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Rob,
There were 222 accidents involving 225 aircraft in CY 2011. 55 accidents were powerplant failures. Of the 125 aircraft with known hours available, 33 accidents occurred in Phase I. The NTSB report will be out in June.
Jeff
Do the results change appreciably if we subtract accidents that happened during the initial 25 hr or 40 hr flyoff period? I would expect a greater accident rate during that period. If we are to compare apples to apples, we should compare the accient rate once the homebuilt is "complete", i.e., completed it's test period.
Moving on, what are the most significant causes of accidents? I had thought it was something like 25-40% due to fuel issues, 25% due to other engine stoppages, 25% due to pilot error (continued flight into IMC, stall/spin, and so forth -- although one could argue that stall/spin may also be related to the aircraft, if the experimental aircraft has unusual stall characteristics). These numbers are fuzzy recollections only. I think you would have a greater knowledge than I do in this area.
-----Original Message-----
From: rwolf99 <rwolf99@aol.com>
To: lml <lml@lancaironline.net>
Sent: Tue, May 29, 2012 10:09 am
Subject: [LML] Re: Experimental Aircraft Accidents
Jeff -
Do the results change appreciably if we subtract accidents that happened during the initial 25 hr or 40 hr flyoff period? I would expect a greater accident rate during that period. If we are to compare apples to apples, we should compare the accient rate once the homebuilt is "complete", i.e., completed it's test period.
Moving on, what are the most significant causes of accidents? I had thought it was something like 25-40% due to fuel issues, 25% due to other engine stoppages, 25% due to pilot error (continued flight into IMC, stall/spin, and so forth -- although one could argue that stall/spin may also be related to the aircraft, if the experimental aircraft has unusual stall characteristics). These numbers are fuzzy recollections only. I think you would have a greater knowledge than I do in this area.
What I'm looking for here is "Focus on this first" items as it pertains to an aircraft still under construction, or being inspected at annual. For example, I doubt that failure of a retractable gear to extend causes many fatalities, although it is never good.
Thanks.
- Rob Wolf
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