Issue with GA Accidents/Incidents lately?

[cdnpilot77]

Is it just me or has there been a surge in GA small aircraft accidents or incidents lately?

It seems that every other day there is something new posted about a small plane crash or someone damaging a plane, or a major deviation from normal procedures. The thought was brought on by the crash in MB and the "faulty maneuver" crash in PQ just a day or 2 apart.

Is it just me? Of course I have no stats to back this up so maybe I have just been paying closer attention and seeing/hearing more stories. Not sure! But if it isn't just me, then why the sudden upswing? How do we rectify the issue save some lives/injuries/good old birds, and keep our insurance costs at a manageable level instead of astronomically unattainable levels?

[mag check]

I think if you check the stats, you will find it is just you.
There are around 10-15 crashes a day in the states, and usually 2 or 3 in Canada each day.
These numbers have stayed roughly the same since they started keeping a record of it(although there are some better, and worse days).

[High Flyin]

I think if you check the stats, you will find it is just you.
There are around 10-15 crashes a day in the states, and usually 2 or 3 in Canada each day.
These numbers have stayed roughly the same since they started keeping a record of it(although there are some better, and worse days).

10-15 in the states a day. Amazing really. And they say flying is dangerous...

[cdnpilot77]

I think if you check the stats, you will find it is just you.
There are around 10-15 crashes a day in the states, and usually 2 or 3 in Canada each day.
These numbers have stayed roughly the same since they started keeping a record of it(although there are some better, and worse days).

10-15 in the states a day. Amazing really. And they say flying is dangerous...

That is amazing!! Any stats on how many are related to pilot error and how many are mechanical/systems malfunction?

[200hr Wonder]

Lets not forget that spring is a coming, people are dusting off there airplanes from a long winters hibernation. They machines may be a bit rusty as with the piloting skills of low time/low experience/low hours per year GA pilot. I would hazard a wild guess that you have a higher chance of a failure of an aircraft coupled with rusty flying skills, you will end up with more bent metal this time of year than any other.

[mag check]

I think if you check the stats, you will find it is just you.
There are around 10-15 crashes a day in the states, and usually 2 or 3 in Canada each day.
These numbers have stayed roughly the same since they started keeping a record of it(although there are some better, and worse days).

10-15 in the states a day. Amazing really. And they say flying is dangerous...

That is amazing!! Any stats on how many are related to pilot error and how many are mechanical/systems malfunction?

Not really, that is a tough stat to quantify. From what I have research, the vast majority would come down to pilot error, and often even a mechanical failure ends up either being caused by pilot error, or a crash occurs after the failure because of pilot error in handling the mechanical problem,(engine failure, but then the pilot stalls and spins into the ground etc.) so often it is a "chicken or the egg" kind of thing.
The stats do show that there is alot of bad decision making in most of the accidents, and that it will likely never change. 50 years from now, pilots will still be flying vfr into imc conditions, and crashing.
I would also suggest that the stats would say we are really overdue for a bunch of pc 12 accidents.

[Hedley]

Also, keep in mind media bias.

If someone dies in a car accident, who cares. Hardly any lines in the newspaper, rarely a photo, not often front page news.

If someone dies in a small airplane accident, you would have thought the pope had been raped. The dead person must be twice as dead as the person in the car accident. Huge photos. Front page of the newspaper. National and even international coverage. Sound bites with a talking head with incredible amounts of hairspray "on the scene" breathlessly describing how the twin-engine piper cub (without a flight plan) "plunged" out of the sky. If only he had filed a flight plan! Or, had 3 engines! Or more wings!

[tiggermoth]

Here is a question: how many of these "crashes" are something such as a guy has an engine failure in a cessna 172 or cherokee or whatever, and just lands in a field, but typical of the media it gets blown out of proportion and turned into a "crash", just because the pilot landed somewhere other than an airport.

I remember one a few years back near Red Deer AB where a fellow in a C150 was flying east of the city, I think it was the weather started to get nasty real fast (good ole' prairie thunderstorm building fast) and he wasn't going to be able to make it back to the airport, so he landed on a straight stretch of road and parked in a small field next to the road. Of course some passerby then had to phone the newspaper, and they wrote a story about the "close call" the pilot had with his "crash landing" on the road. It was even complete with the picture of the 150 nicely parked and tied down in the field.

[Hedley]

Never, ever talk to reporters. Their job is NOT to objectively transfer impartial information, despite what they might say. Their job is to sensationalize the news so that they can further their careers and make more money for the company that own them.

Only trained PR people should deal with reporters. They have a better chance of not having their statement manipulated and twisted and taken out of context.

[mag check]

Here is a question: how many of these "crashes" are something such as a guy has an engine failure in a cessna 172 or cherokee or whatever, and just lands in a field, but typical of the media it gets blown out of proportion and turned into a "crash", just because the pilot landed somewhere other than an airport.

From the ntsb stats, not many I would guess. I'm pretty confident that if you counted all the forced landings that work out safely, gear ups that don't get reported, planes that break their gear off etc. you would probably find that instead of 10-15 per day, there is 30-40.

[tiggermoth]

Ahh, thanks mag check. I didn't really look at the stats as coming from the ntsb. I thought maybe they had come from some media outlet or something of the sort. Makes a bit more sense now.

Tigger