AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - August 2017 - T-19

But of course capabilities aren't always
fully utilized. Does real-world experience
live up to the promise?
THE RAW NUMBERS

Between 2005 and 2014, there were 35
accidents in type-certificated jets operated
under Part 91 by a single pilot. Eleven of
them (31 percent) proved fatal. Excluding
those on positioning flights by crop-dusting aircraft, certified turboprop airplanes
suffered 220 Part 91 single-pilot accidents,
with fatalities in 82 (37 percent). These
numbers represent 25 percent of Part 91
jet accidents but 79 percent of turboprop
accidents during that period. The extent
to which that discrepancy reflects differences in patterns of operation can't be
directly ascertained, as there is no reliable
source of data on either number of flights
or hours flown by crewing level.
In jets, deaths were two and a half
times as common in single-pilot accidents
as in those involving two-person crews,
of which just 12 percent caused fatalities.
Single-pilot turboprop accidents, however,
carried an excess risk of just 25 percent,

as 30 percent of two-pilot accidents were
also fatal. The majority of the accident
turboprops (125, or 57 percent) were twinengine models, which showed no survival
advantage: Lethality was identical at 37
percent in both singles and twins.
While numerous factors beyond the
aircraft themselves-pilot experience, the
prevalence of operation under IFR, and
the exclusion of Experimental aircraft
from this analysis-also contributed, the
data suggest that turbine airplanes operate in a more rarefied safety environment.
The average accident rates for turboprops
during this decade was 1.54 per 100,000
flight hours-one-quarter the overall noncommercial fixed-wing rate-and their
fatal accident rate of 0.55 was less than
half as high. Jets experienced 0.51 accidents per 100,000 hours with a fatal rate
of just 0.09.
JETS

Single-pilot jet accidents are rare, most
likely because single-pilot jet operation
is still relatively uncommon, and their
record is too sparse to provide many

insights into underlying patterns of risk.
However, a few salient points do emerge.
Although 98 percent of all fixed-wing
landing accidents are survivable, jets present an exception. More than 40 percent of
their single-pilot accidents (15 of 35) happened during landing attempts and four
(27 percent) were fatal, accounting for
more than one-third of the fatal crashes.
Eighty percent of landing accidents were
overruns, with about equal numbers
caused by excessive airspeed on final and
runways that were wet, icy, or otherwise
contaminated. Deficient airmanship during
landings was the only cause of more than
two fatal accidents or five accidents of any
kind during the 15 years analyzed.
Four of the seven remaining fatal accidents involved instrument flight. They
included an icing-induced stall on final
approach precipitated by the pilot's failure to increase his reference speed for
the conditions; spatial disorientation just
after takeoff in below-minimums weather;
an unexplained loss of control while executing a VOR approach; and a decision
to launch into IMC with an inoperative

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AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - August 2017

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