The stats are in, the tallies tallied and the totals have been summed up: Loss-of-control tops the list of general aviation accident causes. Recent studies by industry and government point to loss-of-control (LOC) accidents in all their variations are the leading cause of GA accidents, both fatal and otherwise. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO, “From 1999 through 2011, nonfatal accidents involving general aviation airplanes generally decreased, falling 29 percent, from 1265 in 1999 to 902 in 2011.” That’s the good news. The bad news is there were still more than 200 fatal accidents each year during the period.
The most common defining event in fatal GA accidents during the period, according to the GAO, was loss of control in flight. And that generally means pilot error. In fact, pilots remain their own worst threat, with 70 percent of fatal accidents (and 59 percent of non-fatal crashes) resulting from their actions. It then should come as no surprise to learn that the FAA’s own Top Ten Leading Causes of Fatal GA Accidents (the most recent list is reproduced on page 6) returned LOC to the top year after year. With these and other detailed analyses all pointing to the same thing—many of us can’t fly—what’s an industry and a regulatory agency—not to mention the pilots actually losing control—to do?
