I wanted to share a basic observation. I hope I have my numbers right, but I would be happy(ier) to be corrected.
About 10,000 Vans airplanes are flying these days. Looking at the 2015 and 2016 accident statistics at the AOPA data base, about 10 Vans airplanes have fatal accidents every year. That is, a 1-in-1000 death rate. For perspective,
this is about 10 times the death rate from opiods in the general population. Over 10 years of flying, a 1% chance of dying in one's airplane is nothing to sneeze it.
About half of Vans accidents are explainable as stupidity---some ******* (apologies) deciding to do aerobatics at 50' above altitude. Importantly, I can easily avoid such accidents myself. Surprisingly, only about 1 in 10 was IMC related. About 4-5 seem to have no clear cause(s). These are most worrying to me, because I do not know how to avoid them.
It would be great to see a better and less casual analysis of Vans serious accidents.
About 10,000 Vans airplanes are flying these days. Looking at the 2015 and 2016 accident statistics at the AOPA data base, about 10 Vans airplanes have fatal accidents every year. That is, a 1-in-1000 death rate. For perspective,
this is about 10 times the death rate from opiods in the general population. Over 10 years of flying, a 1% chance of dying in one's airplane is nothing to sneeze it.
About half of Vans accidents are explainable as stupidity---some ******* (apologies) deciding to do aerobatics at 50' above altitude. Importantly, I can easily avoid such accidents myself. Surprisingly, only about 1 in 10 was IMC related. About 4-5 seem to have no clear cause(s). These are most worrying to me, because I do not know how to avoid them.
It would be great to see a better and less casual analysis of Vans serious accidents.