Remember Huerta's Summer Safety Plea? How Did We Do?

Remember Huerta’s Summer Safety Plea? How Did We Do?

Stephen Pope

Thursday, September 12, 2013 at 08:24 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Despite pre-summer pleas from the FAA, general aviation experienced a "miserable" safety record during the summer, with many fatal crashes stemming from easily avoidable pilot errors.
This persistent safety problem is the primary factor hindering the growth and public image of the general aviation community.
Unlike other sectors, GA has made little safety progress over the years, contributing to its ongoing challenges.
Without dramatic improvements, the article warns that external intervention from the FAA or Congress is likely to force a change.

See a mistake? Contact us.

You may recall at the start of the summer flying season FAA Administrator Michael Huerta implored general aviation pilots to fly safely in June, July and August. In an open letter to the GA community delivered just before the Memorial Day weekend, Huerta begged us, “Make sure you’re ready – really ready – to fly.”

So how did we do? Now that Labor Day has come and gone we can examine the summer accident stats to see if we fared better or worse than the norm. Although no official numbers have been released by the FAA or NTSB, it appears that, in general, we failed Huerta’s test – miserably.