2008 Nall Report - Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association

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Business 2008 NALL REPORT Other* 14.1% 3.1% (44) 4.3% (11) 5.0% 3.9% (54) 4.3% (11) 19.3% 20.4% 25.0% 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Commercial Private Sport Student None Other/unknown CFI on board* IFR pilot on board* Second pilot on board 25.9% ATP 11.7% (163) 13.7% (35) 20.7% 29.2% (408) 29.8% (76) 37.9% 0.4% 1.1% (16) 1.6% (4) 15.1% 8.2% (115) 2.0% (5) 1.4% (19) 1.6% (4) 0.6% (8) 1.2(3) Levels of Pilot Certificates 19.4% (271) 15.7% (40) 10.5% (147) 13.7% (35) Percent of pilots 47.8% (668) 50.2% (128) Percent of all accidents Percent of fatal accidents 47.2% (660) 45.5% (116) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 * Includes single-pilot accidents. Figure 12 Pilot Experience and Qualifications Total flight experience varies widely by the type of pilot’s certificate held. Fewer than 10 percent of private pilots meet the 1,500 hour requirement to become an ATP. Since accident involvement also differs between certificate levels, each certificate is analyzed separately. Certificate Level Student and airline transport pilot (ATP) certificate holders were involved in disproportionately few accidents in 2007 (Figure 12). Possible explanations include the high level of supervision of student pilots and the greater proficiency and experience of ATP pilots, who also typically fly more capable equipment. The great majority of accidents occurred in single-pilot flights, but without exposure data it is not clear whether this is disproportionate. The generally accepted wisdom is that two pilots lower accident involvement. The pilot-in-command, a second pilot, or both were instrument-rated on almost half the accident flights, which generally corresponds to the number of instrument-rated pilots in the population. 25% Mechanical failures Other Fuel management 20% Weather Preflight and taxi Takeoff 15% and climb Cruise 10% Maneuvering Descent/ approach 5% Go-around Landing 0% Collisions Pilot incapacitation 2,500 or less 40% 15.8% (219) 7.5% 8.7% (19) Distribution of Total Flight Time: ATPs 2,501 - 5,000 6.5% (90) 3.6% (9) 10.0% 12.3% (170) 16.7% (42) 24.7% 3.6% (50) 16.3% (41) 2.8% (39) 1.2% (3) 7.7% 11.7% (162) 11.9% (30) 18.5% 1.0% (14) 2.8% (7) Percent of all accidents Percent of fatal accidents All pilots Lethality percent All accident pilots 50.0% 6.6% (91) 20.2% (51) 56.0% 4.4% (61) 8.7% (22) 2.9% (40) 3.6% (9) 3.2% (8) 1.9% 1.0% (14) 1.6% (4) 0.9% (12) 2.8% (7) 36.1% 22.5% 30.5% (423) 28.6% Fatal accident pilots 58.3% 82.0% 0 20 40 60 80 100 5,001 - 7,500 7,501 - 10,000 10,001 - 12,500 12,501 - 15,000 15,001 - 17,500 17,501 - 20,000 More than 20,000 Figure 13 Flight Hours Figure 13 presents the total flight time reported by all active U.S. pilots holding ATP certificates, all ATPs involved in GA accidents in 2007, and those involved in fatal accidents. Figures 14 and 15 display similar information for commercial pilots and private pilots, respectively. The sources of these data and limitations on their interpretation are described in the Appendix. The high proportion of accidents involving relatively inexperienced pilots is largely explained by the high numbers of pilots at those experience levels. Most private pilots have less than 500 hours total time (71 percent claimed 500 hours or less on their last medical application) but this group had only 49 percent of all accidents and only 38 percent of fatal accidents. Thirty-five percent of all commercial pilots reported 500 hours or less, yet these had only 8 percent of total accidents and 14 percent of fatal accidents. However, it must be noted that data comparing total flight time to recent GA experience aren’t consistently available, so it’s not clear whether lower-time pilots were less exposed to the risk of accidents because they did less flying. 35% 30% 25% All pilots All accident pilots Fatal accident pilots 89
5% 5% ACCIDENT ANALYSIS At the other end, commercial pilots with more than 2,000 hours made up twice as large a share of the accident group (63 percent) as of the pilot population (31 percent), and they had more than half of the fatal accidents. Only 15 percent of all private pilots reported more than 1,000 hours, but 32 percent of all accidents and 35 percent of fatal accidents among private pilots occurred in this group. At the extreme, ATPs with more than 20,000 hours of flight time made up three and a half times as large a share of accident ATPs as of ATPs in general, though this may also reflect factors such as age or lack of recent light-aircraft experience. Time in Type Experience in the same make and model of aircraft is widely assumed to reduce risk. However, two factors complicate this analysis: There is no source of comparable data for the entire pilot population, and time in type is missing for most of the pilots involved in fatal accidents. The information that is available can be used to compare accidents within certificate level; however, it is not representative of pilots in general. Time in type for accident pilots in 2007 appears in Figure 16. Little difference is apparent between certificate levels, though the proportion of commercial pilots with less than 200 hours time in type is somewhat smaller than that of private pilots or ATPs. The high proportion of accidents that occur in the first 100 hours is partly due to greater exposure – it’s the only category that includes time logged by every pilot in every aircraft – but is so much higher than for the next 100 that it seems likely to reflect genuinely greater risk as well. Aircraft Class Another way to study GA accidents is to analyze the classes of aircraft involved. This report studies three classes of fixed-wing GA airplanes: singleengine fixed-gear (SEF), single-engine retractablegear (SER), and multiengine (ME). These classes are useful because they allow pilots to study safety issues for the type of aircraft they operate. 0% 0% 2,500 2,500 or or less less Distribution of Total Flight Time: Commercial Pilots 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 5% 0% 0% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 2,501 2,501 - - 5,000 5,000 5,001 5,001 - - 7,500 7,500 7,501 7,501 - - 10,000 10,000 15,001 15,001 - - 17,500 17,500 10,001 10,001 - - 12,500 12,500 12,501 12,501 - - 15,000 15,000 All All pilots All All accident pilots Fatal accident pilots 500 500 or or less less 501 501 - - 1,000 1,000 1,001 1,001 - - 1,500 1,500 1,501 1,501 - - 2,000 2,000 2,001 2,001 - - 2,500 2,500 2,501 2,501 - - 3,000 3,000 3,001 3,001 - - 4,000 4,000 4,001 4,001 - - 5,000 5,000 5,001 5,001 - - 10,000 10,000 More More than than 10,000 10,000 17,501 17,501 - - 20,000 20,000 More More than than 20,000 20,000 Figure 14 Distribution of Total Flight Time: Private Pilots All All pilots All All accident pilots Fatal accident pilots 0% 0% 500 500 or or less less 501 501 - - 1,000 1,000 1,001 1,001 - - 1,500 1,500 1,501 1,501 - - 2,000 2,000 2,001 2,001 - - 2,500 2,500 2,501 2,501 - - 3,000 3,000 3,001 3,001 - - 4,000 4,000 4,001 4,001 - - 5,000 5,000 More More than than 5,000 5,000 Figure 15 9
Page 1 and 2: 2008 NALL REPORT Accident Trends an
Page 3 and 4: 2008 NALL REPORT Table of Contents
Page 5 and 6: Overview of 2007 Accident Trends an
Page 7 and 8: 0 1998 2 (22.2%) 2006 2007 ACCIDENT
Page 9: 30 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 20
Page 13 and 14: ACCIDENT ANALYSIS with one exceptio
Page 15 and 16: None of the hours in the logbook ma
Page 17 and 18: ACCIDENT FACTORS: FLIGHT PLANNING A
Page 19 and 20: Accident Case Study DFW07FA049 Cess
Page 21 and 22: ACCIDENT FACTORS Single-engine fixe
Page 23 and 24: ACCIDENT FACTORS: HIGH-RISK PHASES
Page 29 and 30: ACCIDENT FACTORS: OTHER PHASES OF F
Page 31 and 32: 31 (10.1%) 33 (11.4%) 30 (11.9%) 0
Page 33 and 34: Section TITLE Appendix General Avia
Page 35 and 36: APPENDIX Interpreting Aviation Acci
Page 37 and 38: APPENDIX • Climb - From the time
Page 40: 2008 NALL REPORT AOPA Air Safety Fo

2008 Nall Report - Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association

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