| Show markers pointing the way to a small automatic radio ground beacon about 40 miles away maintained by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) When we passed over the beacon (often a small white structure in some farmer's field) the word "TO" in the indicator would suddenly change to "FROM" until weset the dial for the next beacon There are approximately 1000 of these FAA omnibeacons sprinkled around the nation you can always be within range of more than one As we flew along other FAA radio and electronic navigational aid services guided us and kept track of our progress Ground stations supplied the latest weather reports and kept a running record of our latest position destination etc When we were still air40 miles away from ports their radar operators fixed our position and as we came closer tower control men directed us in FAA-controll- 10' 04 0 ed 3 Are private planes a hazard around major airports? At metropolitan airports which are suffering from heavy problems many small planes are intermingled with the big passenger planes However the majority of these we discovered are a new breed — air taxis — that carry 4 to 19 passengers on short hops between major airports outlying suburban areas or nearby cities They are the g group in light aviation Yet they are not Most air taxis are worth from S30000 of to upwards $ too000 are flown by professional and pilots carry much the same instruments and electronic equipment as airliners 'According to the FAA the safety record of the scheduled air taxis has been "exceptionally good" The same holds true for the growing number of business planes that vie with the air taxis and passenger liners for airspace and runways at the major airports So large has the US business aircraft fleet grown that in 1965 alone the miles flown by business planes with professional pilots constituted 47 per cent of all aircraft miles Yet their safety record was just as good as the airlines and even equal to that of the railroads While the airlines are delighted to have the air taxis "feeding" them passengers they make no bones about wanting the lone private plane out of their hair namely barred from major airports In e rebuttal spokesmen argue they have as at a public airport as a much land to right just also liner to a critical lag in point They passenger building new airports elsewhere In fact in densely populated areas where they are needed the most the number of airports is actually decreasing Nevertheless it seems clear that the traffic and congestion at metropolitan airports are making them increasingly hazardous for small pilots planes manned by But — among all the millions of flights takeoffs and landings that are made annually by small planes at our more than 9600 airports last year there were only 13 collisions of any sort and 18 fatalities between small craft And while there have been collisions between airliners and several fatal mid-asince 196o there a high number of have been only five collisions involving a large airliner or air freighter and a private plane and only 36 fatalities air-traff- ic particularly over water But air safety authorities assert that such crashes should be classed ao "brain failure" A pilot forgets to fill his tanks makes a mistake in his fuel calculations gets lost or gropes around in bad weather until his fuel is gone Newspaper accounts of accidents frequently report that a plane's engine "stalled" — the plane temporarily lost its flying speed A plane in a "stall" accident may spin into the ground with its motor running perfectly and all mechanical controls functioning Such accidents are extremely common and are caused by lack of pilot proficiency mrL 6 Well (4 lb then are today's small-plan- e pilots inept andor irresponsible? 0ö No! THIS WEEK'S investigation revealed that the majority of the owners of today's private planes are businessmen (bankers merchants sales executives) and professional men (physicians lawyers dentiT engineers) who by nature are conscientious conservative prudent citizens They are in their mature years (35-6family men in general and they seek to equip their planes with the best and latest safety equipment Those who don't own planes belong to flying clubs that require a pilot's license and considerable flying time for membership 5) T fastest-growin- rport small-plan- us Ls in iusly hich siest the )rida rried )ther fly The air- st in ever-mounti- ng ir "near-misse- Flair alle kortly :h we n the lion" chow s" these accidents caused by mechanical failure? Probably the most widespread mistaken popular notion is that "something happens to the engine" Actually the engines of modern light planes very rarely fail They do run out of gas — and this is one e of the most common factors in crashes 4 Are small-plan- thunderstorms Within an hour was in trouble in a severe thunderstorm An attempt was made to guide the plane to a nearby private airport but it crashed in the ocean killing the attorney and his passenger Examination of the recovered wreckage revealed no evidence of malfunction of the airplane ( ) A businessman 43 years old flew from Frankfort Ill to Detroit with three passengers to attend a football game Ile took off for home again despite reports that ceilings along his route were below t 000 feet with clouds and fog expected and low visibility in the Chicago area About six pm the plane passed over a small airport on the outskirts of Chicago flying at about So feet to stay below fog Shortly afterward witnesses heard it crash All four occupants were killed The accident report revealed the pilot was not licensed to fly on instruments (c) An accountant age 37 not a newcomer to flying used his airplane for a business trip to a Colorado mine He "buzzed" the mining buildings twice apparently to alert somebody to meet him at the airport with a car After the second low pass he zoomed up in a steep climb banked steeply and dove into the ground his engine still running wide open An autopsy disclosed enough alcohol to impair the d pilot's efficiency-anjudgment Do drinking or drugs have any bearing on small 6 Are private pilots careless or overconfident? plane accidents? Possibly If you can drive a car you can learn to fly a modern airplane But flying an airplane will never be the same as driving a car As one small plane expert Wolfgang Langwiesche has pointed out "It may sound like a car and smell like one — d it may even have been to look like — it on but goes wings" Flying requires a good one deal more skill and lots more concentration than driving a car Once learned yr it also requires constant practice and study just to keep up with it Above all it requires good judgment Hans Gruenhoff who has flown in small planes for 35 years says most private flying mishaps occur not when the pilot "gets into trouble" but when he "reaches for trouble" The same qualand independence that have ities of made many a professional or businessman a success in the on the ground may make him accident-pron-e air That is he deliberately fails to heed advice flies into bad weather attempts to cross mountainous terrain at low altitudes attempts to pilot a plane with which he is not familiar flies at night when either he or his airplane or both are not equipped for it or flies when he is not entirely sober In other words he tempts fate — and loses Some random examples: (A) A Florida attorney with considerable piloting experience took off from Miami to Daytona Beacfi despite a weather forecast of increasing Several years ago the FAA warned that an e accidents were being alarming number of caused by people trying to fly while under the influence of alcohol and just recently the agency touched off a new storm by estimating that drinking is a factor in 3o per cent of all private plane accidents According to Dr Stanley R Mohkr of the FAA's Office of Aviation Medicine in 1963 there were 477 general aviation fatal accidents A study of 158 of the pilots killed revealed 56 showed evidence of drinking (despite an official FAA recommendation to pilots not to drink for 24 hours before a flight) The National Transportation Safety Board which investigates all air accidents cites a much lower percentage but even conservative aviation e authorities feel that as many as one out of five accidents may be related to drinking Alcohol insidiously destroys judgment and coordination — both of which are far more crucial factors in an airplane than in a car And you can't pull a plane "off the highway" if you feel woozy Also common drugs (tranquilizers cold tablets sleeping pills cough medicines etc) may seriously impair judgment and coordination many hours after they are taken (and also magnify the effects of even small amounts of alcohol) and may be the answer to crashes many baffling private-plan- e interior-decorate- - 1- I ' - 3 ' 1:- I i'':::::1-- : t '': t ::Il--' ' I ::'::i:7:1 I i' i:::y 1 1 Joseph Flight Safety ' Foundation Inc: "There is nothing 5 profound or even Afficult in safe flying 1 ( ':: If every pilot would do what la is I supposed to when he is supposed to the A way he is supposed to the number of accidents caused by personal error could be reduced by some 75 per cent and the daily average of newspaper headlines on general aviation accidents would be lowered dramatically" President t -- L ' i- : t I KI:--:'-r- light-plan- 5– ' 11 q t til ' 'A I small-plan- IN MY TRAVELS is perhaps best summed up by Leighton Collins one of the nation's e safety who told me top authorities on "The question should never be 'How safe is flying?' but instead 'How safe is 179 flying?"' e Our own journey certainly didn't but be hazardous to perhaps that was because prove we didn't "reach for trouble" We flew only when there were clear skies We shunned major airports We were always back down on the ground before it was dark We didn't drink before take-oor take any tranquiliztrs And the only "engine failure" occurred when we debarked from the plane at the end of our trip and tried to start the car we had left parked at the airport for ten days The battery was dead! ( THE END) small-plan- ff THIS WEEK Mogszloo hese le1967 ' !i::: 47t F t I small-plan- D Caldara ' ' - WHAT I DISCOVERED EASY TO FLY SAFELY: General - 1 |
