case of an emergency.
As a primary student, you will have to entrust most of this in your CFI until you develop the knowledge.
FlyingNole
New Member
If there is something you don't like, ask your CFI about it. My first airplane was a 1960 C-152 that had an attitude indicator that looked like it was borrowed from a B-17 (just black and white). I thought the plane was going to fall apart. However you will learn to love your planes (for the most part). Just make sure you preflight the plane well, and make sure your CFI follows you along on your first few flights. Besides the unforseen catostrophic events, you'll be ok
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How safe are small planes anyway? Are we flying In death traps? Sometimes it makes me wonder. Concerned student.
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Not as safe as driving in your car.
Estimates place the fatality rate for General Aviation aircraft at somewhere around 1.33 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours. Automobile fatalities are approximately 1.5 per 100 million miles.
There isn't an easy comparison to make between the two activities, but let's try a couple just to see how they turn out.
1. Assume automobiles average 40 miles per hour, the fatality rate would be 1.5 per 2,500,000 driving hours. This is more than 20 times better than flying.
2. Assume the average GA pilot flies 100 hours per year, and the average motorist drives 25,000 miles. The comparison rates come out to: GA aircraft 1.33 fatal accidents per 1,000 years; automobiles 1.5 fatals per 4,000 years. Still much safer for autos, but now 4:1 instead of 25:1.
There are lots of other ways to look at the stats, but I don't care how you cut it, flying isn't the safest activity in the world. Doesn't make it necessarily unsafe, just not as safe as sitting at home on your couch, or driving your car, or any of thousands of other things.
Flying can be done safely. You just need to know what the potential problem areas are, make wise decisions, and train to proficiency.
Sources:
2003 Nall Report
2002 NHTSA
How safe are small planes anyway? Are we flying In death traps? Sometimes it makes me wonder. Concerned student.
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Not as safe as driving in your car.
Estimates place the fatality rate for General Aviation aircraft at somewhere around 1.33 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours. Automobile fatalities are approximately 1.5 per 100 million miles.
There isn't an easy comparison to make between the two activities, but let's try a couple just to see how they turn out.
1. Assume automobiles average 40 miles per hour, the fatality rate would be 1.5 per 2,500,000 driving hours. This is more than 20 times better than flying.
2. Assume the average GA pilot flies 100 hours per year, and the average motorist drives 25,000 miles. The comparison rates come out to: GA aircraft 1.33 fatal accidents per 1,000 years; automobiles 1.5 fatals per 4,000 years. Still much safer for autos, but now 4:1 instead of 25:1.
There are lots of other ways to look at the stats, but I don't care how you cut it, flying isn't the safest activity in the world. Doesn't make it necessarily unsafe, just not as safe as sitting at home on your couch, or driving your car, or any of thousands of other things.
Flying can be done safely. You just need to know what the potential problem areas are, make wise decisions, and train to proficiency.
Sources:
2003 Nall Report
2002 NHTSA
kellwolf
Piece of Trash
My opinion, it depends on who's flying. There's a couple of guy who are great pilots and masters of the 172. I won't fly with them b/c their ADM sucks big ones. You can look at stats all day long, but then again it depends on who's publishing them. Stats can be tweaked to reflect the opinion of the writer. Have I ever felt unsafe while in the air? Not really. I've been concerned a couple of times, but I've never had the "Oh my god, we're gonna crash" mentality. Have I ever not flown a plane because I questioned the safety of it? Absolutely. The key to GA is identifying the unsafe practices on the ground. If that's done, then the chances of a safe flight increase exponentially.
EatSleepFly
Well-Known Member
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I believe you're more safe flying than walking across the street.
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Umm, no. I used to think the same thing, until people I knew in aviation started getting killed. I know, or was acquainted with, at least four people who've been killed in GA accidents, not necessarily their fault.
Of course, I've lost two friends from getting hit by cars...one on a bike, the other a motorcycle. One was a freak accident, the other was alcohol related. Neither were walking, or crossing a street though.
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My opinion, it depends on who's flying.
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Couldn't agree more.
I believe you're more safe flying than walking across the street.
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Umm, no. I used to think the same thing, until people I knew in aviation started getting killed. I know, or was acquainted with, at least four people who've been killed in GA accidents, not necessarily their fault.
Of course, I've lost two friends from getting hit by cars...one on a bike, the other a motorcycle. One was a freak accident, the other was alcohol related. Neither were walking, or crossing a street though.
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My opinion, it depends on who's flying.
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Couldn't agree more.
Windchill
Well-Known Member
I agree whole-heartedly with the "depends on who's flying" philosophy.
There are so many factors that go into deciding the safety of GA flight. The safety levels vary greatly with the type of GA flying.
- Daytime sightseeing flight over flat lands with w/ lots of open lands below provides a greater level of safety than ...
- Nighttime cross-country over hilly areas with no readily available airport, and terrain one can't see to find a suitable landing spot.
When learning to fly, we all accept a known assumption of risk. One must respect the inherent dangers, and educate oneself as much as possible to be able to handle any situation that pops up as safely as possible. Sometimes •! happens!
I have thought after a long cross-country trip at night how ironic it would be to get into a bad car crash on the way home ... when you assume the hard part is over
There are so many factors that go into deciding the safety of GA flight. The safety levels vary greatly with the type of GA flying.
- Daytime sightseeing flight over flat lands with w/ lots of open lands below provides a greater level of safety than ...
- Nighttime cross-country over hilly areas with no readily available airport, and terrain one can't see to find a suitable landing spot.
When learning to fly, we all accept a known assumption of risk. One must respect the inherent dangers, and educate oneself as much as possible to be able to handle any situation that pops up as safely as possible. Sometimes •! happens!
I have thought after a long cross-country trip at night how ironic it would be to get into a bad car crash on the way home ... when you assume the hard part is over
USMCmech
Well-Known Member
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I read somewhere a few months ago that statistically, Flying in a GA aircraft is about as safe as riding a motorcycle. Airlines on the other hand, much safer.
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I read something similar (or maybe the same thing).
Having done both, I tend to agree. Both activites have an elevaed level of ris compared to the general population. However, there is no reason that those risks can't be controled.
When I rode my bike I knew that if I were ever hit by a car, it wouldn't be pretty. So I rode very defensivly, never stunted in traffic, always wore my helmet, wore leathers as much as bearable, ect.
If you take the same attitude to aviation, you'll be fine.
I read somewhere a few months ago that statistically, Flying in a GA aircraft is about as safe as riding a motorcycle. Airlines on the other hand, much safer.
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I read something similar (or maybe the same thing).
Having done both, I tend to agree. Both activites have an elevaed level of ris compared to the general population. However, there is no reason that those risks can't be controled.
When I rode my bike I knew that if I were ever hit by a car, it wouldn't be pretty. So I rode very defensivly, never stunted in traffic, always wore my helmet, wore leathers as much as bearable, ect.
If you take the same attitude to aviation, you'll be fine.
here are some very good stats/sources as well:
DOT Figures
and taken from: Here
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According to the latter, each
year in the US 1 out of 6800 drivers dies in an auto accident. The rate for
airline passengers is 1 in 1.6 million. The same table shows that per
passenger mile, air travel is safer by more than a factor of two. I doubt
this last figure; I think it should be about 100x safer, because I guess we
drive and fly the same number of miles (give or take a factor or 2-5) per
year, yet fatalities are 200 times higher for autos than for airlines.
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DOT Figures
and taken from: Here
[ QUOTE ]
According to the latter, each
year in the US 1 out of 6800 drivers dies in an auto accident. The rate for
airline passengers is 1 in 1.6 million. The same table shows that per
passenger mile, air travel is safer by more than a factor of two. I doubt
this last figure; I think it should be about 100x safer, because I guess we
drive and fly the same number of miles (give or take a factor or 2-5) per
year, yet fatalities are 200 times higher for autos than for airlines.
[/ QUOTE ]
Screaming_Emu
Well-Known Member
not to sound like a brainwashed student or anything but UND's "mission statement" or whatever you want to call it says something about eliminating all the risks you can and then reduce those that you can't to a reasonable level. There's always going to be risks, you just need to learn how to deal with them.
