Safety last: Lies and coverups mask roots of small-plane carnage

[cburg]

http://www.usatoday.com/longform/news/nation/2014/06/12/lies-coverups-mask-roots-small-aircraft-carnage-unfit-for-flight-part-1/10405323/?csp=fbfanpage

[Flying Pig]

scary.. Where do I surrender my certificates.

[avbug]

Bad reporting. So many holes in that article and so many inaccuracies. There are also some truths there that some of the general aviation community may find hard to swallow.

[cburg]

Bad reporting. So many holes in that article and so many inaccuracies. There are also some truths there that some of the general aviation community may find hard to swallow.

Reminds me of the now infamous 20/20 expose' back in the early eighties...

[cburg]

USA Today slammed:

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-schweitzer/unfit-for-publication-how_b_5509253.html

 

" Yet even with that awesome disadvantage, with wild differences and pilot skill and experience in the GA community, with a fleet mix of old and new equipment, we still see relatively few deaths from flying. Hell, 50 people die each year snow skiing. SCUBA diving kills about 150 per year. Recreation boating claims about 750 people each year, significantly more than general aviation. Nothing about general aviation is out of line with any other sport that entails inherent risk. There is no grand conspiracy or systematic flaws in manufacturing. Instead, what we see is simply the unreliable element of human nature."

[eagle5]

Thought this was more like what is going on with GM then the inherent dangers recreational activities?

[500F]

The article seems to ignore the fact that the failure to evolve is driven as much by the demand side as the supply side of the equation.

 

If they made an R22 today that cost 100,000 more and weighed 100 pounds more, but had all of the latest and greatest safety features including a crashworthy fuel system how many would they sell?

 

0 Because you wouldn't be able to carry 2 people anymore.

 

They would have to go back to the drawing board and come up with an new two seater with a bigger engine, larger blades, larger fuel system, etc, etc, that would go for 500,000+ after its all said and done. How many of those would sell? Not enough to even keep the assemply line going untill the R-22s and 300s were off the market because we would happily take the risk to have lessons at $200/HR insted of $400/HR. At least, all of us except millionaires would.

[aeroscout]

Reminds me of the now infamous 20/20 expose' back in the early eighties...

Bird flu.

Mers.

Aids as an epidemic that would decimate the general public.

The list goes on and on about hype jobs that were the next closest thing to hoaxes.

[Astro]

Makes me want to get some nomex for my 22.

[Counterrotate]

The only reason the media sells this sh*t is because people buy it.

[500E]

There are a lot of holes in the 3 pages posted, but there is a whole lot of truth as well we all know simple mods would make things safer,

Manufacturers will not accept responsibility for poo\shoddy design.

Components that do not reach life.

Parts costs that are eye watering with NO justification.

This encourages owners \ operators to push the limits.

We are finding more customers are mothballing both FW & rotary or selling due to downturn & mainetance cost escalation.

We as operators are partly to blame as we accept this & dont push the

manufacturers.

AOPA reply

 

http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2014/June/18/USA-Today-report-extremely-flawed-AOPA-says.aspx

[lelebebbel]

The article seems to ignore the fact that the failure to evolve is driven as much by the demand side as the supply side of the equation.

 

If they made an R22 today that cost 100,000 more and weighed 100 pounds more, but had all of the latest and greatest safety features including a crashworthy fuel system how many would they sell?

 

0 Because you wouldn't be able to carry 2 people anymore.

 

They would have to go back to the drawing board and come up with an new two seater with a bigger engine, larger blades, larger fuel system, etc, etc, that would go for 500,000+ after its all said and done. How many of those would sell? Not enough to even keep the assemply line going untill the R-22s and 300s were off the market because we would happily take the risk to have lessons at $200/HR insted of $400/HR. At least, all of us except millionaires would.

 

 

You are describing the Cabri G2, and that seems to be selling quite nicely. Same engine as the R22 Beta 2, carries 2 x 200 pound adults plus bags, and 2 or 3 hours of fuel. Has set a few performance records for it's weight class.

Edited June 24, 2014 by lelebebbel

[JohnLeePettimore]

I looked up the cabri c2. I must say, it's a beautiful machine. I noticed that they only sold 50 of them to date. I wonder if it will pick up on it's sales now that it's available here.

[Shaun]

Author blames a carburetor but doesn't explore the circumstances of why an aircraft flying in 2005 has a carburetor.