AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2017 - 20

SAFETY SPOTLIGHT

The future of safety
It looks bright-and may not even need gas
WHEN I MEET WITH PILOTS, a question that comes up a
lot is, "Can general aviation really get any safer?" The
question bothers me, because the person asking usually suspects that it can't. I'm a bit more optimistic, and
history is on my side.
Pilots in the 1940s and 1950s thought ﬂying was
about as safe as it could possibly be. It's pretty clear
that wasn't the case then, just as it isn't today. As long
as accidents occur, there's room for improvement. It's
also important to keep GA safety in perspective. The
past 20 years have seen a decrease of more than 50 percent in GA accidents, and the last three years are the
safest on record-and that's while FAA data has shown
an increase in GA ﬂying.

Given the millions of ﬂight hours each year, it is
understandable that aviation accidents receive
signiﬁcant media attention, because they are so rare.

GEORGE PERRY,

a former Naval
Aviator, has made
more than 850
carrier-arrested
landings.

20 | AOPA PILOT January 2017

If GA were to judge itself against the gold standard
for aviation safety, the airlines, it's fair to say there's
room for improvement. In fact, U.S. passenger airlines
have an incredible safety record; there hasn't been a
fatal accident since 2009. However, compared to other
forms of recreational transportation, such as boating,
bicycles, or motorcycles, GA ﬂying is far safer-both
per seat mile and in raw numbers. In fact, according
to the U.S. Department of Transportation, from 2008
to 2014, 277,310 died in automobile accidents; 38,343
died on motorcycles; 5,561 on bicycles; and 5,831 in recreational boating accidents. The lowest is almost twice
as many as in GA.
So why do ﬂying accidents get so much attention?
The answer is simple: TV ratings. Given the millions
of ﬂight hours each year, it is understandable that aviation accidents receive signiﬁcant media attention,
because they are so rare. We can't change what the
press and public ﬁnd interesting, but it's not all bad
news. In September 2016 the NTSB acknowledged
the positive trends that have occurred in GA safety. In
the release of its latest aviation accident statistics, the
NTSB noted that Part 91 accidents and fatalities continued a downward trend in 2015. "The fatality rate in
2015 was the lowest it has been in many years," NTSB
Chairman Christopher Hart said. "While lower, these
numbers are still too high."

BY GEORGE PERRY
Senior Vice President
AOPA Air Safety Institute

I agree. GA is very safe, but we can always do better.
How? Technology is one answer. We've already seen the
FAA take some encouraging steps toward allowing proven
safety-enhancing equipment to replace outdated, failureprone certiﬁed systems, and the new Part 23 rules will be
another step in the right direction. But what about a major
breakthrough? Are we ever going to get there? Perhaps,
but it will likely take a completely new type of airplane.
If you've been paying attention to the latest aircraft
development trends you've probably seen a few startups developing electric aircraft. With them could come
enormous potential safety beneﬁts. Take the Sun Flyer,
for example. This two-place trainer is equipped with
an electric motor designed to run for three hours on a
single charge. That might not seem all that signiﬁcant,
but think about what an electric airplane doesn't have.
Its motor doesn't have hundreds of moving parts-it
has one. The motor doesn't have a 2,000-hour TBO (it
has a 10,000-hour replacement interval) and doesn't
require oil changes. It doesn't carry ﬂammable leaded
fuel in tanks that can rupture in a crash. It doesn't suffer from traditional fuel exhaustion. If the Sun Flyer
runs out of energy at altitude, the batteries recharge
themselves in the descent to provide emergency power
for landing. It doesn't come with the risk of carbon
monoxide poisoning, because the motor doesn't produce any. Lastly, it's projected to cost about $1 and take
20 to 30 minutes to recharge, so it doesn't put your
wallet into a state of emergency, either.
If we think about "the art of the possible," it's amazing how much safety and cost efficiencies are gained
by getting rid of things traditional airplanes "need" to
ﬂy. Electric vehicles are becoming mainstream and if
you've ever driven a Tesla automobile, you understand
why. Electric-powered vehicles are quickly becoming
more cost effective, and the infrastructure to support
this emerging technology is rapidly being built across the
country. It won't be too much longer before burning fuel
reﬁned from fossilized dinosaurs is outdated thinking.
For GA to grow, be cost effective, and be safer, we
should enthusiastically support disruptive technologies
like the electric aircraft. This sort of advancement has
the potential to be real game changer for general aviation. So when I am asked if GA safety can get any better,
it's easy for me to answer with a resounding yes. AOPA
EMAIL george.perry@aopa.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2017