Franklin E. Fraitus

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• August 7, 2007: Response to turbine (prop/fan) questions...

Static Page Comments

• October 20, 2007, on General Aviation Safety:

  To clarify my somewhat inaccurate statement about homebuilt aircraft safety in comparison to certified aircraft. Please take the time to go to the NTSB website. In particular please visit the following address: http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2007/ARG0701.pdf Make sure to view page 15. However, I was incorrect in thinking that the data was not fully processed. Homebuilt aircraft are not factored in to single engine piston (as far as I can tell). Using the 2003 NTSB published numbers: 1) certified single engine piston fatal accident rate of 1.41/100,000 flt hours. 2 Amateur built aircraft have a rate of 5.5/100,000. The statistic quoted by the EAA is simply that the ratio of fatals to the number of accidents is not different than in certified aircraft. In other words, if you have an "accident", you are no more likely to die in a homebuilt than in a certified. The fact remains that one is about 4 times more likely to have an accident, and therefore 4 times as likely to die i...

• November 3, 2007, on General Aviation Safety:

  Dr Phil, I am currently doing my risk management and assessment. I took an elementary statistics course in college, so, you can understand my complete confusion. In any case, I agree with your comparison of aviation vs. automotive risk. However I would like to see a more targeted comparison for the following reasons: 1) Automotive risk is roughly half if you are not drinking. 2) Automotive risk is lower still if you are in the moderate age group, maybe 35-65 years old? 3) Automotive risk is also reduced by daytime driving. 4) Homebuilt/experimental aircraft have a much higher fatality rate (4 times worse?). I think these are included in general aviation's statistics (edit: maybe not?). What would the result be if this one item is removed? 5) The statistics also include large single engine aircraft, such as warbirds (edit: maybe not?). I am sure there are plenty of other ways to "modify" the data. Since I do not drink at all, and I am within the "safe" age group, from ...