Several speakers at the 55th annual Corporate Aviation Safety Seminar suggested — to paraphrase Oscar Wilde — that to lose one airplane may be regarded as a misfortune, but to lose more looks like carelessness. Many recent accidents have been similar to others in the past that have been analyzed and from which lessons have been learned. But those lessons, incorporated into standard operating procedures (SOPs), are not always heeded. Moreover, some accidents continue to involve failures of basic airmanship.
John Cox, CEO, Safety Operating Systems, said that “loss of control in flight continues to be the number one cause of accidents in the commercial fleet. And unfortunately, the trend is not improving. It’s static.”
He discussed stall prevention on takeoff and during climb as well as loss of control in flight. “This is airmanship,” he said. “This is something that people believe that you learn in primary flight school. The data are telling us that the lessons are …
