Another Safer Year for Experimental Category Aircraft | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.07.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.08.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.09.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-07.10.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.11.25

Sun, Oct 31, 2021

Another Safer Year for Experimental Category Aircraft

Fatal Accident Rate Drops Once Again

The EAA is happy to announce another year of increased safety, as the fatal accident rate has once again decreased. Experimental category aircraft, often the problem child of aircraft operations, has seen its fatal accident total fall another 5% to finish below the FAA never-exceed total for the federal fiscal year ending September 30, 2021. 

Overall, general aviation has seen increasing flight hours flown, thankfully without a corresponding increase in accidents. Improvements in aviation are too multivariate to give full credit to any one change today, but advances in pilot awareness, EFB tools enabling better flight planning and weather avoidance, and the addition of ADS-B on aircraft undoubtedly help prevent the root causes of many incidents. Experimental category aircraft, the EAA’s focus, only accounted for 42 fatal accidents in FY 2021. Of those, it should be noted, 33 incidents took place with amateur-built aircraft. 

Amateur-built aircraft have been a point of attention for the FAA, with safety enhancements and pilot training making slight gains in addressing concerns. In their General Aviation Safety fact sheet, the FAA states that from 2013 to 2018, almost a quarter of fatal GA accidents were the result of only 5% of the flying hours. In the majority of those cases, Loss of Control remained the leading cause of fatalities, prompting the release of Advisory Circular (AC-90-190A) to aid pilot transition to unfamiliar fixed-wing airplanes, be they type-certificated or experimental.

The FAA sought to promote another circular, the Additional Pilot Program for Phase I Flight Test (AC 90-116), in the hopes that Builder/Owner Pilots (BP) can enhance their skills and mitigate risks during a period of increased pilot vulnerability. Additional safety in the post-build flight testing phase is available for those desiring an extra, experienced hand in evaluating and learning their new aircraft. Interested pilots can find assistance through EAA’s Additional Pilot Program, and consult their EAA Flight Test Manual for a convenient guide to task-based flight testing of homebuilt aircraft. 

“As positive as these figures are, EAA will not stop here and will continue to lead in making safety the top priority for all of us who fly,” Elliott said. “We have pushed the totals to very small numbers that are substantially fewer than many other common recreational pursuits, such as boating or all-terrain vehicles. But with such small numbers, even one or two accidents can have a negative impact on the overall safety trend.”

FMI: www.eaa.org
 
 


Advertisement

More News

NTSB Final Report: Aviat A1

Airplane Bounced About 3 Ft Then Touched Back Down And Then, With No Brakes Applied, The Airplane Began Veering To The Left Analysis: The pilot entered the airport traffic pattern >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.08.25)

Aero Linx: British Microlight Aircraft Association (BMAA) The primary focus within all aviation activity is SAFETY. In all aspects of our sport SAFETY must come first, whether it b>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Fly Corvair’s Reliable Engine Alternative

From SnF25 (YouTube Edition): William Wynne Builds Practical Aircraft Engines on the Corvair Platform Seeking an affordable alternative to the traditional aircraft engine options, >[...]

ANN FAQ: Contributing To Aero-TV

How To Get A Story On Aero-TV News/Feature Programming How do I submit a story idea or lead to Aero-TV? If you would like to submit a story idea or lead, please contact Jim Campbel>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: CiES Fuel-Quantity and e-Throttle Systems Praised

From 2023 (YouTube Edition): Bridge of CiES CiES Inc. is a Bend, Oregon-based designer and manufacturer of modular embedded aircraft systems and sensors. The company’s fuel-l>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC