Citation

Anderson C, Stolzer A, Boyd DD. J. Saf. Res. 2018; 66: 95-99.

Affiliation

University of Texas GSBS/Houston, 1014 Sugar Mountain Court,. Sugar Land, TX 77498, USA. Electronic address: dboyd.academic.aviation@gmail.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, U.S. National Safety Council, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jsr.2018.06.004

PMID

30121116

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The special category light sport airplane (light sport) sector of general aviation has grown 10-fold in as many years with solo operations requiring only a sports pilot's certificate. With little research on light sport airplane safety, the study objective was to compare light sport and type-certificated airplane accident rates.

METHOD: Accidents were identified from the National Transportation Safety Board database. Statistics employed Poisson distribution/proportion analyses/Mann-Whitney U-tests.

RESULTS: For the 2009-2015 period, the light sport airplane accident rate (fatal/non-fatal combined) was >15-fold higher than comparable type-certificated aircraft, undiminished over time. The excessive light sport airplane accident rate was associated with inferior airman experience (time-in-type, certification). Mishaps were most frequent during landing (40%) and, of these, nearly half were due to a deficiency in the flare. There were a dis-proportionate number of trainees involved in landing accidents compared with mishaps for other phases of operations.

CONCLUSION: Towards improving safety, additional light sport training with emphasis on landings and a focus on the flare and directional control is warranted. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: In the confines of the present study considering that landing mishaps, the most common accident cause, are often related to deficiencies in the flare and loss-of-directional control, instructors should ensure that airmen have mastered these aspects of landing and, for trainees, acquired the appropriate visual monocular cues.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd and National Safety Council. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

General aviation; General aviation accident; Light sport aircraft; SLSA