Mon, Sep 19, 2011
Fatal Accidents In Experimental Aircraft Under FAA Targets
The EAA reports that the fatal accident rate in the
Experimental-Amateur Built (E-AB) category continues to decline,
and has renewed its call for separate accident statistics in that
category.
The FAA tracks accidents by fiscal year, which concludes at the
end of this month.
Statistics show the overall number of accidents in experimental
airplanes is at 67, which is close to the FAA's stated "never
exceed" target of 70. But in a report on its website, EAA says the
E-AB number stands at 45 for the year, which is far below the 2009
statistic of 67, and still below the 47 E-AB accidents recorded in
2010.
EAA Government Advocacy Specialist David Oord said the
number of E-AB fatal accidents continues to decline, and EAA feels
that the FAA should track this as a separate metric. "The
subcategories that make up the experimental fleet (amateur-built,
exhibition, light-sport, racing, market survey) have very different
operational characteristics and risk profiles. By creating one
metric for all, it doesn't take into account those
differences,” he said.
Some of the responsibility for lowering the rate of accidents
falls to the owners and builders, Oord said. The EAA offers
programs like the Flight Advisor as ways to improve safety in the
category. Pilots can also offer compensated instruction in E-AB
aircraft if they obtain a Letter of Deviation Authority (LODA) from
the FAA. And, builders can still be trained in their own aircraft
without a LODA if the aircraft is out of Phase I testing.
The EAA and NTSB recently completed a survey of owners,
builders, and pilots of experimental aircraft, which received more
than 5,000 responses. It is hoped the data will help increase
understanding of why accidents seem to occur at a higher rate in
experimental aircraft than in production airplanes.
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