Why Soaring's Safety Record Doesn't Improve

Ever ask yourself, why doesn't our safety record improve? We seem to have the
same type and about the same number of accidents every year. Lets take the
*controls not hooked up*, its about time for another one of those. Every year a
couple of guys will try to fly without hooking up a control. This type accident
is 100% preventable. Why can't we put a stop to it? The answer is simple, we
don't have the power to control it. The airlines wouldn't put up with it. The
military would have no problem in eliminating it. Clubs have the power to stop
it. How about the individual sailplane owner? We got the power to control
his/her actions? No we don't and just try and get a little muscle and listen to
the screams. I tried to get the *wing tape sign off* adopted by asking my local
FBO's to refuse to give a tow unless the tow pilot saw a wing tape sign off on
each sailplane wing. I got ZERO replies from the 5 FBO's I asked to try the
plan and several of them had experienced accidents caused by controls not
hooked up.

Our safety record will not improve because we don't have the power to enforce
rules designed to make soaring safer.
JJ Sinclair

That's the same as asking why highway accidents can't be reduced.
The same goes for motorcycles, skydiving, and anything worth doing.

gill


JJ Sinclair wrote:
Ever ask yourself, why doesn't our safety record improve? We seem to have the
same type and about the same number of accidents every year. Lets take the
*controls not hooked up*, its about time for another one of those. Every year a
couple of guys will try to fly without hooking up a control. This type accident
is 100% preventable. Why can't we put a stop to it? The answer is simple, we
don't have the power to control it. The airlines wouldn't put up with it. The
military would have no problem in eliminating it. Clubs have the power to stop
it. How about the individual sailplane owner? We got the power to control
his/her actions? No we don't and just try and get a little muscle and listen to
the screams. I tried to get the *wing tape sign off* adopted by asking my local
FBO's to refuse to give a tow unless the tow pilot saw a wing tape sign off on
each sailplane wing. I got ZERO replies from the 5 FBO's I asked to try the
plan and several of them had experienced accidents caused by controls not
hooked up.

Our safety record will not improve because we don't have the power to enforce
rules designed to make soaring safer.
JJ Sinclair

Not true!

The Swedish Soaring Federation has been delegated all authority over
gliding by the Swedish CAA. Since 1993 we have reduced our accident rate
by 50%.

You do not need a lot of rules, you need a few good rules, and the power
to enforce them!

Robert

Gill Couto wrote:
That's the same as asking why highway accidents can't be reduced. The
same goes for motorcycles, skydiving, and anything worth doing.

gill


JJ Sinclair wrote:

Ever ask yourself, why doesn't our safety record improve? We seem to
have the
same type and about the same number of accidents every year. Lets take
the
*controls not hooked up*, its about time for another one of those.
Every year a
couple of guys will try to fly without hooking up a control. This type
accident
is 100% preventable. Why can't we put a stop to it? The answer is
simple, we
don't have the power to control it. The airlines wouldn't put up with
it. The
military would have no problem in eliminating it. Clubs have the power
to stop
it. How about the individual sailplane owner? We got the power to control
his/her actions? No we don't and just try and get a little muscle and
listen to
the screams. I tried to get the *wing tape sign off* adopted by asking
my local
FBO's to refuse to give a tow unless the tow pilot saw a wing tape
sign off on
each sailplane wing. I got ZERO replies from the 5 FBO's I asked to
try the
plan and several of them had experienced accidents caused by controls not
hooked up.

Our safety record will not improve because we don't have the power to
enforce
rules designed to make soaring safer.
JJ Sinclair

Gill Couto wrote in message news:Jh5pc.51$xi.38@fed1read07...
That's the same as asking why highway accidents can't be reduced.
The same goes for motorcycles, skydiving, and anything worth doing.

gill



There has been a small but real population adjusted reduction in auto
accidents in this country over the last 20-30 years. Training and
higher standards, while politically unpopular, would, IMHO, further
reduce the rate. However, because driving (and driving badly) is seen
as a right in this country, most recent efforts have concentrated on
reducing the impact (pun intended) of the inevitable accidents by
improvements in vehicle structure and performance, as well as the use
of airbags and seatbelts.

Because these sorts of engineering improvements are largely
unavailable to us in gliders (a whole other discussion), any
improvement in our accident statistics will have to come as a result
of improved pilot knowledge and performance.

Unfortunately age conspires to diminish important faculties like
vision, reaction, memory, etc., the effect being only partially
compensated by experience. There are lots of pilots out there who say
"I've forgotten more than you'll ever know". Probably true but,
unfortunately, some of that "more than you'll ever know" may be
important to their safety.

It may be that our aging pilot base needs as much (or more) training /
retraining and evaluation as our beginners to permit adequate
self-assessment and to counteract these inevitible effects.

Raphael Warshaw
Claremont, CA

"JJ Sinclair" wrote in message
...
Ever ask yourself, why doesn't our safety record improve? We seem to have
the
same type and about the same number of accidents every year. Lets take the
*controls not hooked up*, its about time for another one of those. Every
year a
couple of guys will try to fly without hooking up a control. This type
accident
is 100% preventable. Why can't we put a stop to it? The answer is simple,
we
don't have the power to control it. The airlines wouldn't put up with it.
The
military would have no problem in eliminating it. Clubs have the power to
stop
it. How about the individual sailplane owner? We got the power to control
his/her actions? No we don't and just try and get a little muscle and
listen to
the screams. I tried to get the *wing tape sign off* adopted by asking my
local
FBO's to refuse to give a tow unless the tow pilot saw a wing tape sign
off on
each sailplane wing. I got ZERO replies from the 5 FBO's I asked to try
the
plan and several of them had experienced accidents caused by controls not
hooked up.

Our safety record will not improve because we don't have the power to
enforce
rules designed to make soaring safer.
JJ Sinclair

I'm convinced that safety can't be found in stricter rules or inspections.
The very nature of flight is that it takes place beyond the reach of these.
Safety is in the attitude and skillset of the individual pilot. Danger lies
between the ears of the pilot, not in the hardware or rulebook.

This is a classic cautionary tale of misdirected concern.

When I was a student pilot long ago, you would see pilots shaking the
wingtips of their wooden gliders up and down at the resonant frequency of
the wing while staring at the sweep second hand of their wris****ches. The
idea was that the natural frequency would change if the strength of the wing
deteriorated. They were REALLY worried about old wood wings.

One day a wing failed and two died. The FAA and NTSB took the separated
wing to a lab and measured its strength. They found it had failed at 14
G's. The pilot and his passenger didn't die from a defective wing, they
died of terminal stupidity. The pilot simply overloaded a perfectly good
wing while attempting aerobatics. I'll bet right up to the point the wing
broke he was sure he was safe because he was a wing shaker.

The next time you fly, take a second to look at the hand holding the stick.
Life and death is right there. Move it a couple of inches the wrong way and
you die. If you find that thought uncomfortable, find a good instructor to
fly with.

Bill Daniels

I'm convinced that safety can't be found in stricter rules or inspections.
The very nature of flight is that it takes place beyond the reach of these.

The airline industry would take exception to that statement and offer
their safety record as evidence, I think. But, you can't apply airline
rules and inspections (not to mention recurrent training) to general
aviation - it's simply not practical.

Safety is in the attitude and skillset of the individual pilot. Danger lies
between the ears of the pilot, not in the hardware or rulebook.

For the glider pilot, I think this is very true.

Tony V.
http://home.comcast.net/~verhulst/SOARING

I tried to get the *wing tape sign off* adopted by asking my local
FBO's to refuse to give a tow unless the tow pilot saw a wing tape sign off
on
each sailplane wing

JJ,

While this is a great idea, the implementation is far different. I have seen
pilots do a "PCC" and not catch the disconnect or reversal. The core problem,
I think, is HOW the pilot does a PCC.


Jim Vincent
CFIG
N483SZ
illspam

illspam (Jim Vincent) writes:

I tried to get the *wing tape sign off* adopted by asking my local
FBO's to refuse to give a tow unless the tow pilot saw a wing tape
sign off on each sailplane wing

While this is a great idea, the implementation is far different. I
have seen pilots do a "PCC" and not catch the disconnect or
reversal. The core problem, I think, is HOW the pilot does a PCC.

No, the problem is in how people think. If you have a person who
expects a result X, and give him something that is neat to X or -X, he
will in a very high percentage of cases accept it as correct. This is
not lack of atention, or carlessness, it is just the way our brains
work.

--
Paul Repacholi 1 Crescent Rd.,
+61 (08) 9257-1001 Kalamunda.
West Australia 6076
comp.os.vms,- The Older, Grumpier Slashdot
Raw, Cooked or Well-done, it's all half baked.
EPIC, The Architecture of the future, always has been, always will be.

(Jim Vincent) writes:

I tried to get the *wing tape sign off* adopted by asking my local
FBO's to refuse to give a tow unless the tow pilot saw a wing tape
sign off on each sailplane wing

While this is a great idea, the implementation is far different. I
have seen pilots do a "PCC" and not catch the disconnect or
reversal. The core problem, I think, is HOW the pilot does a PCC.

No, the problem is in how people think. If you have a person who
expects a result X, and give him something that is neat to X or -X, he
will in a very high percentage of cases accept it as correct. This is
not lack of atention, or carlessness, it is just the way our brains
work.

Yes and no. If the person is not trained to question result X, they will
accept result X. If they are ignorant through stupidity, ignorance, or
attitude, they will never even get to the point where they even have the
oppportunity to evaluate result X, never mind Y or Z. The problem goes back to
the AB and C of doing a PCC. The instructors at my club haven't a f'ijng clue
how to do one....never mind that they won't allow the student to do the
checklist approved for the G103 in the POH. So what you get is a dumb ****
trained by a dumb ****.

Jim Vincent
CFIG
N483SZ
illspam

JJ Sinclair wrote:
Ever ask yourself, why doesn't our safety record improve? We seem to have the
same type and about the same number of accidents every year. Lets take the
*controls not hooked up*, its about time for another one of those.

People seem to think evolution is always forward, but in fact our
noggins are major consumers of energy, sources of heat loss, etc., and
the moment they lose their ability to offer an evolutionary advantage,
they'll evolve away.

In short, nature is perfectly capable of, and will in fact tend towards,
building a better idiot.