Another AirVenture is in the books. The annual airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was full of amazing aerial feats as usual, but some important learning happened during the week as well. Written and delivered by three Master CFIs, the all-day VFR and IFR refresher courses held at the EAA Pilot Proficiency Center provided pilots attending AirVenture the opportunity to improve their knowledge in the classroom and their flying skills in an advanced aviation training device.
Their proficiency and safety on the flight deck benefited from their attendance, and so did their logbooks. By participating in class and performing to ACS standards in the sims, each pilot who attended had the opportunity to rack up an impressive number of WINGS credits. As you know, earning any one of the three WINGS phases resets the 24-calendar-month clock on the need to undergo a flight review.
If you weren’t able to attend the show this year, we hope to see you in the PPC next July. Until then, here are a few of the important reminders and lessons reinforced in the popular seminars.
Pilots keep hurting themselves trying to tie the low-altitude record in the same old ways.
The most recent AOPA Air Safety Institute Accident Report (the Richard G. McSpadden Report), which covers NTSB accident data from 2022, looks very similar to past years. Accidents most commonly happen during landing, followed by takeoff and climb.
Pilots need to plan more (and better) for these phases of flight, and then practice more often, especially in crosswind conditions. If that idea makes you nervous, practice with a CFI.
During any phase of flight, LOC is usually the main factor for accidents.
During the landing phase, loss of control after touchdown leads the list of culprits, but “abnormal contact” is a close second. LOC is the top reason for accidents during takeoff, climb, and maneuvering as well.
Unfortunately, pilot-related accidents (as opposed to mechanical-related) account for the majority of fatalities, with loss of control in flight, VFR flight into IMC, CFIT, and collisions among those with particularly high fatality rates. In 2022, 100% of known accidents involving VFR flight into IMC in non-commercial fixed-wing aircraft resulted in fatalities.
Stall accidents don’t happen where you think they do.
Here’s an eye-opener. Roughly 11% of pattern stalls happen on downwind to base or base to final. The rest of them (the ~89% you need to think about more) happen over the runway after hard initial contact with the runway or, more likely, a botched go-around attempt.
Instrument flying is when your mind gets a grip on the fact that there’s vision beyond sight.
It’s a meta-sounding concept backed by simple and executable ideas. Having vision beyond sight includes staying ahead of the airplane, knowing what’s coming, understanding all the capabilities and limitations of your instruments, knowing what indications look out of place, and having Plans B, C, D, etc.
Practice often and learn as much as you can, both before each flight and about IFR flight in general.
Power, Attitude, and Configuration (PAC) combats task saturation.
There is a Power/Attitude/Configuration (PAC) performance combination for every aircraft and phase of flight. If you know what PAC values result in the various conditions of flight, you can set up the aircraft for the desired performance and know it’ll happen, leaving you freer to think about other things you need to do or decisions you need to make.
This can have a significant effect on your all-important ADM and make a difference in your safety.
Create and practice an emergency mindset.
An emergency in VFR is bad enough, but in IMC, even the steely-eyed can flinch.
Committing to a mindset of recurrent training is imperative.
This really applies to both VFR and IFR flights, of course. The airlines implement a highly structured regimen of pilot training to maintain currency and proficiency, and its effectiveness shows up in their safety records.
General aviation is roughly 19 times more dangerous than driving a car, but airline travel is about 190 times safer. Recency, frequency, and ongoing training are a huge part of the reason. Build a structured and robust proficiency plan for yourself and stick to it.
To a great extent, any form of transportation you command, be it an airplane, boat, or roller skates, will be as safe as you decide to make it. ATPs can make poor choices that result in accidents. General Aviation pilots can (and do) fly thousands of hours without incident.
But, ATP-related accidents are so rare that single-digit numbers are usually used to enumerate them annually, and often that single-digit number is zero. In GA, however, the numbers are larger by many orders of magnitude. The reason for this isn’t only because airline pilots are kept at a high level of proficiency at all times, while GA pilots only do so when they decide to. However, without question, it is a big part of the reason, and many would say it’s far and away the biggest part.