According to the NTSB, “between 2001 and 2011, over 40 percent of fixed wing GA fatal accidents occurred because pilots lost control of their airplanes.” The National Business Aviation Association adds that NTSB’s more recent numbers show 46.4 percent of all fatal accidents in the U.S. from 2014 to 2018 were attributed to loss of control in-flight (LOC-I). That makes it the number one cause of fatal accidents. The AOPA Air Safety Institute’s most recent Nall Report, which looked at accident occurring in 2009 through 2018, confirms the prevalence of LOC-I in pilot-related accidents, especially during takeoff and landing.
In this magazine’s March 2019 issue, Robert Wright’s article, “Why We Lose Control,” looked at the risk management-related reasons behind LOC-I accidents. He made an excellent case for the proposition that poor risk management is a root cause of LOC-I accidents, aided and abetted by poor stick-and-rudder skills. Put another way, the fact that the pilot put him/herself into a situation where LOC-I happened is poor risk management. That the airplane got out of control is an airmanship issue. Given the industry’s relative success in reducing many other accident types, why do LOC-I accidents continue to remain statistically unchanged? Maybe it’s because of some bad habits.
