Tuesday 5 July 2011

GENERAL AVIATION CHAOS

Over the Independence Day weekend in the US I imagine there was a whole lot of flying going on but when I read from the NTSB that they are investigating no fewer than seven fatal general aviation accidents (http://t.co/kZbMWEN) from the holiday period it puts a very different perspective on what should be fun and fundamentally safe.

I remember Gretchen Burrett (a welcome US import to the UK aviation industry), when she was Director of Safety at UK NATS saying that they watched the dawn of sunny Bank Holiday weekends with dread because the number of controlled airspace incursions would increase massively as amateur pilots took to the air in their droves. I also recall more than one tour of the UK AAIB's facilities at Farnborough, staring in disbelief at the number of wrecked light aircraft and helicopters littering their hangars.

Flying should be available to all those capable of managing an aircraft with competence but please, let's try to make sure they have the competence and use it consistently...

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