SAFA Skysailor Magazine

32 SKY SAILOR July | August 2023 Greetings fellow pilots. We’ll continue our look through the numbers contained in our AIRS reports, starting with Type of Flight. Accidents and Incidents by Type of Flight Not surprisingly, most accidents occur in normal, recreational flight situations. Also, not surprisingly, pilots under instruction are not immune. We go solo at a very early stage in the learning experience compared to general aviation (GA) and our aircraft lack a lot of the protections that a cockpit can offer. When something goes wrong there can be an injury as a consequence. Table 1: AIRS Reports – by Type of Flight – past 7 years Flight type FY 2021 /22 FY 2020 /21 FY 2019 /20 FY 2018 /19 FY 2017 /18 FY 2016 /17 FY 2015 /16 Total Not recorded 6 6 2 3 3 3 23 Competition 3 6 3 9 9 10 9 49 Recreational Flying 119 155 120 94 71 70 81 710 Under Instruction 21 18 15 17 24 19 21 135 Total 149 185 140 123 104 102 114 917 Table 2: AIRS Reports – by Type of Flight with injury – past 7 years Flight type FY 2021 /22 FY 2020 /21 FY 2019 /20 FY 2018 /19 FY 2017 /18 FY 2016 /17 FY 2015 /16 Total Not recorded 2 2 1 2 7 Competition 2 4 1 2 4 5 6 24 Recreational Flying 47 55 55 51 40 40 44 332 Under Instruction 15 12 9 12 13 11 13 85 Total 66 73 66 65 57 58 63 448 Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics – Vol. 2 by Iain Clarke – SAFA Safety Management Officer Accidents and Incidents by Phase of Flight There are no major surprises here. As you would expect, events that occur close to the ground carry the greatest risk for injury. So, heightened vigilance is required in the launch and landing phases. Table 3: AIRS Reports – by Phase of Flight – past 7 years Flight phase FY 2021 /22 FY 2020 /21 FY 2019 /20 FY 2018 /19 FY 2017 /18 FY 2016 /17 FY 2015 /16 Total Taking Off 29 37 23 16 17 19 23 164 Landing 43 56 48 48 44 35 45 319 In Flight 60 75 54 44 35 36 33 337 Ground Handling 1 1 Winch Tow 1 1 2 4 Car Tow 1 1 1 3 ATOL Tow Aerotow 1 1 1 2 1 6 Landing after Aerotow 1 1 Mishap 1 2 2 5 1 2 5 18 Near Miss 2 1 2 2 1 1 9 Other 1 2 1 4 Not recorded 11 11 7 7 4 6 5 51 Total 149 185 140 123 104 102 114 917 Table 4: AIRS Reports – by Phase of Flight with injury – past 7 years Flight phase FY 2021 /22 FY 2020 /21 FY 2019 /20 FY 2018 /19 FY 2017 /18 FY 2016 /17 FY 2015 /16 Total Taking Off 19 16 14 10 10 13 14 96 Landing 23 31 28 30 27 19 29 187 In Flight 16 21 14 18 16 20 16 121 Ground Handling 1 1 Winch Tow 1 1 2 4 Car Tow 1 1 2 continued on next page